Guesses on the fish’s weight ranged from 125 pounds to 175 pounds. When he got home, his uncertified scale indicated the fish weighed 138½ pounds, smashing the existing state record of 95 pounds. The fish was 56.6 inches long with a girth of 41 inches.
“Those pictures don’t do him justice,” Cronley said. “He is a monster.”
The problem with catching a ‘monster’ is finding certified scales that can handle it, which is required to have a fish declared a record.
“You can’t believe how hard it is to find certified scales to weigh a catfish that big,” Cronley said.
After the fish had been iced down for three days, Cronley took it to Van’s Deer Processing and Sporting Goods in Rankin County which had a suitable certified scale. The fish weighed 131 pounds. Cronley said the fish lost weight because it had been on ice for three days.
