Using a Barbie fishing rod to catch a Record Catfish
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David Hayes and his grandaughter Alyssa have been fishing in the pond behind his house in Elkin, North Carolina, since she was big enough to hold a pole. She normally caught a few bluegill in the pond, so when she asked her grandfather to hold her Barbie rod and reel while she went to the bathroom, she didn’t think she was passing up the opportunity to be the next state champion. Upon returning from the restroom, Alyssa saw that Her grandfather David Hayes had caught the state record channel catfish at 21 pounds, 1 ounce with her pink Barbie fishing rod.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported the catch Aug. 5 in eastern Wilkes County has been certified as a record by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
Hayes said Alyssa was worried he would break her rod. Hayes landed the 21 pound fish on a 6 pound test line. It was 32 inches long, 2 inches longer than the pole.
But this isn’t the first time that a barbie pole was used to catch a big fish. On January 5th 2008 a 4 Year Old girl Snagged a Whopper With her Barbie Fishing Pole. Four year old Phoebe Swann reeled in a 40 inch, 50 pound fish, but what’s even better is she used a red plastic worm as bait.
With a little help from her dad, after half an hour of reeling, she finally got the giant fish out of the water. After briefly basking in the limelight, Phoebe threw the fish back in the water.
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Special Reports said on Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 15:34
The Hayes family has a cookout behind the house every year at which family and friends will catch some nice catfish — solid 15-pounders — out of the 15-foot-deep pond. But nothing like this behemoth.
Hayes looked up the state record and gave a call to a fisheries biologist neighbor of his who told him to get the fish to a certified scale. When the fish registered 21 pounds, 1 ounce on a scale at nearby Thurmond Grocery, Hayes knew he had a record fish.
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission sent fisheries biologist Kin Hodges to verify that the fish was a channel cat rather than, say, a blue catfish.
Hodges’ professional opinion of the fish: “It was just a pig.” At 32 inches long and 22½ inches around, it was longer and nearly bigger around than the length of the rod that caught it.
“He thought it was funny more than anything,” Hodges said. “He was just amazed at the size of the fish he caught on that little kiddie rod. If you would have told anybody that you could catch a fish like that on this rod, they’d have laughed at you.”
Hayes, a 33-year employee of a textile company where he dyes yarn, isn’t confident his record will last. The wildlife commission only recently vacated a state channel catfish record set in 1971 when a magazine turned up photos showing that it was actually a flathead.
So it’s a young record he broke. Hayes himself caught a 23-pounder a few years back that, at the time, wouldn’t have been close to the official record. Now, though, that fish would top this one.
Hodges was more optimistic.
“Twenty-one pounds, that could stick around awhile,” the biologist said. “That’s a good-sized channel catfish. We’ll just have to see.”
In any event, Hayes and his grandkids are enjoying their 15 minutes. When the wildlife commission announced the official record this week, the media came calling. On Thursday, when a news crew came to interview the family, Alyssa’s 2-year-old sister, Samantha, caught a bluegill. And Alyssa, ignoring the pressure of rolling news cameras, landed herself a trophy 1-pound bass.