Close, but …

Jackson, MS Sept 15, 2009:  Joshua Brown was fishing Barnett Reservoir over the weekend.  He caught a couple of small bass and was about to head home.  A couple of baby gators caught his eye.  Not wanting to disturb them, Joshua cast out to deeper water with his favorite crankbait.  He reports that the bait “got slammed on my first cast.  I threw my back in the same spot and had another solid hit, but he didn’t take it.  Well, the third time’s a charm and I would have bet the farm I’d hooked the momma gator.”  After fighting the fish for about 10 minutes and with the help of a net wielding neighbor lady, Joshua landed the monster flathead catfish.  Lacking a big enough fish scale, Joshua did the next best thing, he weighed himself and the fish on the neighbor’s bathroom scale.  Their combined weight was around 262 lbs and Joshua weighs about 194.  The flathead weighed an unofficial 68 pounds and was 42 inches long!   Joshua reported that he cleaned the fish before finding out that the current rod and reel record is 66 pounds. 

Congratulations!