Indiana woman catches record West Virginia catfish

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va.. — An Indiana woman has become the new fishing record holder in West Virginia. Kimberly Feltner of Madison, Indiana, caught a blue catfish in the Ohio River near Point Pleasant on September 28. The feline set the new length record at 50.82 inches.

Speaking on West Virginia Outdoors about the outing, Kimberly said there were many twists and turns before getting the monster fish in the boat.

“We were driving from Indiana and booked an Air BNB in ​​Gallipolis, Ohio. The wind is blowing hard, it rained all the time, so much so we had to stop and take a break,” she explained.

Feltner and her husband had booked the trip with Chris Souders of Slunger Cat Outdoors months earlier. It turned out that they had chosen the day when Hurricane Helene would pass through the area. The region received more rain in one day than any other day this summer.

“We met Chris and his family for dinner and their power was out. There was a tornado watch. We were afraid we’d get there and our Air BNB would get destroyed by a tornado,” she laughed.

The next morning, Kim received a text message from Souders to let him know that the ramp they planned to launch from on the morning of the 28th was filled with fishermen participating in a bass tournament. He suggested meeting him at a ramp on the West Virginia side, near Point Pleasant. What no one knew was that the ramp was also filled with fishermen preparing for a catfish tournament.

Listen to “Kim Feltner – Record Blue Catfish” on Spreaker.

“We were walking to the boat to get away from all these guys and I said, ‘Wait, Chris and my husband are excellent catfishers.’ We should go to this catfishing tournament,’” Kim laughed

Despite her best pleas and even his offer to pay the entry fee, Souders talked her out of it and they launched in front of the crowd, but anchored not far from the launch to allow tournament traffic on both sides of the river to go out before. they started to get serious. Although they had a catfish in the boat before the tournaments even started.

They would eventually catch a second fish and, according to Kim, it was fish number three that was causing all the commotion.

“Chris jumped up and shouted, ‘Oh my God!’ He grabbed the post. We started reeling it in and he said it was a good fish. That idiot, I bet I fought him for five or ten minutes. He was going from one side of the boat to the other. Chris and my husband were pulling the poles apart and I was just trying to hang on. I would reel in a little, he would take my line, I would reel in some more and he would pick up the line again. It was a booger! she said.

Finally the fish appeared and everyone was even more excited except Kim who knew it was a good fish because her arms were burning. Once the fish was in the net and in the boat, Souders immediately knew it was something special.

“He was hugging my husband and hugging me and he said, ‘You have no idea what you just felt.'” Kim said.

She assumed it was just a really pretty blue catfish, but Souders knew the West Virginia recordings and knew this one would flirt with him. Moments later, he was on the phone with West Virginia DNR fisheries biologist Ryan Bosserman, who agreed to meet them in about an hour at the Robert C. Byrd Lock and Dam to check the measurements and see if they really constituted record levels. . It turned out they were long.

“He said it was a fish about 20 years old. He certified it on the spot, at the dam. It was longer than the length, but I was about five pounds short of the record weight. Kim said.

Shortly after the catch was certified and photos were taken to preserve the moment for posterity, the big fish was released and the happy trio returned to fishing. They ended up catching six more fish over the course of the day, including a 40-pounder landed by Kim’s husband. Kim didn’t forget to remind them both that she had offered to pay for entry to the catfishing tournament earlier in the day.

“We caught everything before noon. On two fish we had over 100 pounds and you could keep three fish in that tournament,” she laughed. “It was just amazing and I never thought it would happen.”