What's the biggest freshwater fish you've ever seen?

[scubatexastony]

I have a picture of a cat I helped drag out of a john boat up to the boat house at lake Tawakanii. The old fellow that caught the fish got it in the boat by himself. We hooked the bottom jaw on the porch rafter and it's tail curled out on the deck some 8 1/2 ft. below. It's head was probably 14 inches across at the gills, so no doubt there's big cats down there large enough to swallow a hog! If memory serves me right, I think it weighed in at 123 lbs. Biggest I've seen diving at lake Travis would be in the 40-50 lb. range.....oh, and they like hormel hot dawgs....

tony

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

As for 'fish' (meaning non-mammal, non-shark) in freshwater that would have to be a tarpoon, in saltwater that, again, would have to be a tarpoon. Both was about 6-7 foot in length.

Ed

 

[DeputyDan]

My neighbor caught a cat fish that was to long to fit in the bed of his Chevy S-10 pickup truck.

Lake James - North Carolina

 

[TwoBitTxn]

it was just hard to believe because I didnt think catfish were carnivourous.

Catfish are opportunistic scavengers. They will eat anything that remotely resembles food.

Whereas the story does sound fishy, I have seen pictures of flatheads that could accomplish the stated feat.

TwoBit

 

[jeffkruse2000]

Look at these pictures.
http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?threadid=1669

 

[SarahAshlei]

I love feeding hotdogs to the catfish at Lake Travis!!! The ones I've seen are 5-6 feet. One of them tried to swallow my hand (I hope it was by accident). Any fish that can get my hand in it's mouth, in my opinion, is a big fish.