Nathan Dicken amd his 10-year-old son Braxton are pretty good anglers. Both of them together were out on Marble Falls, April 12, the date Nathan hooked up with the big blue catfish.

Lake Marble Falls is part of Texas Highland Lakes, all connected on the Colorado River. Lake LBJ is a link in the chain.

Nathan spends most of his time setting trot lines on Lake LBJ. He learned one of his friends had hauled in a 38.4 pound flathead catfish from Lake Marble Falls. On the 12th he decided to pull a couple of his lines from LBJ and move them to Lake Marble Falls 

Nathan and Braxton two days later wrestled the 39.03-pound blue catfish from Lake Marble Falls into their boat.

Both fish set new Lake Marble Falls all-tackle records for their species based on Texas Parks and Wildlife Department records. The previous blue catfish record was 36.7 pounds, set April 1, 2013. The flathead catfish lake record of 34 pounds had stood since March 15, 2004. Dicken is putting his son’s name down as the record holder. After measuring and weighing the fish, the anglers released them back into Lake Marble Falls.

In an interview with the Daily Tribune, Nathan said the he and his family eat a lot of the 10- to 15-pound catfish, but the 20- and 30-pound ones, he lets them go; they’re just majestic, and you have to respect the fish.

He began fishing on Lake Marble Falls when he was about 10 or 11 and began taking son Braxton fishing when the boy was 5. Typically, Dicken’s three younger girls also are in the boat with them, but temperatures were cooler April 14, so they didn’t make this trip.

As a parent, Dicken said he can’t think of a better thing to introduce kids to than the outdoors. “We’re out there enjoying God’s work, the fresh air and all that,” he said.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Dicken