Jaylynn Parker just caught the largest catfish in Ohio history. Parker, a sophomore at New Richmond High School, landed a 101-pound blue catfish while fishing the Ohio River.
Parker and his family are jug fishermen—a method in which a baited hook is suspended from the bottom of a large milk jug or other float. When a fish bites, the tension provided by the float automatically hooks the fish, which is then pulled by hand.
On Sunday, April 7, one fish took the bait—and it was a full tank. Parker, who has been fishing for catfish since he was a kid, got support from his father and family friends to pull it out of the water. “Obviously, I need help with the fish because I’m only 117 pounds,” Parker told WLWT5. “Without Jeff and my dad, none of this would have been possible.”
When the group landed the blue catfish, they knew they had something special. They weighed it on a scale at home, which showed it at 108 pounds, and called an Ohio Department of Natural Resources warden. The warden taped the fish at 56 inches long, with a girth of 39 inches, and confirmed its species. But at that time, every place in the area with a certified size was closed. So the family kept the massive fish alive overnight in a bait tank in the pond on their property.
The next morning, they officially weighed the monster fish. It weighed in at 101.11 pounds, surpassing the current state record for the species—a 96-pounder caught by Chris Rolph in 2009.
It was not immediately clear whether the fish would qualify for a state record given the method of capture; Alternative fishing methods such as jug fishing are generally banned from recreational fishing record books. In the Buckeye State, fishing records are verified and maintained by a professional organization known as Ohio Outdoor Recorders. The group has two record categories—“hook & line” and bowfishing. Field and Stream reviewed the state record fish application, which did not include any explicit rules about jug fishing.
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Regardless, Parker’s fish is almost certainly the largest catfish ever recorded in Ohio. After weighing it, he released it back into the Ohio River. Although this fish will be difficult to raise, Parker plans to continue fishing. “The older I get, the happier I get,” he said Cincinnati.com. “It’s relaxing. It brings me so much peace and happiness.”
