Texas State Record Channel Catfish Or Just A Nice Blue?

According to Fox News: The Texas channel catfish record has been broken…or not?

Josh Garcia of Midland, Texas landed a catch of a lifetime while fishing with Michael And Teri's Little John Fishing Guide Service. The 47-pound catfish was pulled from the North Texas Lake Tawakoni.

After bringing the fish aboard , the guide quickly identified catfish species by counting the number of rays on the fish's anal fin. Anal fin rays are the little bars that run vertically along the bottom fin of all catfish. If you count under 30 rays, it's a channel catfish. More than 30, you've got a blue cat.

https://www.facebook.com/Tawakoniguides/videos/755378408188820/

In classic internet fashion, some anglers (haters) were quick to call this a blue catfish even after the evidence suggests otherwise. However, before releasing the fish, a tissue sample was taken to be sent out to the Texas Department Of Wildlife in order to identify the true species.

I'm no genius, but it doesn't take a scientist to know that you should listen to your guide and that hating on the internet is lame. And for that, I'm hoping that Josh's catch was indeed a channel catfish. If confirmed this fish will beat the previous record for a caught channel catfish in Texas by over ten pounds!