New record catfish caught in Missouri

[Radar Chief]

Florissant man catches record-setting catfish in Missouri

BY JOEL CURRIER> jcurrier@post-dispatch.com | Posted: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 12:25 am
ST. CHARLES COUNTY • It was a dead night on the Missouri River. Hardly a nibble on the line for hours. So as storm clouds rolled in about 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, Greg Bernal and his girlfriend decided they'd head for shore after 15 more minutes.
Then, suddenly, came a pull on the line stronger than Bernal had ever felt.
"That rod just started screaming," said Bernal, 47, of Florissant. "I knew he was big. It raced out, I set the hook and there was no movement at all. I just kept the pressure on him and finally I could feel him thumping."
Bernal landed the 130-pound blue catfish that officials say is big enough for a world record held since May 2005 by Tim Pruitt of Alton. Pruitt caught a 124-pound blue catfish on the Mississippi River near Alton.
The Missouri record, until Tuesday, was a 103-pound catfish caught with a pole and line in 1991 on the Missouri River.
Bernal fought his big catch for 15 minutes and spent another 30 minutes — with help from his girlfriend, Janet Momphard — pulling it into their johnboat as rain pelted them and lightning flashed. The fish's teeth snagged Bernal's hands and drew blood.
Bernal and Momphard, 47, a nurse from St. Charles, said they used 40-pound test fishing line and Asian carp as bait.
"I am still numb," said Bernal, a lifelong fisherman. "That's the biggest fish I've ever seen."
Bernal's fish was at least 25 to 30 years old, officials said. It was 57 inches long and 45 inches in girth. That's one inch shorter but also one inch fatter than Pruitt's catch.
Bernal wouldn't reveal the exact location of his fishing spot, saying only it was near the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area.
Bernal's fish was weighed Tuesday morning at the Straatmann Feed Store in New Melle. Manager Jim Blair said he brought a portable scale out to the store's front porch, a spectacle that drew a crowd and caused a small-town traffic jam.
"It was total chaos," said Blair, 61. "Everybody was jumping for joy. People were getting out of their cars and taking pictures."
Bernal's catch will have to be certified before it becomes an official record.
Pruitt, 38, the outgoing record holder, had hoped to profit from catfish fame by selling DVDs about his catch on his website, www.timpruitt.net. But he says he lost more money in that venture than he cared to discuss and no longer offers catfish merchandise.
"It didn't work so good," Pruitt said. "Catfishermen don't like to spend too much."
Pruitt said he is happy for Bernal and isn't bothered that his five-year reign as catfish king is ending.
"Records are made to be broken," he said. "I've held it long enough. It's time to pass the torch."
Bernal, an unemployed land surveyor, says he won't eat the record-breaking fish, but plans to mount a reproduction in his home, next to a 79.12-pound catfish he caught in 1995. He hopes there's room for another someday.
"I'm going to go out there and catch a bigger one," Bernal said. "They're out there."


http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/m...7a4a78c22.html

[LaChapelle]

They'll have to cut off a flag pole
to hang that from the fence row

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

I've boated up and down the Missouri down by the Rivermarket here in KC. There are a few places next to the industrial buildings down there that will downright make you sick. We found a huge pipe that was pouring the most rancid smelling brown sludge into the water. It really made me sick. The smell was so bad I couldn't stay there long. Like rotten yeast or something. It took your breath away. There were a bunch of asian carp in the area too, and they would jump 3 feet out of the water when they heard the boat motor. We had several jump into our boat. All the fish were also covered with the same nasty slimy brown sludge. I'm not really a hardcore environmentalist by any means, but that moment really made me sob for mother Earth. There's no way it's legal to dump whatever that was into the water.

I would never ever ever eat anything from the Missouri river after seeing that.

There are times, at least twice a year, when it is down right hard to live down there with the smell coming off the river. Its a smell I can't quite put my finger on, but it makes Emporia smell like young but legal, freshly showered, tit skin.

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by jbwm89

I bet your right there are some huge holes in that river.

Fish that large have so much red meat its not even worth frying them. I caught a 36lb blue in the Missouri took a few pictures and threw her back.

You don’t fillet a big fish like that. The way to do it is hang them from a pole, or nail their bottom jaw to a board, skin them and cut slabs of meat off. Then take each slab one by one and cut out all of the red meat because one bite of that will put you off eating fish for a while. When properly prepped like this, you should be left with plenty of good clean fish meat.
My fishing friends and I typically don’t bother with a blue or flat head smaller than 20 lbs because they need to be at least that big to make it worth cleaning them.
I made the mistake of taking home a 10 lb flat head once and by the time I got through cutting out all of the red meat I was left with a handful, probably less than a pound, of fish meat.

[MOhillbilly]

stuck about a 40-50#. put em all the way to the bottom. When i first hit him i was standin on the gunnels. Hit so hard it damn near flung me off the boat.
My dads buddy stuck a big big big cat early 80s. He hung the head from a tree years.

[seclark]

if the river goes down enough this weekend, i'm going to try and grab a few. been a year since the wrist & knuckles have been scabbed up.
sec

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by seclark

if the river goes down enough this weekend, i'm going to try and grab a few. been a year since the wrist & knuckles have been scabbed up.
sec

If you’re supplying the beer I’ll watch and keep emergency services on speed dial.

[Radar Chief]

The Neosho is coming up here because Redman is dumping.

http://www.swt-wc.usace.army.mil/JOHN.lakepage.html

I’m thinking more along the lines of buying a few gold fish and hitting the river tomorrow night. Or catching a few perch for the same purpose.

[seclark]

Originally Posted by Radar Chief

If you’re supplying the beer I’ll watch and keep emergency services on speed dial.

sounds like a fair deal. a few years ago my appendix ruptured while i was down there and i didn't get to the hospital til the next day. spent over a month in there. all the people kept seeing my scabbed up arm and kept asking if i was in a car wreck. the day after i got out, i took a hs kid and my brother in law back down to the hole and had them pull out a 37 pounder. i just stood on the bank w/a beer shouting directions
sec

[Bill Lundberg]

Quick question. I noticed they were using Asian Carp as bait. Why in the hell would you use that as bait when everyone and their brother is trying to keep them out of our waters? I'm assuming they were using dead asian carp?

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by Bill Lundberg

Quick question. I noticed they were using Asian Carp as bait. Why in the hell would you use that as bait when everyone and their brother is trying to keep them out of our waters? I'm assuming they were using dead asian carp?

I believe in another article I read about this guys catch that the Asian carp jumped in their boat. So he threw it on the hook and used it as cut bait.

[Fritz88]

no more swimming in that river

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by Radar Chief

You don’t fillet a big fish like that. The way to do it is hang them from a pole, or nail their bottom jaw to a board, skin them and cut slabs of meat off. Then take each slab one by one and cut out all of the red meat because one bite of that will put you off eating fish for a while. When properly prepped like this, you should be left with plenty of good clean fish meat.
My fishing friends and I typically don’t bother with a blue or flat head smaller than 20 lbs because they need to be at least that big to make it worth cleaning them.
I made the mistake of taking home a 10 lb flat head once and by the time I got through cutting out all of the red meat I was left with a handful, probably less than a pound, of fish meat.

Before you do any of that, find and fill a huge livestock tank. Let that big thing filter for about a day. It will turn the entire tank muddy. Drain and refill until that water becomes less and less dingy. On a fish that large it may take a full week.

I did this on a 52 lb'er and then did the fillets. It makes a huge difference.

[MOhillbilly]

Originally Posted by Radar Chief

If you’re supplying the beer I’ll watch and keep emergency services on speed dial.

My pops swore by roadkill for catfish bait.

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

Before you do any of that, find and fill a huge livestock tank. Let that big thing filter for about a day. It will turn the entire tank muddy. Drain and refill until that water becomes less and less dingy. On a fish that large it may take a full week.

I did this on a 52 lb'er and then did the fillets. It makes a huge difference.

Yes, this also.

[MOhillbilly]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

Before you do any of that, find and fill a huge livestock tank. Let that big thing filter for about a day. It will turn the entire tank muddy. Drain and refill until that water becomes less and less dingy. On a fish that large it may take a full week.

I did this on a 52 lb'er and then did the fillets. It makes a huge difference.

we do the same w/ crawfish. Add abit of of cornmeal.