Dale Russell Lowe, Jr. has caught big catfish before, just not a “Monster Catfish”. He was fishing the Ice Bowl Tournament on Buggs Island Lake. “My cousin Stephen Faircloth fishes that tournament with me every year,” said Lowe. “I had two of the most important people in the world with me on the boat. It was a bonus to have Stephen and my son Chase with me.”
Lowe had good reason to expect a good tournament. “We got 3rd last year. There were 108 boats and we placed third with a 53.4-pound fish.”
Lowe’s personal best was over 100 pounds. “I caught a 100-pound blue cat in December 2015 in the James River,” declared Lowe. “He bottomed out my 100-pound spring scales and I didn’t have anything to keep him alive to get it certified. So, I put him back and called it 100. My best catfish out of Buggs had been a 75-pound blue and a 45-pound flathead.”
With the good vibes going, Team Lowe started out fishing a flat near the river channel on a cold and windy day. “I was rigged with Big Cat Fever Rods, 40-pound test Slime Line, Mad Catter HD Hooks on about 18 inches of 60-pound mono leader and a 3-ounce no roll sinker,” Lowe said. “I set all the rods in Fish Bite Rod Holders.”
“We were getting ready to leave that spot to get out of the wind,” recalled Lowe. “But for some reason we decided to give it ten more minutes. I turned around and saw the rod going down.”
“We were anchor-fishing with bait on the bottom,” continued Lowe. “We were using small 2×2 pieces of cut shad and carp. I’m not sure which bait the fish hit. I knew it was a really big fish when reeling it in, but didn’t realize it was that big until we got it in the net. We couldn’t get it in the boat at first!”
The fish put up an awesome fight for about 10 minutes. ”My cousin Stephen got the big cat’s head in the net the first time he surfaced. I had to grab the net and push his tail in to complete the job. Stephen looked at me and said, ‘Well, we just won the tournament’.”
“My boy was jumping up and down and saying ‘yes, we are going to win the tournament!’ He was smiling from ear to ear with excitement. He’s seen a 100 pounder before and he knew this one was way bigger.”
After that, the main goal was to keep the fish alive. “I’m strictly CPR,” acknowledged Lowe. “After a struggle, we got the fish in the boat. We could not pick it up to put it in my 100-gallon live well. I tried to call for help and no one was answering. After quite a struggle and some bear hugs we managed to get him in the tank.”
“I finally got hold of a good friend, Austin Sartin, of North Carolina Marine Fabrication. Austin has a huge tank. After convincing him that I was not telling a joke, he met me half way with the tank.”
“When Dale told me he had the state record in his boat my first thought was that he’s so excited he doesn’t realize state record equals the world record,” said Sartin. “Since he already had a 100 pound fish under his belt, I trimmed my boat and hauled butt straight to him. At first glance, it was bigger than I could have imagined.”
“We got the fish in my tank,” continued Sartin. “I built my tank based on the current world record length and girth. Once in the tank, the fish was safe as it gets.”
“Everyone gathered around to see the fish,” explained Lowe. “But, I wouldn’t take it out until weigh-in, to reduce the stress on the fish.”
When all was said and done the big cat weighed 141.76 pounds, just 2 pounds short of a state and world record. It measured 61×46 inches and swam away strong on release.