Christopher Halley’s 104-pound cat turned 14.
Courtesy of Christopher Halley
In early April last year, the Mississippi blue catfish record was broken when Brandon, Mississippi angler Eugene Cronley caught a 131-pound cat after a brutal half-hour fight. He caught the fish near the town of Natchez in the southern Mississippi River.
Cronley’s massive fish was 56.6 inches long by 41 inches in circumference and was caught from the same river area where the previous state records of 95 pounds and 101 pounds Blue Cats were landed.
A few months after Cronley’s record catch, Christopher Halley of Brookhaven, Mississippi, landed a 104-pound blue catfish from the same area of the Mississippi with a trot line, setting a state record for this method of fishing.
Apparently, 100-pound Mississippi blue catfish are more common than some anglers realize, which struck many as unusual for many who thought it took many decades to raise fish of such outlandish proportions.
But some recent scientific research from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) has proven that big cats can reach amazing proportions in a fraction of the time many anglers believe.
The MDWFP aged Cronley’s 131-pounder by 20 years. Halley’s 104-pound cat was about 14 years old.
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Mississippi biologists counted ring growths on catfish otoliths to determine their age.
Courtesy of MDWFP
State biologists aged the big cats by looking at the fish otoliths under a microscope. Otoliths are commonly known as “ear stones”. They are hard calcium carbonate structures located just behind the brains of bony fish. Counting the growth rings of fish otoliths is similar to aging trees by their stem growth rings.
“They (MDWFP) called me last week and told me how old my 131-pound catfish was,” Cronley told the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. “I figured at least 30 years. He has gained a lot of weight in 20 years. He ate pretty well.”
“I was thinking maybe 30 years,” Halley said of his 104-pound blue cat.
Halley said some people believe his cat is 100 years old or older.
It’s common to see blue cats over the age of 10, Jerry Brown, director of the MDWFP, told Clarion Ledger. Brown has seen a few Mississippi blue cats as young as 25 years old.
“In the Mississippi, they have a lot of food, so they can get to this size (over 100 pounds),” Brown said.
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