Catfish North Carolina Record 89 pounds.

Catfish taken on Abu 6500

Blue Catfish - A New State Record for North Carolina Photographs Courtesy of Eric Fincher

Eric struggles to hold up the weight of his giant blue cat. Click to enlarge.

This enormous blue catfish was caught on an Abu Ambassadeur 6500 baitcasting reel by Eric Fincher of North Carolina , USA . The cat weighed in at a whopping 89 pounds. Eric's big cat is a new North Carolina state record. Well done!

The fish was landed at Badin Lake. The stream that you see in the pics is a creek on my father in law's property. This is where I held the fish to keep him alive until I could have him weighed in and verified by a biologist and wildlife officials. So no, this is not typical cat water. I caught the cat on live shiner. I was actually fishing for stripper that day. It took me about 35 minutes to get him to the surface. The hard part was getting him in the boat.

As far as what they eat, well I think pretty much anything. I did release the fish on 11/28/2006, he was alive and had all his strength back, the hard part was getting him out of the creek. I had cut the rope that was holding him, so it was a lot of laughs getting him out.

New Zealand salmon anglers will be familiar with the Abu Ambassadeur 6500. This particular model has long been the biggest selling salmon reel sold in New Zealand. It is also used extensively in New Zealand for snapper fishing. It just goes to show that you don't need a huge fishing reel to catch a very large fish - but you do need skill and determination!

Click on photographs to enlarge

Trout and Freshwater Fishing in New Zealand