Angler shatters state record with ‘absolute legend’ catfish in West Virginia

An angler broke the West Virginia state record for heaviest blue catfish with a monster catch weighing nearly 70 pounds, officials announced.

Michael John Drake hauled in the fish Dec. 8, marking the fourth consecutive year someone has broken the record.

His catch was 69.45 pounds and 50.51 inches, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources said in a Dec. 21 news release.

Drake beat the record for heaviest catfish by more than two pounds, but was just shy of the length record by about a quarter of an inch.

The St. Albans man was fishing with cut shad from a boat on the Ohio River near Gallipolis, Ohio, officials said.

“I was alone,” Drake told West Virginia Outdoors. “My fishing partner had to work, but I decided to go alone and low and behold it happened.”

The fish was released after an official was able to come out and measure it.

“You chase these things all the time and they don’t just grow to that size overnight,” Drake told West Virginia Outdoors. “So I did my best to take care of it and get somebody here so we could quickly get it back in the water.”

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice congratulated Drake on his catch, calling the fish an “absolute legend.”

“What a fish, what a fish,” Justice said. “Makes me leery about going in the water to tell you the truth, but great job.”

Gallipolis is on the Ohio River, about 60 miles northwest of Charleston, West Virginia.

This story was originally published December 22, 2023 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Angler shatters state record with ‘absolute legend’ catfish in West Virginia."