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one of the things that makes fishing so
much fun – you throw your line in the water and you never know what
will bite on the other end.”
Doak, who lives in Muskogee, got more than he bargained for when he
hooked the huge fish in the predawn hours of Sunday, Sept. 11.
“I was bass fishing just before sunrise when the catfish hit in
about 10-12 feet of water. I didn’t know what it was, but I was
hoping it was a state record bass. It kind of pulled me around for
some time in my little boat – I was just hoping my rod and reel
would hold together,” Doak said.
Doak was using a two-inch long plastic sunfish bait and 16-pound
test line. He realized he had a catfish when he went to scoop it up
in the dip net.
“There was no way that fish was going to fit in the dip net, so I
just horsed it in as best I could,” he said. “Because it was still
dark and it was so big, I assumed it was a blue cat.”
It wasn’t until the sun came up that Doak realized he had caught a
channel catfish, but he still didn’t realize he had a potential
state record.
“When I told a buddy I had caught a channel catfish that might weigh
30 or 35 pounds, he said to take the thing straight to the nearest
certified scales,” Doak said.
He quickly contacted officials with the Oklahoma Department of
Wildlife Conservation who certified the fish as the new state
record. The huge fish was 39 1/4 inches long and measured 26 1/4
inches in girth. Doak plans on having a taxidermist mount the fish.
The previous channel catfish record of 34 pounds, 11 ounces was set
by Barry Bond who pulled the big catfish from Canton Lake in May of
2002.
For a complete list of record fish and the procedures regarding
certifying state record fish, consult the “Oklahoma Fishing Guide.”
If you think you may have hooked a record fish it is important that
you weigh the fish on an Oklahoma State Department of Agriculture
certified scale and the weight is verified by a Wildlife Department
employee.
Check out the other
Oklahoma State Fishing Records
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