Loveland man catches 95-pound catfish in Lake Isabella
Garrison Hilliard
Dwight Kidwell Jr., 26, has one heck of a "big fish" story. And his is actually
true.
The Loveland resident caught a 95-pound blue catfish in Lake Isabella over the
weekend -the largest catch in park district history and one pound shy of tying
the state record.
"I've never seen anything this big in my whole life, and I've seen lots of
fish," said Lake Isabella Harbor Manager Harry Scott, who weighed the monster.
Twice.
"I had them take it out of the basket the first time and do it again because I
can't believe what I'd just seen."
It all happened Saturday. Kidwell was fishing at the lake with his dad. "I was
only there for about 35 minutes and I hooked it," he said.
"It" was the giant catfish that apparently didn't want to be any part of a park
district record. It fought Kidwell for 35 to 40 minutes before an exhausted
Kidwell wrestled it out of the water and onto the shore with the help of his
father.
"I finally got him in. I couldn't believe my eyes how big he is," said Kidwell.
The crowd that had gathered to cheer Kidwell on continued to look on in
amazement as Scott helped Kidwell get the fish into a net and weighed it twice
-just to be certain.
"There were a lot of old timers there and they were impressed," said Scott. It's
hard to say how old Kidwell's fish was, Scott said. Normally it takes more than
a decade for a fish to get that big. But fishing-lake residents tend to get
bigger faster because there are plentiful trout - a Blue catfish favorite -
stocked in the Park district lakes, said Scott.
Kidwell has been coming to Lake Isabella to fish since he was about three years
old. Little did he know that one day he'd reel in something that weighed more
than he did back then.
"I think everyone's envious," he said.
Prior to Saturday, his biggest catch was a 50-pound Blue catfish - also in Lake
Isabella - about 10 years ago.
His big fish story -proven by the photos that he had enlarged to 8-by-10 sizes
-will have a captive audience for years to come. Kidwell's fianc�e just gave
birth to their second son Tuesday morning.
And the story could have a sequel. After the weigh-in and photo shoot, the group
released the record-setting catfish back into the water to live - and perhaps be
caught again - another day.
<photo at site>