44-lb. Blue Catfish Sets Allatoona Record

A fishing trip on Lake Allatoona for striped bass and hybrids yielded a big-fish surprise—and a spot in the records for angler Arturo Medina.

Arturo, who lives in Acworth, was fishing with guide Steve Mark of First Bite Guide Service on Sunday morning when their first bite was from a fish hit that caused mayhem on the boat. And when the big fish was finally reeled up boat side, the group saw not a white fish, but a fat whiskered behemoth—a blue catfish later weighed at 44 pounds.

This 44-lb. blue catfish set a new Lake Allatoona record for Arturo Medina. He caught the fish Oct. 10, 2020 while fishing with First Bite Guide Service.

“The fish hit right at 7:45 a.m., and it tangled up every rod in the boat,” said Robert Eidson, a GON Fishing Report team member and owner of First Bite Guide Service. “They were fishing a 30-foot bottom, and the catfish hit a threadfin shad right off the bottom in an area where Steve’s been on a striper bite.”

Arturo said his group included his brother Jose Vasquez and friends Justin and James, and they were celebrating Jose’s upcoming wedding with a bachelor party fishing trip. Arturo made sure to mention how proud he was of his brother’s Naval service.

“He’s retired Navy, and now he’s a Bartow County Firefighter,” he said about Jose.

“We had just put the first lines out of the morning, maybe 10 minutes, and we were just talking when the first fish hit,” Arturo said. “Me and my friend Justin were both right beside the rod, and we both reached for it. I let him go after it, and Justin said, ‘No, no—you get the first one.'”

The Lake Allatoona Page

Arturo quickly figured out he had his hands full.

“Steve kept saying reel it in, reel it in. But to be honest, I was letting off a bit—I thought the rod was going to break. He had it bent over double, and he was pulling drag. He ended up getting all the other lines tangled, and it probably took 15 to 20 minutes to get him up. When he pulled it in the boat, Steve said that’s a big boy. That might be a record. Steve weighed it on his hand scales at 45 pounds. We put it in the box and kept fishing until we went in right before lunch.” 

Once back at the ramp, they put the catfish in a big cooler filled with water to keep it alive, and they went in search of a certified scale. The DNR offices were closed, and an Ingles only had a scale that registered to 30 pounds. They finally found a scale in Marietta, and the catfish registered 44 pounds even. Catfish are a very hardy fish, and Arturo was able to release the record cat back into Lake Allatoona at the Red Top Mountain ramp. The fish was 40 inches long and had a 31-inch girth.

The previous Allatoona lake record for blue catfish was a 43-lb., 9.6-oz. fish caught Feb. 2, 2017 by Jake Herman. Jake’s fish was also released alive back into Lake Allatoona after being weighed.

Arturo Medina set a Lake Allatoona record with this 44-lb. blue catfish caught Oct. 10, 2020.

Allatoona Lake Record Fish