This catfish, caught Wednesday by Theodore Pride, weighed in at 98 pounds and 3 ounces, about 22 pounds shy of a state record.

‘Tis the season for sharing, and in true Southern fashion, Theodore Pride is sharing catfish with his neighbors — almost 100 pounds of it, in fact.

Pride said he was fishing Wednesday morning at Point Mallard Park in Decatur when he snagged a catfish that took him and another man 45 minutes to reel in. They weighed it at West End Outdoors on U.S. 72 in Athens, where the blue catfish came in at a whopping 98 pounds, 3 ounces.

Pride made sure to swing by The News Courier office and share his achievement before he went home, where he plans to clean the fish and give it away to residents at Fifth Avenue Apartments in Athens.

“I’m gonna clean it and feed it to my neighbors,” Pride said. “I’m gonna skin it and give it to them, let them cook it.”

He said he caught the fish using worms he bought at Walmart.

The state record for a blue catfish was set in 2012 at 120 pounds, 4 ounces.