TYLER, Texas — Back in mid-November, Jakob Hardy and Luke Skillern landed a lunker catfish that was almost bigger than they are!
The teens fished for many hours on Lake Tyler, but weren't getting any bites. They took a break and went back a few hours later and that's when their luck changed.
It didn't take long before they had a bite -- and we mean BIG!
Luke says the rod bent and Jakob knew something big was on the line.
They battled the fish for about 10 minutes and had to call Jakob's dad for help lifting the fish out of the water.
The teens wanted to keep the fish alive and weigh their mammoth monster so they took it to the Lake Tyler Marina.
That's where Brent Allen put the catfish into a minnow tank and found a scale. They weighed the fish three times before settling on a weight of 55 pounds.
Now that sounds like a lot of filets, right? Not this time.
Luke and Jakob are young conservationists and instead of keeping the fish, the pair released the trophy catfish back into Lake Tyler.
Who knows maybe one day the teenagers will hook this catch of a lifetime again!