West Lafayette fisherman tells a whopper of a fish story

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – When West Lafayette resident Ben North hit one of his favorite fishing holes on the Wabash River near downtown Lafayette Sunday he had no idea his night would end with the fish of a lifetime.

North hooked and landed a 65 pound blue catfish with the help of two fellow catfishermen and a reportedly "undersized" net.

North said, "Well we put in here (Mascouten Park) at this ramp, and we went downstream and caught some bait then we set up over a hole in the river actually just down from the Pedestrian Bridge.

We sat there for a couple hours and caught a few small fish, and we were just sitting there kind of hanging out and all of the sudden ‘Fish on!,’ and it took about 20 to 25 minutes to get it up to the boat and finally get it in the net.

We took several pictures, did a lot of celebrating, and let her go to swim another day. It’s been pretty exciting the response has been a little overwhelming. I think a lot of people are surprised they drive over the river everyday and not realize that there’s fish that big in there that you see locally."

North said he has been fishing for catfish in the Wabash River for the past 6 or 7 years.

He said he hits the river almost 75 times a year in pursuit of a trophy channel or flathead catfish.

In case you are wondering why he didn’t keep his trophy catch, the 25 year old North said a catfish that size is probably older than he is, and since it was more than likely a female, he released it to make more memories for the next angler.