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July 13, 2006
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| John Nichols with his
Alabama Record Blue Catfish |
John Nichols shattered the Alabama blue catfish record with a
120-pound, 4-ounce fish. Nichols, who lives in Tuscaloosa, caught
the behemoth from Holt Reservoir on March 9, 2012. He used a chicken
gizzard on a large circle hook and managed to land the beast using
40-pound fishing line.
Jay Haffner, District Three Fisheries Supervisor for the Alabama
Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF), certified the
new record on Saturday March 10, 2012. The previous blue catfish
record of 111 pounds was caught by William P. McKinley from Wheeler
Reservoir in 1996. At that time, McKinley’s blue catfish was a world
record. The current world record for blue catfish is 143 pounds
caught from Buggs Island Lake, Va.
Procedures for certifying a state record include weighing the fish
on certified scales with witnesses and having the species confirmed
by a WFF or certified fisheries biologist. The fish must be caught
legally, including the possession of a valid fishing license, if
required. Alabama rules state that if a fish weighs less than 25
pounds, the new record must be two ounces more than the existing
record. For fish weighing more than 25 pounds, the difference must
be at least one-half of a percent more than the existing record.
Otherwise, the records tie. Check out the other
Alabama Fishing Records |
