Tyler Rutherford reeled in a new state-record channel catfish on July 21 while fishing his family’s farm pond in Wayne County, West Virginia, according to a recent announcement from the state’s Department of Natural Resources. He knew from the moment the fish hit his bait that it was a monster, and the big cat easily dethroned the standing record. What’s even more impressive, though, is the tackle Rutherford used to land the leviathan.
Rutherford did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he told WV MetroNews that he and his daughter were fishing the pond for bluegills and other panfish that afternoon. They were using a pink Zebco rod-and-reel combo that he’d bought her from Academy Sports for $10.
“She’s three and can reel them in, but she can’t cast it out. So I cast it out for her and was holding the rod while she was sitting on my lap,” Rutherford said.
The big channel cat snatched their nightcrawler on the second cast of the day, and he immediately knew it was a fish that he would have to reel in himself.
“I set the hook, and there was a big black and blue tail that flopped up in the water,” Rutherford said. “My dad immediately said he was going after the net. All three kids took off screaming after him.”
The tiny, lightweight reel was spooled with 6-pound-test line suitable for reeling in small bluegills and crappie, not for hauling in record-breaking mud hogs. Rutherford immediately loosened the drag and tried to let the big cat tire itself out. It was a long and tricky ordeal.
“For most of the fight, there was nothing I could do but hold her and hope her little sandpaper teeth didn’t grind through the line,” Rutherford said. “Every time she got within ten or 15 yards of the bank, it was like she knew she was about to be caught, and she’d take another run.”
Worried that the fish wouldn’t fit in the net if he managed to wrangle it close enough to shore, a worn-out Rutherford waded into the water to scoop the tired cat up with his bare hands.
“Even once I got her, I was so tired from reeling. Dad and I grabbed her and rolled her up on the limestone rock. It was all we could do to get her up on the bank,” he said. “It was definitely the fight of my life.”
West Virginia Department of Natural Resources biologist Jeff Hansbarger and assistant fishery biologist Jake Whalen traveled to the small farm pond to weigh and measure Rutherford’s catch. Rutherford had already put a stringer through the catfish’s mouth and he held it in deep water until they arrived.
The massive channel cat weighed 46.7 pounds and measured 43.51 inches long, which was more than enough to beat out the standing weight and length records. The two state records were previously held by Allen Burkett; he set the length record in 2022 and the weight record in 2023. Both catfish were caught in South Mill Creek Lake in Grant County.
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After Rutherford’s mud monster was officially weighed and measured, he gingerly released the beast back into the family pond.
“I jumped in the water for about 10 or 15 minutes, just working to revive her,” he told MetroNews. “She was exhausted, but thankfully, the good Lord wanted the legend to live on. She was able to get back to where she could go back and forth on her own. She is alive and well.”
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