HOMEDALE, Idaho — Jared Holt of Homedale has a knack for catching big fish.
While fishing on the Snake River earlier this month, he hauled up a flathead catfish that measured 43 inches long -- just one inch longer than the previous record-holding fish caught in 2020, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
Who had the old record? None other than Holt himself.
Holt's catch on July 9 is a new state catch-and-release record for flathead catfish. Idaho has several species of catfish, the most common of which are channel catfish, brown bullhead and black bullhead. Flathead catfish are found only in the Snake River, mostly in Brownlee Reservoir and upstream from it -- including Owyhee County, where Holt made his record catch.
Catch-and-release records are based on the length of the fish that are released alive. They began in 2016. The 43-inch fish Holt caught is one of the longest fish of any species on that list -- only a 49-inch northern pike in Coeur d'Alene Lake and a 119.5-inch white sturgeon in the Snake River caught in 2020 and 2019, respectively, were longer.
Idaho Fish and Game also tracks certified weight records, in which the fish were harvested rather than released. The largest certified-weight record flathead catfish, weighing in at 58.5 pounds, was caught in 1994 in Brownlee Reservoir. That fish measured 48 inches. The largest catch by certified weight for any species of fish was a 675-pound white sturgeon caught in 1908 in the Snake River. Harvesting white sturgeon is no longer allowed in Idaho.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist: