N.C. Blue Cat Record Falls Twice
By CAM Staff
Catching a state record is a big deal. Catching that record and then breaking it within a 18-hour period borders on being ridiculous. Zakk Royce, of Blues Brothers Catfish Guide Service, must have been on one heck of a bite Dec. 20 and 21. He broke the North Carolina blue catfish record twice while fishing on Gaston Lake, northeast of Raleigh on the Virginia border.
According to the Charlotte News Observer, Royce caught the first fish, a 91-pounder, on Sunday, Dec. 20 on cut bait and 30-pound test. There were no scales large enough to certify the fish available on a Sunday, so Royce babysat the fish in a huge livewell overnight and had it certified Monday morning before heading out to the lake again to release the fish alive.
Back on Lake Gaston to release the fish, Royce decided he might as well start fishing again. The cut white perch he had for bait was fresh, and it must have been calling to him. No more than a half hour after certifying the first state record, another bigger fish picked up the bait. After a lengthy battle that revealed a fish too large to fit in the net, Royce put his hands on a blue cat that would later be certified at 105 pounds. It smashed his record from the day before as well as an 89-pound state record that had stood since 2006.
The IGFA all-tackle world record for blue catfish is a 143-pound fish caught from Kerr Lake in Virginia.
Royce’s Blue’s Brothers Guide Service Facebook page and this article on OutdoorHub.com.