Texas man catches 40-lb blue catfish

HURST, Texas, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A man who enjoys fishing in Texas' Trinity River in Fort Worth can tell friends he finally caught "the big one" after reeling in a 40-pound blue catfish.

"It was pretty amazing," said Dan Smith, 33.

Smith was two hours into a fishing excursion when something tugged on his line, he told The (Fort Worth) Star-Telegram.

Sensing it was something big, he phoned his brother and asked him to drive over his fishing scale and camera.

"I asked him, was he serious?" Larry Smith said. "I happened to be on vacation, but I thought he was messing with me. To him he's always got a big fish on his line. But this time his voice was shaking, so I figured it had to be big."

When he got there, Larry Smith weighed and measured the fish.

"It was exactly the size of my son," Larry Smith said -- 40 pounds and 42 inches long, with a 27-inch girth.

The brothers threw the big one back.