The Truth

The truth is that there is a giant blue catfish that was pulled from Lake Texoma, but it's not the one in the picture.

The real fish was 121 1/2 pounds and was pulled out of the lake on January 16, 2004 by 27-year-old Cody Mullennix.

According to ESPN he was fishing on the Texas side of the reservoir, which is on the Texas-Oklahoma line, when he pulled out the 60-inch beauty.

The fish set several world records as well as some Texas state records.

Earlier in the day he caught a 56-pound blue catfish but released it. Lucky for the fish, Mullennix is a catch-and-release fan.

He kept the hardy fish alive and donated it to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, Texas, where it is swimming happily in a huge aquarium. Authorities there say they intend to return it someday to the waters of Lake Texoma.

What about the picture that is circulating with the eRumor?

It is from a foreign catfish angler's website where a man named Lucas Van Der Geest claims to have caught a 6 1/2 foot catfish weighing 187.4 pounds.
CLICK HERE for that page.

It was allegedly caught in the Po River in Italy, although we've not found any substantiation for that.

This picture has also circulated with claims that the fish was caught in Lake Norman in North Carolina, Lake Leon in Texas, and in Georgia.
 

New state record catfish. 140 lbs. caught in Lake Texoma. This is
one of those legandary fish that scuba divers say they see at the bottom of
dams that are big enough to eat a person. They say that catfish this big
are well over 100 years old.

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