A Virginia man made the catch of a life time on Saturday when he reeled in a 68- pound flathead catfish, beating a state record set almost 25 years earlier.
FishermanJeffrey Dill stated it wasn’t simple pulling the “monster” fish out of Lake Smith in Virginia Beach with his $20fishing rod from Walmart– however he did it.
“I put him on the dock, held him down for a minute. He was so big,”Dill informed WAVY, confessing that he battled with the animal for a minimum of 15 minutes.
“It was a monster. It was a true river monster.”
Afterward, he transported the huge fish, who he nicknamed “Big Earle,” to neighboring Oceans East Bait and Tackle to be determined. A biologist from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries ( DGIF) fulfilled the man there to observe the weigh-in
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A digital scale revealed the fish weighed 68.8 pounds — about 2.4 pounds more than the previous record-setting flathead catfish captured by MikeWillems along the OccoquanReservoir on May 6, 1994.
“It was a true river monster,”Chad Boyce, fish biologist with the Virginia DGIF, informed WAVY. “It was a big fish that you don’t expect to see in this part of the state, especially in Lake Smith. That’s definitely a trophy.”
OceansEast Bait and Tackle published a picture of the whopper on Facebook, amassing numerous likes and lots of remarks from satisfied residents.
“Saw this catfish when he weighed it in. Could not believe it weighed that much,” one man commented.
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“Monsta! Pretty Work,” another included.
“How many ducks that thing got in its belly?” one Facebook user asked.
Dill stated his friends and family were impressed by his winning catch.
“I talked with some of my older buddies and they said some people fish their whole lives and never get close to a state record. It’s a big deal,”Dill informed WFXR.
LakeSmith, throughout Northampton Boulevard, is shallow, determining just about 5 feet deep. But it’s still a fishing hotspot, thanks to its abundant largemouth bass population.
“There are opportunities to catch a citation,” the Virginia DGIF states. “The lake also has white catfish, crappie, white perch, bluegill, and flathead catfish.”
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