I love seeing kids catch fish. Recently, one of my good fishing buddies asked me what was my highlight moment of fishing last year. Without hesitation I answered, “Watching my daughter catch her first ling cod!” As soon as she got bit, I knew it was the target fish. It took all the restraint I could muster not to grab the rod and reel in the fish. She struggled, but got the fish.
Recently, I read the story of Lawson Boyte, a 12-year-old Lousiana boy. I would’ve loved to have seen this tale unfold live. Lawson is barely 100 lbs. and caught a catfish bigger than him, setting a new state record.
Lawson Boyte is all of 100 pounds “soaking wet,” but the sixth-grader from Oak Grove, Louisiana, showed his muscle by landing a catfish that was bigger than he. Not only that, the catfish is the biggest ever caught in Louisiana.
Boyte’s catch—reported by KNOE 8 News in Monroe, Louisiana, in the above report—weighed a whopping 114 pounds on a certified scale, and easily surpassed the previous state record of 110.19 pounds.
Boyte, who was fishing the Mississippi River with Jim Danley, his uncle, and Bo Danley, his cousin, was using shad for bait when the massive catfish bit.
“I was just reeling in to check my bait,” Boyte told KNOE News 8. “When I pulled back, that pole pulled back down to the water.”
Photos: KNOE
