Thursday, 31 May 2018

Virginia man break Catfish fishing record with $2- Dollar Walmart Rod

Jeffrey Dill, a Virginia resident has set a new state fishing record with a Flathead Catfish weighing 68-pound.

Jeffrey's mega catch has replaced the existing 25-year old record in the State of Virginia.

Fisherman Jeffrey Dill said it wasn't easy pulling the "monster" fish out of Lake Smith in Virginia Beach with his $20 fishing rod from Walmart — but he did it.

"I put him on the dock, held him down for a minute. He was so big," Dill told WAVY, admitting that he wrestled with the creature for at least 15 minutes.

Afterward, he hauled the giant fish, who he nicknamed "Big Earle," to nearby Oceans East Bait and Tackle to be measured. A biologist from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland (DGIF) met the man there to observe the weigh-in.

A digital scale showed the fish weighed 68.8 pounds — about 2.4 pounds more than the Previous record-setting flathead catfish caught by Mike Willems along the Occoquan Reservoir on May 6, 1994.

"It was a true river monster," Chad Boyce, a fish biologist with the Virginia DGIF, told WAVY. "It was a big fish that you don't expect to see in this part of the state, especially in Lake Smith. That's definitely a trophy."

Oceans East Bait and Tackle posted a photo of the whopper on Facebook, garnering hundreds of likes and dozens of comments from impressed locals.

"Saw this catfish when he weighed it in. Could not believe it weighed that much," one man commented.

"Monsta! Pretty Work," another added.

"How many ducks that thing got in its belly?" one Facebook user asked.

Dill said his family and friends were impressed by his winning catch.

"I talked with some of my older buddies and they said some people fish their whole lives and never get close to a state record. It's a big deal," Dill told WFXR.

Lake Smith, across Northampton Boulevard, is shallow, measuring only about 5 feet deep. But it's still a fishing hotspot, thanks to its plentiful largemouth bass population.

"There are opportunities to catch a citation, “Virginia DGIF says. "The lake also has white catfish, crappie, white perch, bluegill, and flathead catfish."

Jeffrey Dill will be forever remembered for this fishing heroic