Lanier Blue Catfish Sets The Record Bar A Little Higher

Tyler Kesselring said blue catfish in Lake Lanier are becoming slightly more regular. He’s caught five or six this year, an increase from what he caught in 2023. He’s the current lake-record holder, for now…

For Buford’s Tyler Kesselring, it was a fishing tournament outcome that he wasn’t necessarily expecting.

Fishing in the Lake Lanier Catfish Challenge, he went to the scales at 2 a.m. with a winning weight of 40 pounds. In his catch was a new Lake Lanier record blue catfish that tipped the scales at 19-lbs., 5.5-ozs.

While that isn’t very large for a lake-record blue catfish in many places across Georgia, it should be noted that blue catfish are few and far between on Lake Lanier. They don’t show up in WRD shocking surveys and how they got into the north Georgia reservoir is anyone’s guess.

“About 9:30 p.m., I looked over and my rod tip was touching the water and about to tear out drag,” Tyler said. “I figured it was a big striper. I didn’t even think about it being a blue because of the rarity of blues in this lake.”

Once Tyler got the fish to the surface and saw what it was, he knew it was a lake record.

“I estimated it to be 20 pounds,” he said. “I knew the lake record was 15 pounds and caught last year.

“They are rare here. I catch maybe three or four a year, but I’ve caught five or six this year. Their numbers are increasing. There are blueback herring in here for baitfish, and I think that allows stripers, flatheads and blues to coexist. I caught my fish on a cut blueback herring. I released the fish alive. I think you are only going to see the record go up and up.”

Before the release, the fish was officially weighed at Hammond’s Fishing and verified as a blue catfish by WRD Fisheries.

GON’s Official Lake Lanier 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