NEWS RELEASE

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

September 8, 1998

CONTACT: Fred Cross (850) 265-3676

RECORD CHANNEL CATFISH CAPTURED AND RELEASED

Anglers interested in state records take note. Fisheries biologists captured and released last week what for some lucky angler may one day be a new record channel catfish.

Working the Choctawhatchee River near Caryville, a team of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fisheries biologists netted and weighed a 46-pound female channel catfish.

Immediately after weighing and measuring the 43.5-inch fish on a certified scale at Bowen's Hardware in Bonifay, biologists returned her to the river unharmed.

The current Florida channel catfish record is 44.5-pounds and was caught from Lake Bluff in Lake County in 1985 by fisherman Joe Purvis.