Photo Credit AZGFD

A huge channel catfish was hauled from the waters of Green Valley Park shortly after the Payson Wildlife Fair started. Using shrimp on the bottom and fishing the inlet end of the main lake, Tuy Sayasavanh, of Peoria, Ariz., hooked into and landed the 26.9 pound leviathan. With over 500 people gathered at the park for the annual wildlife fair and fishing clinic, Sayasavanh’s massive fish attracted a lot of interest and excitement. Most folks were enjoying a pleasant morning May 9 -- catching some of the 1,500 rainbow trout freshly stocked or some of the abundant bluegill found around the lake. The lunker cat, measuring over 37 inches in length, shatters the previous Urban Fishing Program record 11.4 pound catfish caught in 2002 from Evelyn Hallman Pond in Tempe. Additionally, this is the largest channel cat reported to the department in 20 years and is only five pounds shy of the state record 32 pounder from Parker Canyon Lake.