Happy blue year for Shelbyville Catfish angler

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Happy "Blue Year" for Shelbyville Catfish angler

By Gary Garth / The Courier-Journal



Shelbyville, OH - James Noles knows how to start a new year. The Shelbyville resident was fishing in the Ohio River on New Year's Day when he caught a 27-pound blue catfish. .................

That was right after he caught one that weighed 86 pounds!!!!


Noles, a weekend tournament angler, was alone in the boat near Leavenworth, Ind., that day. He was bottom fishing in about 22 feet of water using cut skipjack as bait. He had two rods out when one went down, signaling a strike.

"I grabbed that rod and set the hook," he said. "Then I looked and saw that the other rod had gone down real quick."

His experience told him that the second rod had the bigger fish.

"I put down the first rod and grabbed the other one and set the hook," Noles said.

After an exhausting fight, he wrestled the 86-pound, 51-inch-long monster into the boat and grabbed the other rod, which was attached to the 27-pounder.

He released both fish.

The 86-pound blue was Noles' heaviest catfish to date. He'd previously caught a 56-pound blue and a 62-pound flathead. His goal is to break the 104-pound state record for a blue catfish.

He's off to a good start.

"That's the only kind of fishing I do: catfish," said Noles, who works at the Ford Assembly Plant. "I want to break the record."