A flathead catfish caught in May crushed the Pennslyvania state record, outweighing the previous top flathead by more than 10 pounds.
Certification was announced last week following an exacting process. The state Fish and Boat Commission confirmed that the big cat caught on the Susquehanna River May 14 by Michael Wherley of Fayetteville, Franklin County, weighed a whopping 66 pounds, 6 ounces.
Caught with a stiff ocean rod and 25-pound monofilament line baited with a live rainbow trout, the flathead was pulled from a 50-foot-deep channel in a lake formed by a 113-year-old dam in Lancaster County. The big fish was 50 1/4 inches long with a 35-inch girth. The previous Pennsylvania record flathead, caught on the Schuylkill River in 2020, weighed 56 pounds, 3 ounces.
