June 06, 2025
Daniel Brown/Facebook
Daniel Brown, of South Philly, caught this flathead catfish in the Schuylkill River on June 1 that weighed in at 72 1/2 pounds. That fish would have topped the state record for the species of 66 pounds, but Brown wasn't able to get the catch certified by the state.
An angler from South Philadelphia made the catch of his life Sunday in the Schuylkill River, reeling in a monstrous flathead catfish that weighed in at a whopping 72 1/2 pounds.
Daniel Brown conquered the humongous flathead near the recently opened extension of the Schuylkill River Trail in Grays Ferry, where he fishes with his father-in-law every weekend for most of the year. Within 30 seconds of his first cast into the river, Brown said he felt a bite on his lure and instantly knew he had something big.
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"Flatheads roll and they like to stay low to take you down under," Brown said. "It was kicking my ass. To be honest with you, I was gassing out. The fight was probably 5 minutes. It could have been a little longer. It felt like forever."
Brown was confident he could bring the fish to land along the bank because he used a braided 50-pound fishing line and an Ugly Stik rod that's built to handle heavy fish. With help from his father-in-law, Brown managed to net the fish and get a full look at it.
"I knew just from looking at it that it was a record," he said.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission requires anglers to weigh fish on certified scales – often found at markets and tackle shops – to be eligible for state records. The agency also sends regional staff to inspect fish in person, a process that can take hours or days while a potential trophy catch is kept on ice.
Brown hoisted the flathead to weigh it with his own fishing scale. He later posted photos of his catch on Facebook, including a display of the record-breaking weight on his scale. The fish measured 50 inches long down the back, 33 inches around and about 11 inches across the face.
Daniel Brown is shown with the flathead catfish he caught in the Schuylkill River in Grays Ferry on Sunday.
To get the weight certified, Brown knew it would likely be more trouble than it was worth on a Sunday. He live-lined the fish in the water while he called the state to see if he could have the catch certified, but ultimately decided to release it.
"We would have had to haul him up 10 feet, and then I would have had to bring him back to my car and walk him down train tracks," Brown said. "It would have just been hard on us and hard on the fish. ... He may or may not have survived through all that until Monday."
The official state record for flathead catfish is a 66-pounder caught two years ago in the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County by angler Michael Wherley. He said he battled with the fish for 30 minutes before he was able to reel it into his boat.
Brown, 40, said he's satisfied knowing he got a record-breaking flathead, even without the certification.
"I know they're not going to give it to me officially, but I would like to be recognized unofficially," Brown said.
Flathead catfish are considered invasive in the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers. They're native to the Mississippi River basin, but the species was introduced to watersheds in Pennsylvania decades ago and has spread widely across the region. They're a popular sport fish with a reputation for delicious meat, but they also have voracious appetites that make them a threat to native species where they're introduced.
In the past, Brown said he and his father-in-law have caught flathead catfish in the Schuylkill River that weigh anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds. A few weeks ago, they caught a 40-pound flathead in the same spot. They've caught just about every species known to inhabit that area of the Schuylkill, Brown said, but he had no idea a Goliath like the fish he caught Sunday was lurking in the water.
Other anglers sometimes fillet the fish they catch in the Schuylkill, but Brown said he wouldn't take the risk.
"I wouldn't eat anything out of that river," he said. "Where I fish, the water that comes out of there is a runoff. It mixes with sewage water. I'd advise anybody not to eat that stuff."
The new trail segment that opened in May starts along South 34th Street at the Grays Ferry Crescent trail. It winds along the river and curves underneath I-76 to Christian Street and the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk. The $48 million extension project includes a 650-foot woven harp, cable-stayed bridge over the water where pedestrians and cyclists have watched Brown and his father-in-law fish over the past few weeks.
"People come by and if you catch something nice, they want to take your picture or see it," Brown said. "I don't have a problem with that."
