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Texans Catch Near Record Catfish on a Hot Dog

Two anglers from Abilene, Texas caught a near record catfish. Ok, that's cool. But they caught it on a... um... well, they caught it on a hot dog.

A couple of Texas anglers were fishing the other day when they hooked and landed a really big flathead catfish. The beast was big and was pretty near to breaking the lake record, like less than a pound away from it. Well, that's cool and all. But big catfish - even near records - are not that uncommon.

What makes this particular story an interesting one is that they caught the behemoth on a weener. That is, they caught it using a hot dog for bait.

Brady Rosenquist and Steve Coates were fishing at Lake Fort Phantom Hill last week, which is located less than 10 miles north of Abilene and 200 miles, give or take, west of Dallas.

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They hooked and landed a very heavy flathead that tipped the scales at 60.4 pounds. The lake record is 61.25 pounds, caught by Mark Tate back in 2011. That made the Rosenquist and Coates flathead less than one pound away from taking the top spot.

They caught the big wide mouthed beast on a Bar-S brand hot dog. You know, the company famous for their packaged meats and hot dogs.

Well, there's no further information on the specific style of weeny that the two men baited their hook with, whether it was a beef, turkey or chicken frankfurter or a Jumbo Frank made with chicken, pork and cheese. I like to think it was a Signature Smokehouse Frank, noted for their rich, smoky flavor. But we just don't know.

Likely no condiments were used and certainly no bun, which would have been washed away in the Fort Phantom Hill lake water.

The two men released the big catfish, allowing it to swim and perhaps be caught another day. Next time on a polish sausage.

 Like what you see here? You can read more great articles by David Smith at his facebook page, Stumpjack Outdoors.

NEXT: Burbot Fishing: Trying for a Line Class World Record