Keith Lusher 10.31.25
A new Iowa state record catfish was caught in the Missouri River. Nebraska guide George Thompson, who runs Missouri River Catfish Guides, caught a 105-pound blue catfish on the Iowa side of the river near Council Bluffs on October 12, 2025. The fish measured 60 inches long and officially broke the 21-year-old Iowa record of 101 pounds that had stood since 2004, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The big blue cat didn’t come easy. Thompson and his sons had been chasing a massive catfish they had hooked and lost a week earlier. Determined to finish the job, they returned to a deep hole on the Iowa side of the river, set anchor, and dropped baits of cut skipjack herring. “We were hunting for that fish,” Thompson said. This time, when the rod loaded up, they knew it was the one.
The fight was exactly what you would expect from a triple-digit blue. The heavy current and sheer power of the fish forced Thompson to pull anchor and chase it across the river. The battle stretched on for nearly half an hour as the big catfish surged, turned, and pulled the boat into the current. “I knew it was a monster fish,” Thompson said. When the fish finally came to the surface, it looked more like a submerged log than a fish.
Once Thompson got the fish to the side of the boat, he and a friend from Anchor Inn Bait and Tackle worked together to weigh the fish and contact the Iowa DNR for official certification. True to his conservation mindset, Thompson kept the catfish alive in his boat’s livewell and later used a water truck to oxygenate the tank while waiting for confirmation. After the record was verified, the massive blue was released back into the Missouri River to swim another day.
For Thompson, the moment carried extra meaning. His father had always urged him to get a fish certified for a state record. “It was kind of his dream,” Thompson said. The family has caught several 100-pound class fish before, but this was the first one that survived long enough to be officially certified.
The record stands as proof that the Missouri River remains one of the best places in the country to chase giant blues. For anglers willing to put in the time, use the right bait, and fight through the current, there’s always a chance that the next world-class fish is one cast away.
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