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NEW STATE REC0RD!
Huge 53-plus-pound channel catfish
BY BILL KARR / WON STAFF WRITERPublished: Sep 26, 2008
TURLOCK—No newcomer to catching huge fish, Randy Gilgert of Turlock was plying the waters of the San Joaquin River on Monday, Sept. 22, when he latched onto a new state record channel catfish that went 53 pounds, 10 ounce, overcoming the current record of a 52-pound, 10-ounce fish.
Although a huge fish, it doesn't come close to the 78-pound, 13-ounce blue catfish he caught in this same river back in November of 2006. But that one wasn't a state record….this one is!
"I was fishing for stripers near Patterson in the Grayson area of the San Joaquin River with my cousin, James Callahan of Patterson," said Gilgert on Thursday evening when WON contacted him. "It was low water with a little bit of current, but there are some deep holes. You have to know where they are."
He was using shad for bait, hoping for a striper bite, dragging the bottom with a sliding sinker setup at about 7 p.m. right about dark when he got the bite.
"I knew it was a catfish," Gilgert said, "it took the bait four or five times. It would pick it up and drop it, and after a few times I set the hook. That fish took me 15 minutes to get out of its hole, and then my cousin, James, pulled the anchor and kept us in the current, driving the boat. Finally, I told him 'it's time', and he went to net it, but it was too big for him alone, so I had to help him lift the net."
When the fish finally got in the boat, "it was high-5s and we cracked the beer!" he said.
Gilgert was using a 7-foot Tiger Stick, a Shimano Charter Special reel, 17-pound yellow Stren line and a 5/0 Gamakatsu hook, with shad for bait. When he got home that evening the fish weighed in the 62-pound range on his home digital scale, wrapped it in a blanket surrounded by ice, and took it to work with him the next morning. When he got off work the next day it had been about 16 hours since the fish had been caught, and it weighed 53 pounds, 8 ounces on the certified scale at Saunders Meat. The current record channel catfish for California is 52 pounds, 10 ounces.
"I took the fish to the DFG Bay/Delta office where Dan Contreras, in their biology department, checked the fish and confirmed by ray count that it was a channel catfish," Gilgert told WON. "He was right on it, too…I got there at 11 and I left after noon…they were doing everything could to help me."
He said that the weight and species has been confirmed, and that the fish is going through the final certification process.
Gilgert is no stranger to big catfish, and he caught a 78-pound, 13-ounce blue catfish in the San Joaquin River by the Old Fishermen's Club on Hwy. 132, West Modesto, on November of 2006.
"I've fished every stretch of all these waters," he said. And, we might add, successfully.
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TURLOCK—No newcomer to catching huge fish, Randy Gilgert of Turlock was plying the waters of the San Joaquin River on Monday, Sept. 22, when he latched onto a new state record channel catfish that went 53 pounds, 10 ounce, overcoming the current record of a 52-pound, 10-ounce fish. Although a huge fish, it doesn't come close to the 78-pound, 13-ounce blue catfish he caught in this same river back in November of 2006. But that one wasn't a state record….this one is! "I was fishing for stripers near Patterson in the Grayson area of the San Joaquin River with my cousin, James Callahan of Patterson," said Gilgert on Thursday evening when WON contacted him. "It was low water with a little bit of current, but there are some deep holes. You have to know where they are." He was using shad for bait, hoping for a striper bite, dragging the bottom with a sliding sinker setup at about 7 p.m. right about dark when he got the bite. "I knew it was a catfish," Gilgert said, "it took the bait four or five times. It would pick it up and drop it, and after a few times I set the hook. That fish took me 15 minutes to get out of its hole, and then my cousin, James, pulled the anchor and kept us in the current, driving the boat. Finally, I told him 'it's time', and he went to net it, but it was too big for him alone, so I had to help him lift the net." When the fish finally got in the boat, "it was high-5s and we cracked the beer!" he said. Gilgert was using a 7-foot Tiger Stick, a Shimano Charter Special reel, 17-pound yellow Stren line and a 5/0 Gamakatsu hook, with shad for bait. When he got home that evening the fish weighed in the 62-pound range on his home digital scale, wrapped it in a blanket surrounded by ice, and took it to work with him the next morning. When he got off work the next day it had been about 16 hours since the fish had been caught, and it weighed 53 pounds, 8 ounces on the certified scale at Saunders Meat. The current record channel catfish for California is 52 pounds, 10 ounces. "I took the fish to the DFG Bay/Delta office where Dan Contreras, in their biology department, checked the fish and confirmed by ray count that it was a channel catfish," Gilgert told WON. "He was right on it, too…I got there at 11 and I left after noon…they were doing everything could to help me." He said that the weight and species has been confirmed, and that the fish is going through the final certification process. Gilgert is no stranger to big catfish, and he caught a 78-pound, 13-ounce blue catfish in the San Joaquin River by the Old Fishermen's Club on Hwy. 132, West Modesto, on November of 2006. "I've fished every stretch of all these waters," he said. And, we might add, successfully. |
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