Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’ve already seen photos of the 130-pound blue catfish recently caught on the Missouri River, but have you heard the story behind the potential world record? The full story, with quotes from Greg Bernal and his girlfriend Janet? Have you seen the photo of the current world-record blue cat that’s now at risk, or pics of the other line class records for blue catfish?

Well, then read on. You won’t find this version of the tale anywhere else.

For starters, how’d you like to know exactly what Greg was using to catch the cat?  

Rod & Reel: A 6-½-foot Penn PSB 6630 rod with a Penn 320 GT reel.

Line: Berkley’s Big Game, 40-pound, low-vis green monofilament.

Hook: A 7/0 Kahle did the trick.

Bait: Get this: Half an hour before Greg hooked the fish, a 3-pound Asian carp jumped into his boat. So, he cut it up and put a 4-inch chunk on his hook.

Worked like a charm.

The Real Story

“There was a bad storm coming through that night, and it kept getting closer and closer,” recalled Janet Momphard of St. Charles, Missouri. “We knew we had to get off the water soon.” What she didn’t know is that before booking it to shore she’d play a pivotal role in fishing history. At 12:45 a.m. her fishing partner––and boyfriend––Greg Bernal set the hook on what looks to be the biggest blue catfish anyone’s ever caught.

At that point, they had been fishing for about 3 hours without a bite. But the spot on the Missouri River, in 27-feet of water with a nice rolling current, held promise. It wasn’t too far from where Tim Pruitt caught the current world-record (124 pounds) in 2005.

And while Greg wasn’t thinking world-record, he knew the fish was special shortly after hooking it. The beast showed itself early in the fight. “I couldn’t believe it when his head broke the water,” said Greg. “First thing I said was, ‘Oh my God!’”

He had other words to say when the fish tore up his net in a failed attempt to land the monster. Janet struggled to free the second net, which was tangled and stuck in the bow of the boat. “Please hurry,” Greg pleaded. “We’re going to lose the state record here.”

Eventually, Janet freed the other net and they wrestled the fish into the boat using both nets. “We had to use both nets to scoop it up together,” Janet said. “One net wasn’t wide enough, the other wasn’t long enough.” Together, the duo did the trick.

And just in the nick of time.

“When we got back to the landing, the storm was so bad we couldn’t even put the boat on the trailer,” Janet said. “We had to wait a couple hours in the truck until the lightning let up. It was after 5 a.m. when we got home.”

So what would’ve happened if the storm came earlier, say, just as Greg hooked the fish? “I wouldn’t have sacrificed him,” Greg said. “I was not going to lose that fish. No way.”


Click the thumbnail below to see photos from these other record catfish.

  Current World-Record Blue Cat caught on 5/21/2005
  124 pounds
  Tim Pruitt, Missouri River, Illinois
              

  30-pound Line Class Record caught on 7/5/1996
  111 pounds
  William McKinley, Wheeler Res., Alabama


  130-pound Line Class Record caught on 3/18/2007
  84 pounds
  Eric Maurer, Chickamauga Lake, Tennessee


  80-pound Line Class Record caught on 11/28/1980
  80 pounds
  Ron Smith, Lake Texoma, Oklahoma