Imagine catching a 38-inch blue catfish on a trout jig and 4-pound-test line only to find out there’s no state record for such a fish in the Mountain State.
That’s what happened to Benjamin Raymond Lilly of Daniels last week, when the angler was surprised at what turned up on the end of his line while fishing in a small lake near Athens.
“I was using a jig at the time,” Lilly said sheepishly. “I was really fishing for trout when my bobber went under and I set the hook.
“I didn’t know what I had for 30 minutes. I fought the fish for an hour and a half before I got him out of the water.”
Lilly hooked the 31-pound-and-14-ounce lunker while fishing for trout at a commercial fishing pond near Athens.
He and his fishing partner, Douglas Bragg of Shady Spring, also caught five golden trout and seven rainbows, all ranging in size from two to five pounds. Bragg won a citation with a four-and-one-half-pound rainbow.
“I never would have landed him if it hadn’t been for Jeff’s help,”Lilly said.
The anglers were using small trout jigs, about 1/64th in size, when the mammoth blue cat grabbed Lilly’s lure and headed for the middle of the pond.
“Being in cold water, he was sluggish,” Lilly recalled of the catch. “We got him over to the bank two or three times, but when he saw us, he would just take off again.”
Primarily inhabiting the Mississippi River system, the blue catfish can be found in larger rivers from Minnesota to Mexico. Unlike other catfish, the blue prefers clean rivers with a relatively swift current flow.
The average weight is listed as six to eight pounds. The peak weight is about 150 pounds.
Unofficially, Lilly’s catch represents the second largest blue catfish taken in the world on 4-pound-test line. A 33-pounder reportedly was taken in North Carolina on the same weight line.
Mark Scott, assistant chief fisheries biologist with the DNR in Charleston, is helping Lilly obtain applications for a certificate and plaque for catching such a huge prize.
“Bluecats are not found in the Mountain State,” Scott explained. “Other than this one, I have never had any fishermen bring one to me that actually was a blue cat.”
Scott added, “This fish is not native to the state, but was bought and brought in to a commercial pond. We don’t have a record for blue–cats since the species isn’t found in the state.”
Scott said the paperwork is underway to register the fish as the second largest blue cat caught on 4-pound-test line.
The biologist explained that some local fishermen often mistakenlybelieve they have a blue catfish when they catch a channel catfish in summer when the fish are ready to spawn.
“At that time, their heads swell up and they turn a deep, slate blue color like a blue cat,” Scott said. “And they usually have no spots such as a smaller channel catfish would have.”
He said the quickest way to tell a blue cat from a channel cat is to count the rays in the anal fin.
“If it has 30 or more rays, it’s a blue cat,” the biologist said. “Channel cats have fewer rays than the blue cat.”
Lilly, meanwhile, is tickled pink with his blue catfish, but the amiable angler isn’t planning to mount the prize for his family room wall.
“We’re going to eat it,” Lilly said emphatically. “It costs too much to get it mounted.”
Still, the fisherman has taken several photos of the fish, and he plans to have several copies made for his friends.
The fish currently is locked in his parents’ freezer in Shady Spring where anglers are welcome to view the unusual specimen.
“For what I caught it on, it really is an unusual specimen,” echoed Lilly. “I only use a four-and-a-half-foot Browning rod and reel, and I always fish with 4-pound-test line.”
Lilly said his father, Chester R. Lilly of Daniels, taught him how to fish with lightweight equipment.
“If he hadn’t taught me about proper drag settings, I would never have landed this fish,” he added. “If the drag hadn’t been set, the line would have snapped like a thread. A fish that size requires skill when you’re using lightweight gear. I learned that much from seeing my dad land some big ones.”
Lilly mostly fishes for trout, but he says that catfish are among his favorite fish when it comes to eating them.
“We’re going to filet this monster and grill it,” he said with a laugh. “We’re going to serve it up with baked potatoes and corn and beans and cornbread.”
Lilly paused, reflecting on the uncanny catfish. “But no matter how good it tastes,” he added, “it won’t be as much fun eating it as it was catching it.”
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Top o’ the morning!