David Hayes of Wilkes County, N.C. was helping his granddaughter Alyssa cast her Barbie fishing pole in Hayes' one-acre pond behind his house. Instead he wound up landing a 21-pound channel catfish which was a new North Carolina state record. Alyssa was the one actually fishing that day and David was just bating her hook with with crickets, casting, and handing the pink barbie pole to Alyssa, who was catching her fair share of bluegill.
As grandpa casted the cricket out, She said, "Papa, hold my fishing rod. I've got to go potty.". As Alyssa walked the few feet back to the house with her grandmother, Hayes held the rod when the fish smashed the cricket and the 2 foot barbie pole was put to the test.
The fish made a run, and Hayes managed to turn it. A second time, the fish made a break for it, and Hayes again steered it back toward the bank. He didn't know at the time the fish was more than 21 pounds — handily more than the 18-pound, 5-ounce previous state record set a year ago.
He managed finally to maneuver the fish back to the dock. Everything was ok until Alyssa saw the monster catfish.
"She started dancing and squealing like a 3-year-old will," Hayes said. The fish freaked. It made a 30-yard run — Hayes thought surely the rod would snap — and swam for a few minutes before simply giving up. "I tired him out, I reckon," Hayes said.
Hayes looked up the state record and gave a call to a fisheries biologist neighbor of his who told him to get it to a certified scale. When the fish registered 21 pounds, 1 ounce on a scale at nearby Thurmond Grocery, Hayes knew he had a record fish.
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission sent fisheries biologist Kin Hodges to verify that the fish was a channel cat rather than, say, a blue catfish.
Hodges' professional opinion of the fish: "It was just a pig." At 32 inches long and 22 ½ inches around, it was longer and nearly bigger around than the length of the rod that caught it.
"He thought it was funny more than anything," Hodges said. "He was just amazed at the size of the fish he caught on that little kiddie rod. If you would have told anybody that you could catch a fish like that on this rod, they'd have laughed at you."
Hayes, a 33-year employee of a textile company where he dyes yarn, isn't confident his record will last. The wildlife commission only recently vacated a state channel catfish record set in 1971 when a magazine turned up photos showing that it was actually a flathead.
So it's a young record he broke. Hayes himself caught a 23-pounder a few years back that, at the time, wouldn't have been close to the official record. Now, though, that fish would top his.
Courtesy N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission
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