FishRook
A Mississippi man shattered state records on July 31 with a 104-pound blue catfish caught after a long weekend on the Mississippi River near Natchez. Christopher Halley of Brookhaven, Mississippi, caught the behemoth fish of biblical proportions on a trotline, setting a record for blue catfish in the state’s Trophy category.
“I didn’t know it was a record when I first got in the boat, but I knew it was a really big fish,” Halley said.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks maintains three categories for fishing records: “Rod and Reel,” “Fly Fishing,” and “Trophy.” While the “Rod and Reel” and “Fly Fishing” categories are straightforward, the trophy category is defined by less traditional fishing methods such as trotlines, limblines, jugs, bowfishing, and noodling. Halley’s catch broke the previous record set by Freddie Parker and Brad Smith in 1997 by three pounds.
Halley left to go fishing the day before but was caught by a…
