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A Real Big Fish Story
 "Splash," the new world-record blue catfish that
weighed in at 121.5 pounds upon being caught now resides at the Texas Freshwater
Fisheries Center in Athens, Texas.
On Jan. 16, 2004, dedicated big blue
catfish angler Cody Mullennix was fishing alone from the bank of the Hagerman
National Wildlife Refuge on Lake Texoma. Mullennix respects big fish, and when
he caught a 56-pounder, he released it and continued fishing.
That's when the
big fish now known as Splash took the bait, a three-inch shad. After a half-hour
battle using a 14-foot surf rod spooled with 20-pound line, Mullennix wrestled
the big fish onto a shallow ledge. He knew immediately the fish was not only his
biggest catch ever but something special as well.
 "There was something about
it that grabbed hold of me," Mullennix said. "I gave it everything I could to
get it over the ledge. I kept it out there in 10-12 inches of water and kept
pouring water over it. I was too scared to put it on a stringer, or back out in
deeper water."
Mullennix called a friend on his cell phone and asked him to
bring a 100-pound-capacity scale. The fish bottomed it out, and Mullennix
realized he probably had a new state record, so they loaded the fish into a
pickup truck and took it to a bait shop that had a certified scale. The big blue
weighed in at 121.5 pounds, not just a new state record but a new world record
as well. (After reviewing x-rays of the fish to be sure it held no foreign
objects, the International Game Fish Association certified Splash in May as the
new world record blue catfish).
Word had spread quickly as the fish was being
held in a minnow tank at the store, and a local game warden came by and
suggested that Mullennix donate the fish to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries
Center. After being in an isolation tank for a few weeks, Splash was put on
public display during a press conference attended by Mullennix, his family and
friends, members of the press and many of her new fans. The 26,000-gallon
aquarium where she now lives holds a number of fish of various species, but
there's no doubt that Splash is the "Big Fish" in this tank.
That fact is
never more obvious than during the daily dive show, when a diver goes into the
tank and hand feeds the fish. When Splash approaches the diver, other fish make
themselves scarce.
In the three months Splash has been in the tank, she has
progressed from being a recluse hiding out in the back of the tank to a "curious
cat" that likes to cruise close to the glass and check out visitors who've come
to see her. She will actually swim up to the glass and look you in the eye. When
a Fort Worth newspaper reporter visited recently, Splash appeared to belly up to
the glass for an interview.
This Isn't a Texas Cat-
It's Italian!
 After Cody Mullenix caught his big cat, this photo began circulating the
Internet as being Cody's cat. Actually, this cat was caught in Italy by a Dutch
guy. It weighed 187 lbs. and measured 6 1/2 feet. Now, being skeptical of
anything seen on the Internet-I've seen too many of those tourist postcards with
a giant fish on flatbed 18 wheeler-I did a little investigating and learned that
CNN reported a 300+ lb. catfish caught in Cambodia last year. I also learned
that big catfish are caught all over the world. If you can handle this
cumbersome website address, you will be shocked and amazed at the many photos of
giant catfish you'll see:
http://xvella.free.fr/html/eng/photos/000007/index22.htm.
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