The River Rat Catfish tournament record was utterly destroyed by a catch of fish that beat the old record by more than 100 pounds.
The fourth annual River Rat Catfish Classic held in Grafton, Illinois attracted 25 boaters...and a whole lotta catfish too. The catfish tournament saw the previous weight record utterly shattered by a massive two-day total of 265.95 pounds.
That's 144 pounds more than the old tournament record of 122 pounds.
Grafton Mayor Rick Eberlin admitted that he was blown away by the total.
"...they shattered our previous tournament records of 122 pounds," said Eberlin. "It absolutely blew it away."
The winning anglers were Jason Jackson of Godfrey, Justin Wolfe of Bethalto and Frank Kastl of South St. Louis County. The men landed an 80-pound and an 84.3-pound catfish, and a 58-pounder, making their total catch for the first day nearly 223 pounds. Their two-day six fish total ended up at a back-breaking 265.5 pounds.
Here's a video of some of the big fish being placed into holding tubs:
All fish were released after weighing.
In addition to bragging rights, the anglers also won a little more than $1,400 in prize money.
"Despite the rain, we had a huge huge crowd on Sunday for the weigh-ins," Eberlin said. "We sold out of most of our fish fry for people who attended both days. I talked to the guys who fished afterward and they were thrilled to death with the tournament. They said the tournament is no longer considered a small tournament, but people now want to come to it from all over the Midwest."
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