Brothers catch 101-pound catfish in Mississippi River near Ste. Genevieve

Brothers Carey and Greg Branham have fished since childhood. They didn’t know when they set out last week on the Mississippi River they’d reel in the largest catch of their lives.

During a drift fishing expedition on the Mississippi River near Ste. Genevieve, the brothers, from Desloge, Missouri, reeled in a 101-pound blue catfish. It took them about 40 minutes to get it out of the river.

“I’ve never caught a fish anywhere near that size before,” Carey Branham said. “My biggest was 40 pounds.”

Branham said he felt like the catch honored his late father. They always went fishing together, and he caught the catfish using his father’s fishing pole.

“He always wanted to see what it’d feel like to catch a fish that big,” Branham said. “We said, ‘Dad, we got one.’”

Once they got to shore, Carey and Greg Branham called the Missouri Department of Conservation and met an officer in Perryville to weigh the fish. They took a photo while holding the massive fish. The photo was shared on the department of conservation’s Facebook page over a thousand times.

The brothers have since harvested 50 pounds of meat from the fish. Branham said their family has had two good meals from it so far.

“I didn’t even want to go fishing that day; my brother talked me into going,” Branham said. “I’m glad he did.”