Blue cat bit tiny piece of cut bait
Seven-year-old Carson Grimes of Roxboro, N.C. caught a 105-pound catfish while fishing with his dad and twin brother on Kerr Lake on Saturday, April 20. He hooked the fish on a small piece of cut baitfish that was less than 3-inches long.
Carlos Grimes, the young angler’s dad, netted the fish while Carson’s brother Trevor handled the videoing duties. The elder Grimes said the big fish was a welcomed surprise after a few days of tough fishing.
“We went camping and fishing a few days, and we didn’t have any luck. We were having a hard time even catching shad for bait. So on Saturday morning, I went and bought some bait from the tackle shop. My hope was to just get these kids to catch something. Just anything would have been fine,” he said.
Once on the lake, Grimes anchored down and put some lines out. Trevor caught a small one pretty early. And then Carson said he had a fish on.
Youth angler fought the fish on his own
“He had the rod pointed straight out. So I put my hand in the middle of the rod and just pushed it up. It felt like a good fish, but never did I think it would be that big. He fought it the whole time on his own. Every now and then I would just push up on the middle of the rod to remind him to keep the rod tip up,” said Carlos Grimes.
After a few minutes, he saw the fish’s tail and was shocked at the size of it.
“I’ve caught my share of catfish up to 60 pounds, and I’d never seen anything like the size of that tail,” he said.
The catfish ran left and right, taking drag out for some time. The young angler moved around in the boat, passing the rod to himself around the supports of the pontoon boat’s top when needed.
Carlos put his net in the water, and finally Carson guided the fish into it. That’s when all three finally realized just how big the fish was.
“I’ve got the biggest catfish net I could find, and I’m lucky I had it. I’m still not sure how I pulled it onboard the boat. I was trying to figure out how I could weigh the fish and get a photo before letting it go. Then I saw another boat passing by and we waved them down. It’s a blessing that they stopped,” he said.
Fish was over 56 inches long
While keeping the catfish wet with soaked rags, they took some measurements and weighed the fish. The blue cat was 56 1/2-inches long and had a girth of 41 1/4-inches.
“The other guy had a 110-pound scale and we had to stand on top of my bait tank to get the fish high enough off the floor to weigh it. I couldn’t have done it without his help. And we had to leave the fish in the net. The scale stopped at 106, so we weighed the net alone and it weighed one pound,” he said.
Then, Carlos held the fish in his lap with his boys sitting next to him. The other gentleman snapped a few photos, and then they released the fish, which swam off.
“This was really something special to see. I take these boys everywhere with me. We are always hunting and fishing together. I’m thankful for that fish and for the help of the other anglers,” he said.
Click here to see the video.
