By Ed Zieralski
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 29, 2008
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports...catfish280.jpg
ED ZIERALSKI / Union-TribuneWhen Steve Oudomsouk (center) landed a potential state-record blue catfish at San Vicente on July 24, he followed his cultural instincts learned in Southeast Asia. He and his buddies kept fishing.
San Diego is known worldwide for its heavyweight largemouth bass, but it was a giant blue catfish that set a record Thursday at San Vicente.
Steve Oudomsouk, 58, of San Diego landed a 113.4-pound blue catfish while fishing off Quaide Point at the reservoir. The catch shattered the state record for blue catfish, a 101-pounder caught and released at San Vicente by Roger Rohrbouck in 2000.
Oudomsouk's son, Saki, translating for his Laotian father, said yesterday the catch was made with 15-pound Berkley Trilene line on a Shimano Triton reel. He said his father fought the giant blue for 20 minutes before boating it.
“The fish is in a freezer,” Saki Oudomsouk said. “Fish and Game is going to check it and take some DNA samples. They want to know why this fish got so big.”
Oudomsouk came close to getting an International Game Fish Association line-class world record. There is no 15-pound-test class, but the record for 16-pound line is a 116-pound, 12-ounce blue catfish caught by Charles Ashley Jr. on the Mississippi River in Arkansas on Aug. 3, 2001.
Rohrbouck's catch remains an IGFA line-class world record for 12-pound line. Rohrbouck used 10-pound line to catch his huge catfish, but it qualified as a record for 12-pound since there is no 10-pound class.
This catfish, now in a freezer, likely was part of a plant of 1.25-to 2.50-pound blue cats stocked in San Vicente in 1985.
