South Dakota fisheries biologists are voiding the state’s oldest record fish, a channel catfish caught by Roy Groves in 1949. The record will be opened due to a fish misidentification 70 years ago.
Game, Fish and Parks fisheries program administrator Geno Adams says for many years anglers have believed it was a blue catfish, not a channel catfish. He says he sent the picture to two South Dakota State University fisheries professors and fish identification experts. Both agreed it is a blue catfish.
Adams says the channel catfish state record will start fresh so GFP has begun “Catrush 2019,” a social media push to increase angler interest in a fish that is abundant in South Dakota. He says GFP hopes people target channel catfish and the state record is broken multiple times in the next few weeks.
Adams says anglers who suspect they have a state record fish are required to follow department guidelines found at gfp.sd.gov/state-record-fish/.
