Fisherman nabs elusive 112-pound catfish in Mississippi River he’s chased ‘for years’
In just eight minutes Friday on the Mississippi River near St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, Wade Kaminski reeled in the fish he’s been waiting his whole fishing life to land.
Kaminski set a personal best by reeling in a 112-pound blue catfish, he shared on Instagram. The catch is 18 pounds shy of the Missouri state record, according to the Department of Conservation.
“We’re going to need a bigger boat!” Kaminski wrote on Instagram, paying homage to the infamous “Jaws” line. He called the catfish “the fish I’ve been chasing for years.”
He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he has taken fishing seriously since 2013. He and his friend were on a boat built for catfishing and he used chunks of skipjack herring on a hook as bait, he told the publication.
When he caught the catfish, he initially thought he “got into a snag,” according to KSDK.
“I told my friend who was with me, ‘I’m either snagged or I’ve got a monster,’ ” Kaminski told the TV station.
A post shared by Wade Kaminski (@wadekaminski) on Jul 3, 2020 at 1:44pm PDT
Following the eight-minute fight to capture the fish, Kaminski and his friend had to call around to find a scale large enough to weigh it, he told the Post-Dispatch.
He wrote on Instagram he released the fish back into the river, but not until posing with it with the Arch in the background.
“We want these fish to be around for the next generations or maybe in a couple years to catch this fish again and get the same enjoyment we got today,” he told KSDK.
His post on Facebook showing off the catch had more than 5,000 shares as of Monday afternoon.
