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Angler lands record-shattering catfish with remarkable ease

A Florida man who traveled to Georgia for a weekend fishing tournament with buddies has landed the heaviest blue catfish ever recorded in the state.

Tim Trone, of Havana, Fla., caught the 110-pound, 6-ounce catfish Saturday on Georgia’s Chattahoochee River. The catch shattered the state record by more than 17 pounds.

The fish measured 58 inches and boasted a girth of 42 inches.

Asked by For The Win Outdoors about the fight, Trone said there was not much of a struggle. “About three minutes,” he said. “It never pulled, never rolled. It was just like it gave up.”

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Still, when Trone first saw the behemoth he had no idea just how heavy it might be.

“The tail comes out the water and all I thought was, ‘Man, I got my 50-pound fish. I’ve got the 50-pounder.’ I’ve been wanting to break 50 pounds. It was surreal to think I got my 50-pound fish,” Trone told Fox 8 News.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources announced the record Tuesday, stating, “A day you catch a state record is a great day! Tim Trone of Havana, Fla., is the new state record holder for the blue catfish.”

Trone, who used cut bream as bait, said he knew he had broken the state record after the fish bottomed out a 100-pound scale. The official weight was recorded on a larger digital scale.

Thom Litts, Chief of Fisheries for the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, stated in a news release: “We love to hear about this kind of exciting news. This is our first state record since last April, and I hope it encourages all anglers to get outdoors and Go Fish Georgia!”

Trone received some flack via social media for keeping the fish, which he said was estimated to be about 23 years old. “A very old fish.”

In a Facebook post on Monday he sort of addressed the issue, writing, “So sorry this fish died but it’s official. 110.64 pounds. New Georgia State Record.”

For the sake of comparison, the all-tackle world record for blue catfish stands at 143 pounds. That fish was caught by Richard Anderson at Kerr Lake in Virginia in June 2011.

–Images courtesy of Tim Trone

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