Record-shattering catfish caught on Mississippi River

A Mississippi angler has shattered the state record for blue catfish after a 40-minute fight with what he described as “a fish of a lifetime.”

Eugene Cronley, of Brandon, hooked the massive catfish while using skipjack herring as bait on April 7 near Natchez on the Mississippi River.

“We could hardly get him in the boat,” Cronley told the Clarion Ledger.  “I was wore out.”

The fish weighed 131 pounds and replaces a 95-pound blue catfish as the state record.

Eugene Cronley with record catfish

“The fish shattered the previous rod-and-reel record of 95 lbs. caught by Dakota Hinson in 2009, and is larger than the trophy record blue catfish of 101 lbs. caught by the team of Freddie Parker and Brad Smith in 1997,” the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks boasted Monday on Facebook.

RELATED: Catch of giant muskie breaks 25-year-old record

Cronley described the catch as “truly a fish of a lifetime.”

Eugene Cronley (right) admires his record catch

For the sake of comparison, the all-tackle world record for blue catfish stands at 143 pounds. That catfish was caught at Virginia’s Kerr Lake in 2011.

Blue catfish are native to the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio River basin systems, and have been introduced elsewhere the U.S.

–Images showing the record catfish are courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks