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63-POUND CATFISH ALMOST A RECORD
November 14, 2006
CONTACT: Fred Cross (850) 265-3676
Ponce de Leon resident Doyle Ammons has caught
plenty of fish over his 76 years. None of his fish compare,
however, to the near-record 63-pound blue catfish he caught Nov.
6 from the Choctawhatchee River.
Ammons’ fish was 48 inches long and would have
almost certainly been certified as the new
Florida record,
except for one thing – he caught his fish on a bush hook,
sometimes called a “limb line.” It is legal to fish with bush
hooks or trotlines, but fish caught by such methods are not
eligible for certification as new records. Only record
freshwater fish caught by conventional hook-and-line or
rod-and-reel can be accepted.
His fish weighed 1.5 pounds more than the
recognized state record blue cat. That fish was caught by
rod-and-reel from Little Escambia Creek in Escambia County in
1996.
Despite the fact his catfish won’t show up in
the record books, Ammons said it was satisfaction enough to
catch the biggest blue cat ever landed in Florida.
Ammons said his bush hook was tied to a limber
green vine hanging over the edge of the river, a factor he
credits in “wearing down” the catfish. For bait he used chunks
of bowfin.
This was his second large blue catfish in the
past two months, the other a 55-pounder.
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