I've heard stories about catfish this big in the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, but have never caught even one myself. One Missouri man just landed 3 of them and these mammoth catfish are nearly as big as he is.
I've had some bad fishing trips in my life, but nothing like what just happened to a fisherman in Missouri. He claims that he was chased by a creature while it screamed and threw logs at him.
I grew up fishing with my dad in Missouri which makes me anything but an objective judge. However, science has now declared that fishing is infinitely better in Missouri than it is in Illinois and the numbers don't lie.