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West Virginia Catfish Record Broken for 4th-Straight Year

West Virginia Catfish Record Broken for 4th-Straight Year

Michael John Drake from St. Albans, West Virginia poses with his record-breaking blue catfish pulled from the Ohio River on December 8th, 2023. Photo: Saga Communications/Courtesy of WVDNR


CHARLESTON, W. Va. — For the fourth year in a row, the Mountain State record for catching the largest catfish has been broken again.

On December 8th, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources confirmed that fisherman Michael John Drake reeled in a nearly 69-and-a-half-pound, 50-and-a-half-inch blue catfish from the Ohio River.

The fish snapped the previous state record set just last year by more than two pounds and two-tenths of an inch, leaving Governor Jim Justice in shock during a press conference.

The governor jokingly said the fish’s size “makes him leery about going in the water” in West Virginia.

Justice added that Drake’s catch measured “about 15 percent bigger” than his pet bulldog, Babydog.

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