12-Year-Old Girl Sets Blackshear Channel Catfish Record

PaisleyAnn Barber and her father, Don, with the new lake-record Lake Blackshear channel catfish.

What was supposed to be a standard day with her father transformed into an unforgettable experience for 12-year-old PasileyAnn Barber after she set a benchmark record for channel catfish on Lake Blackshear.

PaisleyAnn and her father, Don, have been fishing together since she was only 3 years old. They fish mostly around Lake Eufaula but venture around the rivers nearby and the pond behind their home in Nashville, Ga.

Lake Blackshear is where they go “every so often to just fiddle,” said Don.

Don likes to fish on Blackshear between the Highway 280 bridge and Veterans State Park. On the day of the record catch, the father-daughter duo ended fishing under the Highway 280 bridge and caught a few catfish before there was a much stronger tug on one of the lines, which was baited with shrimp.

“I thought it was a limb in the beginning,” PaisleyAnn said. “But then it started moving and trying to wrap around the pole behind the bridge. I was trying to get it in before it went under the boat or around the pole under the bridge so it wouldn’t get off.”

After an intense five-minute battle, PaisleyAnn put the 7-lb., 10-oz. channel catfish in the boat. There has never been a channel catfish turned in for GON’s Lake & River Records program, so PaisleyAnn was certainly excited to get one listed. The minimum benchmark weight for a channel catfish to be considered for GON’s Lake & River Records is 6 pounds.

As PaisleyAnn eyes the future, she says she just wants to “keep fishing” and see if there’s any records in the future she can break.  

GON’s Official Lake Blackshear Record Fish

Catch A Lake or River Record? Requirements For Record Fish

• Fish must be caught legally by rod and reel in a manner consistent with WRD fish regulations.

• Catch must be weighed on accurate Georgia DOA certified scales with at least two witnesses present.

• Witnesses to the weighing must be at least 18 years old, and they must not be members of the angler’s immediate family nor have a close personal relationship with the angler.

• Catch must be positively identified by qualified DNR personnel. GON can correspond with DNR when high-quality, multiple photos are taken of the fish and emailed to GON. All record submissions and photos must be sent to [email protected].

GON’s records are compiled and maintained by GON, to be awarded at GON’s discretion. Additional steps may be required for record consideration.

View Benchmarks For GON Lake & River Records