Huge catfish caught in Oregon!

[Raincatcher]

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FISHING -- Eat your chicken livers out, Southern boys. A huge channel catfish caught this month in Oregon's Willamette River proves that we got salmon... and big cats, too.
While fishing with heavy gear at Riverfront Park, Drew Beaty of Salem landed a 3-foot-long channel catfish estimated at 25-30 pounds, according to a story in the Statesman Journal. He doesn't know for sure, because it's just a catfish. He didn't weigh it.
But Gary Galovich, the western Oregon warmwater fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife office in Corvallis, said Beaty's catfish is remarkable on a number of levels.
"First of all getting a channel cat that size out of the Willamette, I mean we know they're out there," he told outdoors writer Henry Miller. "But we get so few reports, and most of them are downstream from Salem.
"But even more so, being able to catch a channel cat this time of year, I mean the river's up right now, and the river temperatures are pretty cold, too. So it's really surprising that he would be able to catch something like that."
Beaty donated the fish to biologists, who plan to study and age the fish.

 

[EOBOY]

Holy Cats@#t Batman!!!!!

 

[JustMe]

I don't want to start anything here but if you are not going to eat it, why not just release it? If that is a female imagine all the eggs she could produce. Just sayin'.

 

[Berg03]

Drew caught this a few years ago. He is on the forum but doesn't participate much anymore.

 

[Big3d]

Wasn't this years ago? I thought that happened while ge was still posting on here a bunch. I could be wrong.

 

[bass]

This was almost 5 years ago. The title in the EXIF data is "http://media.spokesman.com/photos/2011/03/17/..." and then a bunch of garbage. Still a really cool fish though!!

 

[plumbertom]

I'd just like to mention that that photo kinda visually misrepresents the actual size of a 30lb channel cat. You can tell the perspective is off by looking at his fingers.
This is a bit more honest perspective;

That's not to take anything away from him for catching a channel cat that size, They do get larger but a specimen that size is a rare treat, particularly here in Or.

 

[metaluke]

Yes, that first picture has been manipulated. The background on both sides is warped. If that were the actual size of the catfish it'd probably be more like 50 pounds. Coming from the midwest, the idea that this fish is unusual is strange to me. These big 25-30 pound cats are a dime a dozen in Oklahoma/Nebraska/Kansas/Iowa/Illinois/Indiana/Ohio/etc. Channels, flatheads, blue cats. They're all over the place out there. No easier to catch, however. Takes a lot of patience and a little luck. But every medium-sized body of water has huge cats. They'll hit on almost anything. My dad caught a channel on a spinner bait once.

 

[plumbertom]

Yeah, but having seen 100+ lb blues that were caught from SoCal lakes, and personally caught flatheads to 45 lbs, I got to say they have run that fish up much bigger, much than 50 pounds.
What many people who don't pursue cats with determination do not understand about them is that they are apex predators as well as opportunistic feeders.
Yes they also scavenge, but it's been my experience that all fish scavenge when live bait is scarce.
Knowing they are predators helps to catch them more readily. I've repeatedly advised people that that idea that catfish eat rotten bait, which they will if they can't find something else, is just not optimum fishing technique. If you choose cut bait for catfish always use the freshest possible. if you use prepared bait (Stink Bait), fresh containers will catch fish much faster that last years container. Live bait is optimum so long as it's been injured so as to bleed to provide a scent trail.
I've caught catfish on crappie jigs, a seven pound channel while fishing with your light crappie rig will give you a thrill, on bass plugs, jigging spoons, and spinners.
if the noportunity presents itself they will try and eat anything that they can catch.

 

[Gary W]

This an old wives tail but I heard it several years ago. a gentleman was fishing in a pond in the Roseburg area when he saw a large catfish swallow a duck on the pond. He went home and brought back a chicken breast and threw it out and caught the fish. The oregon dept of fish and wildlife responded and told him they did not want to see channel cats in oregon because they can devistate the sport fish population if they ever got into our streams. Supposedly they poisoned the pond. I absolutely have no proof that this happened maybe someone could chime in if you have more info.

 

[DrTheopolis]

they did not want to see channel cats in oregon because they can devistate the sport fish population if they ever got into our streams.

They don't seem to have devastated the Willy or Columbia (although the managers seem to be worried about pike on the Columbia of late).

 

[Gary W]

I grew up in Albany and am in my 60's I used to catch Pike Minnows(aka squaw fish) in the willamette 50 years ago. They were prevailent there and they got pretty big. There was also carp. I used to fish with corn or worms. I hated pike minnows because they always seemed to swim toward you. LOL