PRATT—After the required 30-day waiting period, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) has officially recognized a 102.8-pound blue catfish as a new state record.

Rob Stanley, of Olathe, caught the fish, which bests the former state record blue by more than 8 pounds.

When Stanley hooked into a blue catfish while fishing the Missouri River on August 11, he was pretty sure it was bigger than most he’d caught.

After a 40-minute battle,  Stanley and his boat partner, Brad Kirkpatrick, weighed it on a digital scale. When it “bottomed-out” the 100-pound scale, Stanley and Kirkpatrick knew they had a special fish.

After calling KDWPT fisheries biologist Andy Jansen, Stanley kept the big cat in an aerated tank near the river. After weighing the fish on certified scales and species confirmation by Jansen, Stanley released the fish back to the Missouri River.

Stanley caught the new state record blue catfish at 5 a.m. using cut bait (Asian carp caught from the river). The fish was 56.75 inches long and had a girth of 39 inches.