Another New Record For State's Largest Blue Catfish

Bridgeville angler Sydney McBroom with 53-pound Delaware record blue catfish caught on the Nanticoke River.

If it’s starting to sound like a broken record, that’s what it is: For the second time in less than a month, Delaware has a new state record blue catfish.

Sydney McBroom of Bridgeville landed the 53-pound whopper, which measured 46.5 inches long and is believed to be the largest freshwater fish caught since the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control began keeping recreational fishing records.

It was midmorning Sept. 22 on the Nanticoke River when McBroom caught the big catfish from his boat, using a whole bluegill as bait and landing it after a 20-minute wrestling match. His catch eclipsed a record that lasted just 20 days, a 47-pound, 8-ounce specimen taken by another Bridgeville angler, Chris Andrews – and another fish, which, like the three most recent blue catfish state records, was caught from the fertile catfishing waters of the Nanticoke.

“You use a big fish to catch a big fish,” McBroom said of landing the catfish, which stands as the fifth state record of the 2023 .

“I don’t fish for attention, I fish for fun. I fish for me. You have to go onto the water and put your time in. We’d see a mess of nice catfish [every time we went out]. That was just our day.”

His blue catfish catch shattered Andrews’ state record caught Sept. 2 by more than 4.5 pounds after Andrews had surpassed the previous record (set in April 2022) by four ounces. A list of all Delaware fishing records for freshwater and saltwater species an be found on the DNREC website.