Jaylynn Parker of New Richmond Ohio just caught the Ohio state Record blue catfish. Parker is a sophomore at New Richmond High School and grew up fishing with her family on the Ohio River. On Sunday, April, 7, Parker hooked this monster fish using a jug. Jug fishing consists of using a baited hook suspended beneath a large jug or float. The tension from the float sets the hook whenever a fish bites, allowing the angler to then pull the fish to shore by hand.
Parker stated that she obviously needed help wrestling this fish to shore, as she only weighs 117 pounds herself. She had support from her father and family friend Jeff as they yanked this beast to land. Once the group landed the fish, they knew they had a potential record on their hands. They then weighed the fish on their home scale, which showed a whopping 108 pounds. They then called the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to get an official weight. The game warden measured the fish at 56 inches long, with a girth of 39 inches, however every place in the area with a certified scale was closed. The family was then forced to keep fish alive overnight in a bait tank at their home.
The next morning they took the fish to a certified scale and got an official weight of 101.11 pounds. This shattered the previous record of 96 pounds caught by Chris Rolph in 2009.
It’s not clear however if the fish will qualify for a state record. Techniques such as jug fishing are often excluded from recreational fishing record books, however there are no explicit rules regarding jug fishing in the state record fish applications.
Regardless of the outcome, this is without a doubt the largest catfish ever caught in the state of Ohio. After receiving the official weight, Parker and her team released the fish back into the Ohio River. Parker stated that this fish only furthered her passion for fishing, and she plans to continue the sport for years to come.
