Randy Gilgert Bags 53.5 Lb. Channel Cat On San Joaquin River   By: Dan Bacher October 13, 2008 More Articles by Dan

Monster catfish expert Randy Gilgert, Jr., of Turlock landed a new state record channel catfish weighing 53.5 pounds while fishing in the San Joaquin River near Grayson on the night of September 22.

This is the third catfish over 53 pounds that Gilgert or one of his friends have pulled from this lonely stretch of river over the past four years. Gilgert bagged a 78 lb. 13 oz. blue catfish while fishing a deep hole above the Highway 132 Bridge on November 4, 2005. That fish was the largest catfish ever caught in northern or central California.

Two years before, Art Cox landed a 69 lb. blue catfish in the same stretch of river while bait fishing at night with Gilgert.

The most recent behemoth hit at sundown while Gilgert was soaking butterflied threadfin shad for stripers from his 16 foot aluminum boat with James Callahan of Patterson.

“The fish hit really gently,” said Gilgert. “It slowly tugged 4 or 5 times and then took off on a run and I set the hook hard.”

The fish took 40 minutes for him to land. “It took 15 minutes just to pull the fish out of his hole,” he stated. “I could feel him rubbing against the brush.”

He asked Callahan to pull the anchor and Gilgert worked the fish out into the main channel. Even then, it took another 25 minutes for Gilgert to land the brute.

“The fish was going all over the place,” he said. “It really fought.”

Finally he got the fish next to the boat, but it took both of them holding the net to put the fish in the boat. Gilgert weighed the fish on a digital scale and the fish’s weight bounced between 61 and 62 pounds.

“My knees were knocking when I got the fish into the boat and saw how big it was,” said Gilgert.

On the following day, Gilgert weighed the fish on a certified meat scale at Saunders Market in Turlock. After having put the fish on ice overnight, the fish had apparently lost some weight, going 53 pounds, 8 ounces.

The huge cat measured 46-1/2 inches long and 36 inches in girth. Dave Contreras, DFG fishery biologist, examined the fish and determined that it was a channel catfish.

“It had 27 anal fin rays, a key identifying characteristic of a channel cat, rather than the 29 or more rays of a blue cat,” stated Contreras. “The fish apparently grew this big in an optimum habitat. This fish was humongous, a pretty spectacular fish. It looked healthy, although like any older catfish, the fins were eroded.”

As big as the channel cat and the previous blue cats were, Gilgert reported hooking an even larger catfish while fishing from the bank at the Old Fishermen’s Club the previous week.

“I was camping upstream from the Old Fisherman’s Club when I hooked into my largest catfish yet,” he noted. “As soon as I hooked it, the fish started thrashing on top of the shallow water. The line snapped after the catfish dove into some bushes. I estimated it to be around 5 feet long.”

What does Gilgert attribute his uncanny success with big catfish to? “Experience,” he responded. “I’ve been fishing this section of river all of my life. I know how to recognize when a big cat is hitting on my bait.”

On the same evening he caught his record channel cat, Gilgert landed two other channel cats to 10 pounds. The catfish found in the section of river are mostly a mixture of blue and channel catfish.

“When the fish are spawning in November or April, you can catch up to 15 catfish over 10 pounds in an evening,” he stated. Although he caught his record channel cat on shad, he noted that mackerel is one of the most productive baits for targeting the fish.

Gilgert hooked the fish while fishing a 7 foot Shakespeare Tiger Stick outfitted with a Shimano Charter Special level wind reel filled with 17 pound test yellow Stren line.

The angler has submitted his application for the state record to the DFG. He is planning to get it mounted by a taxidermist.

Lee Porter of Los Angeles caught the current state record channel catfish, weighing 52 pounds 10 ounces, at the Santa Ana River Lakes in Orange County on July 12, 1993.

More Articles by Dan