Monster catfish are not the kind of thing dragged into a boat by 20-year old girls, but don’t tell that to Priscilla Mallory of Vilonia. She just brought in the catch of the night during a recent fishing trip to the Mississippi River, a 62-pound catfish.

Mallory traveled with James Munson for a fish-catching trip that netted hundreds of pounds of fish for the business, the largest coming from Mallory.

She was able to haul in the catfish with a large net, noting she was thankful that more fish didn’t jump in the net at that time.

“I don’t know if I could have handled that,” she laughed.

Munson said the Arkansas River is too low for the kind of fishing they need to do, so a quick trip to the Mississippi helped them out. “We will go there or to the White River or wherever we need to go,” he said.

While gutting and cleaning the many other fish from the trip, Munson said they would hold off on this particular one until the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission can officially weigh the fish. But much like smaller fish, he said it will most likely be cut up and sold.

The fish was about five feet in length and was bulky and slippery enough for Munson and another worker to throw it on the table. He said anything over 50 pounds is a cause for celebration.

“She did a great job,” Munson said of Mallory. “A lot of kids don’t want to put in the time to work and to do something like this, but she is great. She works hard and she has fun doing it, I think.”