Man finally lands his 'Big Blue'; giant catfish checks in at 85 pounds
David Asaro, of Godfrey, with an 85-pound blue catfish he caught in the Mississippi River near Alton.
David Asaro, of Godfrey, with an 85-pound blue catfish he caught in the Mississippi River near Alton.
* Local angler finds use for pesky 'jumping carp'
Angler thinks even bigger fish can be found in Mississippi
BY ROD KLOECKNER
News-Democrat
There's a group of fishermen who plumb the waters of the Mississippi River near Alton in search of one thing -- "Big Blues," or monster blue catfish.
It's a competition between 20 or so anglers who fish whenever they can -- before work, after work, on weekends, vacations -- in hopes of landing one of the behemoths that call the murky depths of North America's biggest river their home.
David Asaro, of Godfrey, is part of that eclectic group, and he owns bragging rights over his catfishing buddies.
Shortly after dawn on Sept. 11, the 53-year-old factory worker landed an 85-pound blue catfish just above the Melvin Price Lock and Dam with a rod and reel baited with -- get this -- an Asian carp that had jumped into his boat when as he was trolling for a spot to fish.
"He was what I've been looking for all these years," said Asaro, who has fished the Mississippi for big blues from Grafton to where the Missouri River empties into it for the past 45 years.
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