Man Catches an Enormous Fish

I heard on the radio this afternoon, that a man from Illinois set a state record for catching the heaviest fish. I finally read the full story online this evening and I couldn't resist sharing this lovely photo with you.

Late Saturday night, Tim Pruitt was traveling down the Mississippi River when the fish grabbed his line. The fish dragged the boat, and it's three passengers, downstream until they finally pulled it aboard somewhere around midnight. The fish was identified as a blue catfish with a length of 58 inches and a girth of 44 inches. It weighed a total of 124 pounds! One news article commented that the fish was roughly the size of a sixth grader. (I also read that 124 pounds is equivalent to 496 sticks of butter . . . fascinating, isn't it?) Tim beat the previous record set by Cody Mullennix of Texas who caught a blue catfish that weighed almost 122 pounds. After being kept alive in aerated tanks, Tim's catch was picked up Monday and shipped to Kansas City, Mo to be put on display. They plan to return the fish to the Mississippi River this summer.