Boy, 12, catches a 72.4-pound catfish for a Texas record

Cade Childress, 12, was given a fishing trip as a Christmas present from his grandfather and cashed it in this month by going out on Lake Tawakoni with Whisk’R Fish’N Trophy Guide Service. Then he hit the fishing jackpot.

The seventh-grader landed a 72.4-pound blue catfish that is expected to become a Junior Anglers Division record for the state of Texas. The fish of a lifetime measured 50.75 inches and was weighed on a certified scale at Duck Cove Marina, according to Whisk’R Fish’N Trophy Guide Service on Facebook.

The March 6 catch at Lake Tawakoni just east of Dallas surpassed the current record as well as a pending record in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Angler Recognition Program, according to the The Dallas Morning News.

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The current junior record is a 67-pounder caught by Brayden Rogers at Lake Tawakoni on March 16, 2019. Just a week before Cade caught his fish, 11-year-old Cowen Wittman of Kansas was competing in the Catmasters catfish tournament on Lake Tawakoni and caught a 67.92-pound blue catfish.

James Evans of Whisk’R Fish’N Trophy Guide Service told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors that he expects an announcement from TPWD on Cade’s record certification on Thursday, March 25.

On the trip before Cade’s, Evans guided two female clients, who caught 10 catfish with the biggest weighing 49 pounds. The fish they landed weighed a combined 314 pounds, all caught in about 5 feet of water.

That bite dried up, however, when Evans took Cade out.

“My shallow bite pretty much died,” Evans told The Dallas Morning News. “We spent most of the morning fishing alleys around stumps and timber, but it just wasn’t happening. I’m not sure what happened, but we never caught a fish.”

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So around noon, Evans headed for deeper water, fishing a creek channel in 22 feet of water. A chunk of gizzard shad was used for bait, drifted along the bottom. An hour later, the fishing rod bowed, indicating a fish had taken the bait. Cade grabbed the rod out of the holder and began fighting the fish.

“Cade only weighs 85 pounds, so it was pretty much a true tug of war between him and the fish,” Shiloh Childress, Cade’s father, told The Dallas Morning News. “He pressed his feet against the back seat to get leverage and keep from getting pulled overboard. The fish was just about as big as he is.”

It didn’t take him long to get the catfish to the boat where it was netted. They immediately headed to shore to weigh the massive blue catfish and take photos of it. The fish was then released back into the lake at Duck Cove Marina.

Photos courtesy of James Evans of Whisk’R Fish’N Trophy Guide Service.