COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KCRG) - 60 inches and 105 pounds, that’s the new record for the largest blue catfish to ever be captured in Iowa.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the behemoth fish was reeled in by George Thompson along the Missouri River in Pottawattamie County on October 12th.

The previous record was held by Mike Rush who caught a 53 inch, 101 pound blue catfish on the Missouri River in Mills County in June 2004.

The Iowa DNR says Thompson battled his monster catch for 35 minutes before he was able to bring it in using a rod and reel. To have the fish certified as the new record-holder, Thomson kept it in a large live well with diffused oxygen while traveling to a certified scale.

After it was weighed, Thompson released the fish back into the Missouri River where t

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