Record fish caught with pink Barbie rod

The Nooz: Record fish caught on Barbie rod
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updated 10:49 a.m. CT, Fri., Aug. 22, 2008


WILKES COUNTY, N.C. ? A backyard angler has bagged the state?s record channel catfish using a 2?-foot hot pink Barbie Doll rod and reel.

David Hayes caught the record-breaking fish from a private pond while fishing early this month with his granddaughter, Alyssa, 3. The 21-pound, 1-ounce catfish measured 32 inches long ? 2 inches longer than the Barbie Doll fishing pole.

?After catching two or three bluegill, Alyssa turns to me and says: ?Papa, I?ve got to go to the bathroom. Hold my fishing rod,?? Hayes was quoted as saying in a news release from the state Wildlife Resources Commission.

?A few minutes later, the float went under, and I saw the water start boiling up ? I knew right then that I had my hands full with that fishing rod.?

It took Hayes about 25 minutes to land the fish, which measured 22? inches in girth. Hayes said that once he got it to the bank, he was pretty certain his channel cat would exceed the previous state record, an 18-pound, 5-ounce fish caught in August 2007.

The fish was weighed on certified scales at a nearby grocery store, and a fisheries biologist with the Wildlife Resources Commission certified that Hayes was right.

? WNCN, Raleigh, N.C.