Police: Anglers Illegally Sold Some of Alabama's Biggest Catfish

Some truly huge freshwater trophy fish have been systematically stolen from Alabama waterways and sold to a pay lake in Kentucky, according to wildlife police there.

The Bluegrass State is home to many private "pay lakes," where operators offer anglers better-than-normal odds at catching their target fish, including both farmed and wild-caught fish.

Some of those bodies of water are classified as "trophy lakes," which are specifically stocked with huge catfish weighing over 15 pounds. Owners pay handsomely for big specimens, and then fishermen shell out cash for access to the lake and a shot to land a monster.

Get our free mobile app

The Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources Law Enforcement Division detailed a bizarre heist involving a trophy lake in Glasgow in a post to Facebook on Tuesday morning.

Investigators said they believe the lake had been stocked with more than 6,400 pounds of these massive catfish which were first caught by two commercial fishermen in Alabama and then illegally transported and sold to the lake operators in Kentucky.

Wildlife police said most of the Alabama fish were trophy-sized including some weighing more than 60 pounds despite Alabama law prohibiting the transport of live trophy catfish across state lines.

The police also accused the lake operators of purchasing "thousands of pounds of live catfish that were harvested from [Kentucky's] Barren River Lake, which is closed to commercial fishing."

Ultimately the investigation has led to nine arrests and 180 criminal charges being filed in Kentucky, and police said additional charges are expected in Alabama and Tennessee.

The biggest blue catfish ever caught and recorded in Alabama weighed more than 120 pounds and was pulled out of Holt Reservoir here in Tuscaloosa in 2012.