Not long after dark on the night of March 9, 2012, John Nichols caught a record-breaking 120 pound blue catfish in the Holt Reservoir in Alabama. In an interview with Tuscaloosanews.com, he said, “I was looking for eight or ten this size to eat,” as he held his hands about 18 inches apart. Instead, he managed to reel in a single fish that will likely keep him fed for quite some time.
Nichols had help from his friend Robbie Tierce who helped net the fish. He caught it using a chicken gizzard as bait on a 40 pound fishing line.
Michael Holley, the district fisheries biologist in Eastaboga, said that catfish in that size range are extremely uncommon. Holley estimates that only about three percent of the total catfish population reach a weight in the range of 50 to 100 pounds.
Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources