The current TPWD lengths for a big fish award are:

Blue 36"
Flathead 45"
Channel 30"

This is also the min length fo a fish to certified as a catch an release record. I think manh of us have caught a 36"+ blue. There are probably a few that have caught a 45" flathead.

The big question is....has anyone caught a 30" + channel?

A follow up question...what would you consider a trophy size channel cat?

Also, what water body is the "channel catfish" capital of Texas?

i consider any channel over 5 lbs to be trophy class. i have never caught a 30" channel either, but i sure would like to. the last creel study i saw showed that the top 2 lakes in the state for populations of channel cat where Tawakoni #1 and Calaveras #2. that was a couple of years ago.

Have caught probably 5 or so channels over 30 inches, just barely over 30 inches. One from choke canyon, two from calaveras, and two from a local creek.

Out of all of them they were in the 30-32 inch range so not much over 30.

Edited to add: I would consider any channel 8-10 lbs or bigger a trophy. I grew up fishing channels out of a little creek NW of waco and 5-6 lb channels were pretty common for us.

matt

Redchevy, those from cally would be records. A 30" channel is about 8-10 pounds depending on the time of year. My record on Braunig (recently broken) was 28" and weight 8.75 pounds.

If you go down to the park office and look at the records they have listed they do not corespond with the ones listed online, and no it wasnt a record acording to them and their list of records with pictures. This was about 8-10 years ago, but the two we caught were 12 and 14 lbs.

The official records are those maintained by the TP&W. Either way, a channel over 8lbs in these lakes is a trophy to me.

Im sure that is correct, but they either dont maintain the records very well or most people dont file. I dont see much point in filling a fish for a record that you know for sure 100% psitive isnt "REALLY" a record. Past that I snap a pic weigh it and eat it.

Biggest channel I ever caught was 4.54 lbs...but I didn't record its length.

Here! Caught 5 in one year all over 10+ never botherd to measure em' Pic's of a couple!! They sure were tasty

Would you / have you ever CPR a big channel?

I caught a channel that was 9.00 on two sets of scales at EM and it was 30.75". It was before I found out about the big fish awards. Lake worth would be the best bet locally for a large channel. Bridgeport I would guess should have some good channels in it since its never been stocked with blues.

My bets is that would be between 20 & 24 inches depending on time of year and condition.

To the op, about the cpr, if I was gonna eat it no, if not going to eat it yes.

matt

I cpr a lot just because I don't need to eat all the fish I catch. I did CPR the one that was a record on Braunig. BTW, in this area I think Braunig is a better lake for big Channels. But you usually catch more in a day on cally.

This is where we disagree. TP&W is the official keeper of the records, so unless it is listed there, it is NOT a record. Doesn't matter what you our I think, those REALLY are the records.... if someone caught a bigger fish, and did not submit it, then it is NOT a record.