Giant 72-Pound Clarks Hill Blue Cat Shatters 45-Year Record

You would have to consider it quite unusual if a 45-year-old lake fishing record was shattered by someone fishing from the bank in a community fishing hole that everyone knows about.

Well, Walker Crowe is a quite unusual 16-year-old.

While others his age are playing video games and worrying about teenage anxieties, Walker is dominating catfish tournaments and riding bulls. And maybe most unusual for any teenager, he has patience.

The Hartwell resident caught a Clarks Hill lake record 72-lb., 3-oz. blue cat that broke the lake record of 62 pounds caught by Ralph Barbee in 1979. It also surpassed Walker’s personal best by almost 30 pounds.

“I started fishing with my Paw Paw (grandfather) when I was 2 or 3,” the home-schooled youngster said. “There has never been a time since I haven’t loved it. Clarks Hill is about 45 minutes away…