Chattanooga: Area pair lands 80-pound catfish

Thursday, April 16, 2009


By:
Jay Greeson (Contact)

For Claude Brown, this fish story can’t be overexaggerated. Brown, who lives in Chattanooga, and Freeman Mays, spent the better part of an hour wrestling in an 80-pound catfish at Riverview Park on Tuesday. “It was a two-man job,” Brown said as he pulled the fish from the trunk of his car. He was talking about landing the catfish, but he also described pulling it out of his red Pontiac.

“I had the pole, and Claude went down to go get it,” said Mays, who also lives in Chattanooga. “He had to climb the rocks, and, man, did (the fish) run.”

Using a bream on spider wire, the pair pulled in the big catfish with a 12-foot pole. Brown, who said he has been fishing for 25 years, this fish is twice as big as any he had previously landed.

“He catches them, I clean them and we’ll cook it together,” said Mary Sparks, Brown’s fiance.

Play this video
Claude Brown and Freeman Mays caught this 80-pound catfish in the Tennessee River on Tuesday. They used a 12-foot pole with bream as bait.
Subscribe Here!
Tech Talk