Oklahoma Fisherman Catches Massive, 95-Pound Record Catfish

A fisherman in southeast Oklahoma scored a record-breaking catch last month with a flathead catfish weighing in at close to 100 pounds. And photos of the beast show just what an impressive undertaking it must have been.

According to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC), the massive, 95-pound catfish was caught by Bradly Courtwright. He made the catch in Pine Creek Reservoir, located in McCurtain County, near where the state borders Texas and Arkansas. The fish was caught using a trotline, which refers to a heavy fishing line with shorter, baited branch lines that are weighed down to keep them below the surface of the water; common for catching catfish and crabs.

In a social media post, the ODWC explained that the catch is the largest flathead ever caught in Pine Creek, besting the rod and reel record by nearly 20 pounds. However, the prize catch fell just 11 pounds short of the state's unrestricted division record, which was caught using a trotline in Wister Reservoir back in 1977.

"Not to be too Oklahomish this early on a Tuesday morning," the agency wrote on X last week. "But do y'all wanna see a catfish the size of a 6th grader orrrr???"

In a notably on-brand follow up post, the ODWC shared another photo of the record fish, writing: "YEE *and we cannot emphasize this enough* HAW."

While the 95-pounder is indisputably enormous, for context, it's still nearly 30 pounds away from the world record; a massive, 123-pound flathead catfish that was caught by Ken Paulie in Elk City Reservoir in southeast Kansas on May 19, 1998. Per Wired2Fish.com , that catfish was caught with a rod and reel baited with a live minnow, and measured in at 61 inches long with a girth of nearly 44 inches.