{"id":640819,"date":"2026-05-13T15:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/640819\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:33:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:33:19","slug":"see-it-blue-catfish-catch-makes-florida-state-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/640819\/","title":{"rendered":"See it: Blue catfish catch makes Florida state history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: A Northern Water Snake in North Carolina made a feast of a comparatively large catfish.<\/p>\n

DIXIE COUNTY, Flo. \u2013 This cat’s out of the bag and into the record books.<\/p>\n

Florida Wildlife Commission biologists confirmed a new Florida<\/a> state-record blue catfish<\/a> caught in the Suwannee River.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n

A 73.6-pound blue catfish from the Suwannee River is now the official state record after being certified by FWC biologists.<\/p>\n

(@MyFWC \/ X)<\/p>\n

The monster 73.6-pound blue catfish was reeled in by Justin Hodge on Feb. 21, 2026, in Dixie County. It measured 48.5 inches in length with a girth of 36.75 inches.<\/p>\n

Hodge’s historic<\/a> fish broke the previous record set in 2015, when an angler caught a 69.5-pound blue catfish in the Choctawhatchee River in Washington County.<\/p>\n

WATCH: RABID BEAVER FOUGHT OFF AFTER ATTACKING SEVERAL PEOPLE IN NEW JERSEY PARK<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA<\/a>, the freshwater fish is native to the Mississippi<\/a>, Missouri<\/a> and Ohio<\/a> River basins, and has been stocked for fishing in nearly 20 states.<\/p>\n

The Suwannee River, where the record cat was apprehended, is a more than 200-mile-long blackwater river that runs through south Georgia<\/a> southward into Florida.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n

A dramatic sunset colors sky and water, silhouetting a fisherman on Florida’s Suwanee River.<\/p>\n

(Nik Wheeler\/Corbis via Getty Images \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In Florida, when anglers reel in what they suspect might be a record fish \u2013 the path to the record books is a meticulous one.<\/p>\n

When a potential record fish is caught, anglers arrange with the Florida Wildlife Commission<\/a> to have an employee witness the official weigh, on a certified scale and take measurements.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n

According to the NOAA, many anglers like fishing for blue catfish because they are strong, savvy fish that are a good challenge.<\/p>\n

(NOAA)<\/p>\n

For any fish other than a largemouth bass, a FWC fisheries biologist must certify the species by physically witnessing and inspecting the fish.<\/p>\n

With the record officially verified by a biologist, Hodge\u2019s massive blue catfish now stands atop the leader board as the largest of its kind ever caught in the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n

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Blue catfish are not only prized for their size, but also valued as a flavorful and nutritious catch, in addition to being a strong, savvy fish that puts up a good fight.<\/p>\n

Whether Hodge chose to mount his record-breaking fish or serve it at the table remains unknown, but one thing is certain\u2014the catch secures its place as the largest blue catfish ever recorded in Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: A Northern Water Snake in North Carolina made a feast of a comparatively large catfish.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1147,2808,473,7221,6632,79,14030,201],"class_list":["post-640819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-florida","tag-history","tag-nature","tag-outdoors","tag-science","tag-southeast","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}