\u201cMe and my dad got to talking about how the river ain\u2019t never went dry,\u201d Hodge says, \u201cand how there\u2019s got to be some bigger fish in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Between Feb. 9 and 13, Hodge and his dad fished the river for three days and caught 10 blue cats up to 30 pounds. Their real focus, though, was locating and studying the deepest holes along the river. Hodge, who runs an Alweld Invader, a shallow-running johnboat, didn\u2019t have forward-facing sonar<\/a> or any other fancy electronics onboard. So, they plumbed the depths the old-fashioned way.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d just drop anchor and see where it touched and where it wouldn\u2019t touch,\u201d Hodge explains. \u201cI mean, we\u2019d know where a general hole was, but we used the anchor to really figure out where [a hole] started \u2026 and where the deepest spots were.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n With a better map of the river in his head, Hodge was back on the Suwannee on Feb. 15. This time, he was joined by his buddy Wyatt Allen. The two spent the morning catching bream for bait, and they\u2019d landed three or four keeper-sized catfish by noon. Then a thunderstorm rolled in and pushed them off the water.<\/p>\n Back at the boat ramp, the two fishermen hung out under a shelter and cleaned the few fish they\u2019d caught while waiting for the storm to pass. By 5 p.m. or so the weather had let up, and they went right back to the same deep hole they\u2019d fished that morning. Using cut bream baited on big hooks and heavy spinning rods with 100-pound braid, they caught two fish back-to-back before the giant blue hit.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t 45 minutes after we put the boat back in,\u201d Hodge says. \u201cAnd I knew once I hooked him. I told my buddy, \u2018This is either a sturgeon or a catfish. Whatever it is, it\u2019s big.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Read Next: \u2018We Were Hunting for That Fish.\u2019 Nebraska Guide Breaks 21-Year-Old Catfish Record<\/a><\/p>\n Hodge\u2019s drag was cranked down tight, and he was worried he might break the fish off during its initial run. But he was able to turn the catfish quickly, and he says the battle didn\u2019t last long once the fish came up off the bottom. Allen was ready with the landing net until they saw the huge fish.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce he rolled up top and we saw him, my buddy [Wyatt] just threw the net in the bottom of the boat,\u201d Hodge says. \u201cHe grabbed one of those plastic lipper things, and that fish broke it as soon as we tried to mash it on his lips. So then I just wrapped the leader around my hand, and luckily he was hooked well enough that I just drug him into the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n The two anglers kept on fishing, but Hodge was still distracted by the huge blue cat he\u2019d caught.<\/p>\n \u201cWe probably fished for another hour with him laying in the bottom of the boat, and we were just looking at him, shocked at what we\u2019d caught,\u201d Hodge says. \u201cI was thinking in my head, too, that I could throw a bag of corn in my truck one-handed, but I couldn\u2019t even pick [this fish] up with one hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo I called another buddy, D.J. Rogers, and I was telling him, \u2018Bro, you gotta bring us a scale to the boat ramp. I think I\u2019ve caught the state-record catfish \u2026 I can barely hold him up to take a picture with him.\u2019 And he was like, \u2018Well, I\u2019m on the way. Y\u2019all meet me at the boat ramp.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After getting a weight of 73 pounds back at the ramp, Hodge knew he had a record on his hands. (The previous record<\/a>, set in 2015, weighed 69.5 pounds.) So he called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. An FWC officer eventually arrived at the ramp around midnight, and they all went to a seafood market to use a certified scale, which showed 73.6 pounds. The fish measured 48.75 inches long with a 36.75-inch girth.<\/p>\n Up until that point, Hodge and Allen had kept the fish in the water in the hopes of releasing it alive. But after learning that it would also have to be inspected by a fisheries biologist, they accepted the fact that the fish would die and they took it home in Hodge\u2019s cooler.<\/p>\n \u201cHeck, I had him in a 120 quart Igloo and he had that thing full,\u201d Hodge says. \u201cHe was just as big and wide as that cooler, and his tail was dang near curled up in there. He could have actually been closer to 80 pounds when I first caught him.\u201d<\/p>\n Dead Next: Polish Anglers Say This Enormous Catfish Is a New World Record<\/a><\/p>\n That next morning, the biologist came to verify the species as a blue cat. He also estimated the fish\u2019s age at around 55 to 60 years old. FWC made Hodge\u2019s record official at the end of February, and the agency finally announced the record on social media<\/a> on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/florida_record_blue_catfish_3.jpg\")
Photo courtesy Justin Hodge<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/florida_record_blue_catfish_2.jpg\")
Hodge has caught plenty of big blue cats, but this was the first he\u2019s touched over 30 pounds. Photo courtesy Justin Hodge<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/florida_record_blue_catfish_1.jpg\")
Justin Hodge with the Florida record blue catfish he caught in February. Photo courtesy Justin Hodge<\/p>\n