ATLANTA (AP) — An Alabama teenager has set a Florida state record for catching the biggest flathead catfish.
Multiple news media reports that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says 13-year-old Charles Patchen of Gordon, Alabama, caught a 63.8-pound flathead. Patchen pulled in the enormous catfish on a Zebco 33 reel with a 14-pound test line on May 15 in the Chattahoochee River.
It took Patchen nearly two hours to land the big fish.
The flathead beats the previously certified record holder by more than eight pounds. It was 48.03 inches long with a 35.43-inch girth.
FWC biologist Katie Woodside certified the measurements the day after the fish was caught.
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