A South Carolina angler has landed a 106-pound blue catfish to propel his team to victory during a recent tournament at Santee Cooper Lakes.
The catfish was so immense and powerful that it “literally destroyed the extra-large plastic tub used to hold fish before placing them into the stainless steel bin to be officially weighed,” according to the Carolina Sportsman.
Vern Reynolds caught the 106.62-pound blue catfish while teamed with Mike Durham during the Santee Lakes Catfish Club’s inaugural tournament on Jan. 15. The competition involved 20 teams that combined to weigh more than 1,330 pounds of catfish.
Three teams were skunked and seven teams delivered more than 100 pounds of catfish to the scale. All catfish were released after being weighed.
Reynolds’ massive catfish was caught while he and Durham drifted on the lower lake. Their three-fish limit weighed 200.15 pounds.
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The Santee Lakes Catfish Club provided this synopsis Jan. 16 via Facebook:
“Man, what a tournament Santee Lakes Catfish Club had yesterday! Some of the best anglers in the country went out and battled some rough, March-like winds in January, and it paid off for a lot of them. We had 7 teams weighing in total weights of 100+ lbs, with the 1st place team coming in with an astonishing 200.1 lbs, including a BRUTE weighing 106.6!”
Few anglers have landed blue catfish topping 100 pounds. The all-tackle world record – a catch made at Virginia’s Kerr Lake in 2011 – stands at 143 pounds.
–Images courtesy of the Santee Lakes Catfish Club
