Published: August 12, 2008 · Updated: September 12, 2026
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Historic Florida Blue Catfish Record Catch from the Yellow River
It could be a water heater or a world-record watermelon, but for a Panhandle angler this week, it was a state-record catfish.
James Mitchell was fishing the Yellow River on Monday when he hung a giant specimen of a blue catfish. The 64-pound, 8-ounce fish was weighed by state biologists who confirmed it at the time as Florida’s largest certified blue catfish caught on hook and line in Florida.
Mitchell spoke by phone from his home in Caryville. The town is midway between Panama City and Dothan, Alabama., just west of Cypress Slough. The official 2000 census said its population was 218, but a more recent count in 2007 put it at 232.
Fishing the local river might be a leading recreational outlet in Caryville. At least it is for Mitchell, who fishes it “pretty regularly.”
Panhandle Angler Catches State Record Catfish
He says the river is “way down right now,” which is both good and bad news. It’s bad because it’s hard to get into the Yellow River or to navigate it without a small boat – which Mitchell has. The upside of the low water is that, with so much of the river nearly dry, the catfish all seek refuge in the holes where he’s finding them “pretty easy.”
A week before the big record fish, he’d caught one over 40 pounds —but that was a channel cat. A couple of days later, he brought up another over 40 pounds.
Details on the battle are sketchy. Mitchell told The Times-Union that he fought the fish for nearly 10 minutes. It was caught on a “big old live bream” and 50-pound test line. A subsequent release from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the fight was over in a minute. But who’s counting?
Mitchell says he knew it was a big fish right off the bat. The FWC says it took Mitchell, his son, and his grandson to bring the fish on board, which helped the angler catches the state record catfish.
The blue catfish isn’t an indigenous species to Florida. Their range is the Mississippi River. No one knows how or when they ended up in Florida. The blue cat is often mistaken for a channel cat but lacks the channel cat’s mottled – or spotted – flanks.
Typically, when someone says, angler catches state record Catfish! These types of fishing stories end in a gallon of peanut oil beside a stack of hush puppies. But for now, Mitchell’s catfish remains on ice in a cooler at his place. He says his brother, Dewey, said it could be worth something.
Blue Catfish Record Context
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This catch is an important piece of Florida fishing history, but it is no longer the current state record. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s current freshwater state-record list shows a 73.6-pound blue catfish caught in the Suwannee River on February 15, 2026. For identification, habitat, behavior and fishing information, see our Blue Catfish species guide.
nn”I might sell him,” Mitchell said.
From Staff and Wire Reports
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