09/16/21 09:29:00
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09/16 09:27 CDT Quite a catch: Catfish shatters state, maybe world, record
Quite a catch: Catfish shatters state, maybe world, record
A white catfish caught in Connecticut last month has smashed a state record and
could also be a world record for the species --- though the evidence has been
eaten.
Ben Tomkunas, 25, caught the 21.3-pound (9.66-kilogram) fish late at night in
Coventry on Aug. 21. It was longer than 3 feet (about a meter).
Connecticut Fish and Wildlife confirmed in a Facebook post that the catch was a
white catfish and that it easily broke the previous state record for the
species of 12.7 pounds (5.76 kilograms).
"We were just sitting back and drinking a couple of beers and next thing you
know, my reel just starts screaming like I had a 30-pound striper on there,"
Tomkunas, of Coventry, told the Hartford Courant.
Tomkunas' friend, Chris Braga, had a digital scale and took a photo of the fish
coming in at the record-breaking weight.
The International Game Fish Association has recorded the world record for a
white catfish catch to be 19.3 pounds (8.75 kilograms) for a fish caught in
2005 in California.
Tomkunas said he intends to submit a claim to the association to secure the new
world record. But he also told the newspaper that he gave the fish to his
grandfather the next morning.
"It kind of got eaten," he said.
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