Dennis Drain of the Paynes community stopped outside the Tallahatchie County Jail in Charleston Tuesday night to show off his latest prize catch: a river catfish that he said weighed in at 130 pounds.
Drain said he caught the fish, which was estimated to measure more than 5 feet long, while hook-and-line fishing in the Tallahatchie River near Graball Landing Tuesday evening. He was using cut bait as lure.
"He fooled around there and bit the wrong hook," said Drain, who required assistance from a couple of men nearby to pull the mammoth fish from a cooler of ice so he could lift it up for a photograph.
When it came time to weigh the fish, Drain said he "had to get a cotton scale to put him on because a regular scale wouldn't work. The other scale broke. It broke."
Drain initially said the scale showed "about 130 or 140 pounds," later settling on 130.
"His mouth is so big, I can put both of my hands in it," he noted, demonstrating.
Dennis Drain of the Paynes community sticks both hands into the mouth of a river catfish he caught Tuesday evening. (Photo by Clay McFerrin, Copyright 2026, Emmerich Newspapers Inc.)
Asked what his plans are for the river cat, he noted, "I'm fixing to dice him up," but said it would be later Wednesday or Thursday before he dresses the fish.
"He's on ice, and I've got to go show him off to other folks."
The Tallahatchie River has offered up some humongous fish over the years to a variety of fishing methods.
