David Taylor Jr. figured he had something big on the line below the Highland Park Lock and Dam near Sixmile Island, but he was certain it was a blue catfish. It was a little after 8 p.m. on October 3, and by the time the 44-year-old Munhall resident got it to the boat, he had actually landed a 36-pound, 2-ounce channel catfish — enough to break a Pennsylvania state record that had stood since 1991.
Taylor was fishing the Allegheny River during the Tri-State Hawg Hunters tournament alongside Alex Atkinson of Sewickley Township, who first felt something tugging on the line, according to CBS Pittsburgh. Taylor hooked the fish using a piece of cut mooneye bait he had caught earlier in the river, rigging it on heavy tackle with 40-pound test line, per Wired2Fish. He initially assumed the catch was a blue catfish, not realizing what species he actually had on the line until another angler at the tournament weigh-in suggested it might be a large channel catfish.
A Scramble for an Official Weight
Taylor brought the fish to the tournament weigh-in at the Southside public boat launch the following morning, and from there the chase for certification began. He first had the fish weighed at Reddi Bait and Tackle in Bridgewater, where it registered 36 pounds, 2 ounces — but the station notes that the shop's certified scale could not produce the printed weight receipt Pennsylvania requires for record certification.
So Taylor tracked down a second certified scale at Goodman's Bait and Tackle, where the fish again weighed in at 36 pounds, 2 ounces, this time with the paperwork needed to make it official. Per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's reporting on state record rules, Pennsylvania requires that a record-breaking fish exceed the prior mark by at least two ounces, be weighed on a certified scale capable of producing an official printed receipt, and undergo an in-person inspection by a Waterways Conservation Officer — all of which Taylor had to navigate before the catch could count.
That inspection came from Waterways Conservation Officer Abigail Luteri, whom Taylor met in Ford City. Throughout the process, Taylor said he was concerned about whether the fish would survive the ordeal, and told CBS Pittsburgh he would release it if its health required that, even if it cost him a shot at the state record.
Breaking a Record Set in 1991
The fish measured 42 inches long with a 26-inch girth, though Pennsylvania's record certification considers weight only. Its 36-pound, 2-ounce final tally beat the previous state record by 15 ounces — a mark of 35 pounds, 3 ounces set in 1991 by Austin E. Roth III of Bowmanstown, who caught his record fish in the Lehigh Canal in Northampton County, according to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
That 35-year reign is a reminder that state fishing records can remain unbroken for decades.
After weighing and inspection, Taylor and Officer Luteri released the channel catfish back into the Allegheny River in good health. Taylor said everything worked out and that he felt incredible, thanking Atkinson, the bait shops, and Officer Luteri for helping him get there. He had long dreamed of catching a state record, he said, but had expected it to come in the form of a flathead catfish rather than a channel catfish.
Why a Channel Catfish Is the Bigger Surprise
That assumption made sense given local history. Pennsylvania's overall state catfish record across all species belongs to a 66-pound, 6-ounce flathead catfish caught in May 2023 by angler Michael Wherley on the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County, per the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, and the Allegheny River itself once held the state flathead record when Seymore Albramovitz landed a 43-pound, 9-ounce flathead there in 1985. Taylor said catching a channel catfish of this size felt extraordinary.
At 36 pounds, 2 ounces, Taylor's channel catfish was large enough to set a Pennsylvania state record. For comparison, a 58-pound channel catfish was caught in South Carolina in 1964.
Taylor's advice to fellow anglers chasing their own trophy catch is straightforward: pay attention to your tackle, trust your gear, keep the line strong, and keep hooks sharp. For now, the Allegheny River below Sixmile Island has a new line in Pennsylvania's record books, 15 ounces heavier than the one that stood there for 35 years.
