There’s nothing like catching a river monster fish that ends up becoming a world record.
Fly fisherman Ben Christensen from Port Isabel hooked a 31.55-pound blue catfish while casting an olive-colored creek damsel fly on 12-pound tippet with a 4-weight rod at Pedernales River on Columbus Day, October 11. Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure – called an artificial fly – to catch fish.
“I’ve never seen one that big,” the 45-year-old fisherman tells MySA. “You almost never see a catfish like that.”
Christensen says he fought the blue catfish for about 40 minutes after he sight casted, which is a different style of fishing that’s almost like hunting, according to sightcastfishing.com.
While Christensen is typically a catch-and-release fly fisherman, Christensen says they knew the fish wouldn’t survive if they released it back into the waters based on the fight it put up when hooked. He also says they considered getting it weighed to see if it could be some type of record – and it was.
Inland Fisheries San Marcos and Austin District weighed and measured the catfish and announced the catch is pending a new waterbody record for Perdernales River. Christensen could also land a world record with the International Game Fish Association as the 12-pound tippet record for blue catfish stands at 26 pounds, 4 ounces. That fish was caught in Florida’s Escambia River in 2018.
Tippet is a specific gauge monofilament line that is attached to the end of the leader, to which you tie the fly. The tippet is usually the smallest gauge line on your rig and is virtually invisible to the fish, according to activeoutdoors.com.
Christensen says “it’s really exciting” to see outdoor magazines he grew up reading reach out for interviews about his catch. He’s been fishing all his life and says it’s been a “thrilling” ride.
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