Record Catfish Caught in the Potomac

The Potomac river has all kinds of fish, and quite a few of them are huge. I used to jetski on the river and was always surprised at the size of some of the fish that floated up dead or washed up on the shore. An Oregon man caught a record-breaking 84 pound Blue Catfish just offshore of Fort Washington Park.

From the WaPo here:

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources reported last week that an Oregon man named Ed Jones caught a Maryland record blue catfish Aug. 13 in the river near Fort Washington.

The fish weighed 84 pounds and measured 52 inches long, with a 36.5-inch girth. But the blue catfish is an outsider in the waters of the Washington region.

Jones, who landed the record catfish and his guide, Josh Fitchett, of Montpelier, Va., kept it alive and took it to the Fort Washington Marina for weighing and certification.

Then it was tagged and returned alive to the Potomac near where it was caught. The tag and release was part of a study of invasive species being carried out by Maryland and Virginia fisheries biologists.

Nice catch and release. The story is supposed to be about invasive species, but as I said above, there is loads of fish in this river, and how much can one gigantic catfish eat?

Also, Fort Washington is a neat fort that overlooks the river. It was once the last defensive structure that was intended to prevent invaders from sailing up the Potomac to Washington DC.