http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7978360
ALTON, Ill. - Tim Pruitt went fishing and pulled up a whopper of a beast.
No, seriously: It was roughly the size of a sixth-grader.
Pruitt, casting his line in the Mississippi River on Sunday, hauled up a blue catfish that was 58 inches long, 44 inches in circumference and weighed a whopping 124 pounds.
The previous state record holder was a mere 85 pounds and the world record holder tipped the scales at 121 pounds, 8 ounces.
“My adrenaline was really pumping, so it wasn’t that bad,” said Pruitt. “Later on, when I was lifting him out of the livewell and into another tank I really felt the weight.”
Going for record
Now, Pruitt, whose fish has already been weighed in the presence of a conservation police officer and measured by a biologist for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, is expected to submit documentation to the International Game Fish Association so that it can be certified a world record holder.
Once that’s done, the catch should be approved as the world’s largest blue catfish, replacing the current champion that was caught Jan. 16, 2004, in Lake Texoma, Texas, said Becky Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the association.
Pruitt's fish, measuring 58 inches long and 44 inches around, was swimming below the Melvin Price Lock and Dam on the Mississippi River at Alton on Saturday night when it grabbed Pruitt's line. The two struggled for more than half an hour, and at one point the fish dragged the boat carrying Pruitt, his wife and a friend before Pruitt could reel it in.
Display planned
The fish has been kept alive and will be on display in a tank at the Cabela's Outfitter store in Kansas City, Kan., according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Pruitt, 33, of Godfrey, told the (Peoria) Journal Star's outdoors columnist that he considered releasing the fish in the river but decided to donate it to Cabela's "because I thought it might be neat to give people a chance to see a fish that massive."
They said he was just too old to handle the changes.
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