Possibility teen's 101-pound catfish catch will lead to rule changes, new record category

#1:Possibility teen's 101-pound catfish catch will lead to rule changes, new record category 

If what follows sounds like a broken record, tune in to the background noise.

Widely trumpeted is that Jaylynn Parker’s 101.11-pound blue catfish, caught under a float attached to a bank line last month in the Ohio River, has been accepted as a state record under longstanding rules devised by the sanctioning Outdoor Writers of Ohio.

But insiders are quietly discussing the possibility of revising the rules. In other words, a decent chance still exists that the record book will be reconfigured when the sanctioning writers group meets in August.

Ohio's biggest blue catfish: Complaints, objections swept aside as 15-year-old girl claims record for 101-pound catfish

The addition of a category for fish caught on bank, trot and float lines is being considered, meaning Parker’s legally caught catfish could end up as a record separate from fish caught with rod and reel.

No guarantees, just talk at this stage.

The current all-tackle record category lists 42 species, all of them taken with rod and reel until Parker’s blue cat. The addition of another classification would leave Chris Rolph’s 96-pound blue taken from the Ohio River in 2009 as tops in the rod-and-reel group.