Fisherman Reels In Massive ‘River Monster,’ Sets New State Record for Largest Catfish in Pennsylvania

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A man from Roxborough, Pennsylvania, reeled in a flathead catfish so massive it’s likely to set a new state record.

Thirty-four-year-old Jonathan Pierce caught a 56.3-pound (approx. 26-kilogram) flathead catfish on Sunday, expected to be the largest caught and recorded in the state once the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission certifies the catch.

Pierce explained in an interview with Penn Live that he had been out fishing using trout heads from previous catches as his bait when he snagged the massive fish, which he dubbed the “river monster,” a technique he uses regularly while out trying to catch catfish on the Schuylkill River.

It was about 8:30 p.m. on the day he caught the record-setting fish, and just seconds after casting his line, he noticed the line stripping off his baitcaster reel in what he described as a “very rocky, very snaggy area.”

It wasn’t easy to actually make the catch. It took an immense effort on Pierce’s part, including a moment when he thought he would lose the fish:

“I had my drag tight, and it was still pulling line. I knew it was something massive,” Pierce explained. “It ran until it ran into a rocky snag. I thought I was going to lose the fish. I couldn’t budge it.”

He fought for a few minutes then decided to release the tension on his reel a bit to trick the fish into believing it had freed itself. Then, once it tried to swim away without fighting, he picked up his efforts, determined not to lose this one.

Eventually, he was able to drag the fish close enough to his boat, and his girlfriend, Angelina Wilson, was able to net the creature.

From the get-go, Pierce—who has been an avid catfish enthusiast for the last decade—planned to eventually release the massive catch back into the waters alive, so he took measures to make this possible. Securing the fish to a 50-inch rope, he placed it back in the water to recover, bringing it back home to place in a 45-gallon tote complete with an aerator until the couple could do their research on making the catch official.

If the record is certified by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, it will smash the record set last year by East Lampeter Township resident Jeff Bonawitz, who recorded a 50-pound, 7-ounce (approx. 23-kilogram) catch in April of 2019.

Pierce was able to get the fish officially weighed and then brought it back out and released it at an undisclosed location in the Schuylkill River to swim free once more.

According to him, there’s nothing quite like making these kinds of massive catches because “no other fish in the Philadelphia area compares to the horsepower they throw at you. It’s the adrenaline rush of fighting a fish that big.”

He doesn’t think that his record will hold over time, though. While speaking to Penn Live, he explained that a much larger population of forage fish in the Susquehanna River will eventually pave the way for even bigger flatheads, which sit higher on the food chain, to breed and grow.