A Kansas fisherman has landed a huge flathead catfish after fishing in the Arkansas River in downtown Wichita.

 Keith Severns of Wichita said his fisherman's intuition told him he might land a big one when he threw his line in the waters of the Arkansas River early Monday morning. Severns said the fish put up a ferocious fight but he finally landed the 40-pound monster. He then called his son to take a picture of him with the fish, before releasing it back into the muddy waters of the Arkansas. Severn says he knows big fish like that have defied countless hooks and he respects the animal enough to want to see it live out the rest of its potential.

The record flathead catfish caught in Kansas weighed in at 123 pounds and was caught at Elk City Reservoir in 1998 by Ken Paulie of Caney.