River monster caught by 15-year-old may be Ohio state record. ‘Fish of a lifetime’
In the depths of the Ohio River swam a behemoth catfish only a few pounds lighter than 15-year-old Jaylynn Parker.
When she hooked the river monster using the jugging method Sunday, April 7, in New Richmond, Ohio, she was in for a surprise.
“I picked up the jug and started pulling on it. It tugged real hard and I was like, ‘This might be a pretty good fish,’” Jaylynn told WKRC. “He was yanking on me and my hands were getting caught in the line. I finally got all the debris untangled from the line and I pulled him up. He rolled to his side and I just started screaming, ‘This is a big fish, this is a big fish.’”
But because of the massive size of the fish, Jaylynn needed a little help pulling it in. The 15-year-old enlisted her dad and a family friend to successfully catch it, WLWT reported.
They knew the fish was a monster — possibly a state record — but they did not have a scale to weigh it, family told The Cincinnati Enquirer. They brought it to a lake on their property and the next day were able to put the catfish on an auditor’s scale.
Kristen Powell Parker, Jaylynn’s mom, shared in a series of Facebook posts that the catfish weighed 101.1 pounds. While it has not yet been certified, the fish is in line be a state record.
The previous record for a blue catfish caught in Ohio came in 2009, when Chris Rolph caught a 96-pounder.
Jaylynn said in an interview with WLWT the catch was “the fish of a lifetime.”
“I feel kind of honored to do it because it really puts out (a) perspective that girls can do what guys do, and I’m hoping that this shows more younger girls my age that they can do this too,” Jaylynn told WCPO. “And they could possibly break the next state record too.”
And the 15-year-old is giving them that opportunity, as she ensured the fish would be released back into the river. Jaylynn then jumped into the river to celebrate her historic moment.
While Jaylynn caught the river monster by jugging — a method in which anglers attach a baited hook to a large float — the 96-pound catfish from 2009 was caught using a rod and reel.
The two categories are not separated in the Ohio record books, the Enquirer reported. But it doesn’t make Jaylynn any less excited about the big catch.
The high schooler said in an interview with WCPO she has “so much joy.”
“You never think something like that will happen to you until it does, and then you’re like that just happened to me,” she said.
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