"[Alyssa] wasn't in the house a few seconds when the catfish took off with the bait," Hayes told the Winston-Salem Journal.
Hayes said it took him 25 minutes to wrestle the 32-inch-long catfish into his net.
He said he and Alyssa took the fish to a grocery store with a state-certified scale and found the catfish beat the previous state record of 18 pounds, 5 ounces, which was set in 2007.
* Residents in a Pinellas County, Fla., neighborhood awoke one July morning to find about 30 catfish walking around their streets.
"I was, like, 'No way, there's fish in the street.' And I kept going farther and farther, seeing fish everywhere. In driveways. I've never seen anything like it," said Dianna Fernandez, a landscaper.
The walking catfish, an invasive species in Florida since the 1960s, use their pectoral fins to mosey around.
Paul Shafland, a state wildlife biologist, said walking catfish can travel short distances on land as long as they stay moist.
"Scientists say these walking catfish are pretty tough. They actually live in storm drains, and when it rains a lot they come up with the water and start walking around the streets," he said.
Sounds more like an Illinois governor to me.
* Funny thing about Delaware's 2008 boat fishing decal. It comes off in water, or as the bureaucrats delicately put it, "it does not adhere sufficiently."
Some flaw, eh?
Delaware got the decal company (Acme, perhaps?) to put some more sticky stuff on the back, and everyone lived happily ever after.
Here's hoping your 2009 begins your happily ever after.
