The biggest freshwater fish in North Carolina’s history was just caught by angler Rocky Baker.
According to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, the record blue catfish was confirmed as weighing an astounding 127 pounds and 1 ounce (smashing the previous record 117 lb blue catfish). It was caught on the Roanoke River using a Mad Cat rod and Penn Squall reel with gizzard shad as bait.
Blue Catfish are the second biggest freshwater fish variety in the state and are common trophy catches in both Lake Norman and Lake Wylie.
The blue cat is followed in size by a unique fish called the ‘smallmouth buffalo‘ – a Catostomidae species related to the bigmouth buffalo and the black buffalo.
The largest smallmounth buffalo ever caught in our state was reeled in on Lake Wylie back in 1993. That fish weighed a whopping 88 lbs and was caught using pack bait.