It was an ordinary day. Looking at a photograph of one of the largest catfish I have ever seen that was on the front page of my LNP newspaper. Headline that went with the photograph read, "Pa. man lands big fish, maybe record." To make the front page of the newspaper you know it must be something special! Well, the photograph features a fellow named Mike Wherley who is holding a flathead catfish that he caught on the Susquehanna River. It weighed in at 66 pounds, 6.4 ounces. If the weight and the catch are verified by the Fish and Boat Commission, the giant catch would top the existing record of 56 pounds, 3 ounces. Hey...that's almost 10 pounds more than the current record! Mike reports that he travels to the Safe Harbor area about once a week to fish for flatheads. His best flathead that he caught prior to this big catch was a 44-pounder last year. I have been fishing the Susquehanna for years with my children as well as with friends, and have never seen a fish half that size. At first I thought I had misread the story, but after seeing the number in print a few more times, I knew it must be true. His fish was weighed at the Columbia Bait and Tackle which has a scale that's been authorized by the Fish and Boat Commission to be used for certifying fish caught by anglers. Mike kept the fish alive during the boat ride back to the ramp and parking lot by keeping it in the water, but attached to the boat by an anchor line run through the fish's gill plate. When he reached shore he put the fish into a live well for the trip to Columbia Bait and Tackle for weighing. Waterways Conservation Officer Jeff Schmidt, who covers Lancaster County for the Fish and Boat Commission, was present for the weighing. He also inspected the fish and took additional length and girth measurements. After all measurements were taken and recorded Mike released the fish back into the river, alive, at Columbia River Park. To make the catch a legal and certifying catch, the fish must be legally caught from the body of water claimed by the angler and that the species is correctly identified and that the weight was taken on a certified scale. The first flathead documented being caught on the river was caught at Safe harbor Dam in 2002. Therefore, the fish species is rather new to the Susquehanna River. Mike said he told everyone in his family that he was going to catch a state record someday. Pretty incredible catch. Now...if this fish survives and is caught once again, maybe by the end of the summer, will it have grown so that it will once again break it's own record for a new fisherman? Only time will tell. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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| Mike with his 66 lb, 6.4 ounce catfish |
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