6/4/2007

Huge catfish caught at Utah Lake

PROVO — Utah County resident Elroy Colledge caught a huge channel catfish at Utah Lake on May 24.

The fish weighed 28.1 pounds. An avid angler, Colledge was already ecstatic with the nine-pound channel catfish he caught earlier in the day.

"I was with my granddaughter when she pulled a 15-pound catfish out of Utah Lake years ago. Since then, she's teased me about how she caught a bigger fish than me," Colledge says.

"I don't think I'll have to worry about our contest anymore. I immediately knew that this was a once-in-lifetime fish."

Colledge caught the enormous fish at 10 a.m. It took him 30 minutes to finally get it into the boat.

Colledge caught the huge catfish in the Mud Lake/Provo Bay part of the lake, south of Utah Lake State Park. He caught the nine-pound channel catfish with a piece of hot dog and the 28.1-pound catfish using a chicken heart. He had 17-pound test line on his reel, which was just strong enough to bring the whiskered monster to the boat.

Colledge took his prized catch to Sportsman's Warehouse in Provo to have measured. The fish measured 38 inches long and had a 28-inch girth.

The current state record channel catfish was also caught at Utah Lake in 1978 by LeRoy Mortensen. It weighed in at 32 pounds, 8 ounces.