There is no doubt, Raleigh Kinsey caught himself a whopper early Sunday morning. Kinsey, only 20-years old, reeled in a 36 pound 1 ounce blue catfish that was 42-inches long.

“I knew I had something big on the line,” Kinsey said. “He pulled pretty hard.”

Kinsey and his dad Rick were fishing at 4 a.m. on the Suwannee River between Suwannee River Park and Nobles-Ferry Road. They used two whole chicken livers to lure the giant into biting Kinsey’s hook.

Rick Kinsey, Raleigh’s dad, caught a 20-pound channel cat in 1994.

“I’ve been fishing a long time, almost 40 years, and I’ve never seen a fish like this,” Rick Kinsey said.

Rick Kinsey took the fish to Lake City for Fish and Wildlife biologist Brian Hilton to examine. It turned out Rick was right. It was a blue cat. Hilton told Kinsey blues are supposed to be pretty rare on the Suwannee. He had to open up the fish to make an accurate determination. After measuring the blue and weighing it in, Hilton said it was the biggest blue cat he had ever documented out of the Suwannee. Hilton plans to send Raleigh a certificate stating it’s the biggest.

Rick Kinsey said there’s more big cats in the Suwannee than people think. “Most people just aren’t set up to catch a big fish,” Rick Kinsey stated. “Since I caught that 20-pounder in ‘94, I set up with heavier stuff.”