Huge catfish caught on Susquehanna River in Lancaster County; could it set record?

[Photo:David Mark]

Mike Wherley, of Fayetteville, was fishing below the Safe Harbor Dam around 10:30 a.m. when he caught the big fish using a 12-inch trout as bait.

"I have a scale that goes to 50 pounds, and this one went right past that, so I thought I might have a state record fish," Wherley said.

Matt Musselman, owner of Columbia Bait and Tackle, 470 Front St., Columbia, said he weighed the monster catfish Sunday at 66 pounds, 6.4 ounces.

"I knew it was the record as soon as I saw it," Musselman said. "I see these big fish all the time, and this was the biggest."

If that weight and the catch are verified by the Fish and Boat Commission, the giant flathead would crush the existing state record by 10 pounds.

According to the agency's website, the Pennsylvania record flathead catfish is 56 pounds, 3 ounces. It was caught by Jonathan Pierce of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill River in 2020.

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