SEATTLE -- Ahmed Majeed fished a Seattle lake because his friends challenged him. They laughed, saying he'd get skunked.



They're not laughing now.



"I see my name on Google now," Majeed said.



Majeed, 35, caught two huge fish at Seattle's Green Lake over the weekend, one almost certainly breaking the state record. Unfortunately, for the second time in a month, no official scale was immediately available to measure the fish.







Iraq-born Majeed has been fishing since he was 8 years old, and loves a challenge. When his friends told him he could only catch trout in one of Seattle's most well-known lakes, he had to test it out.



"They said 'you're wasting your time,'" Majeed said. "'You won't catch anything.'"



Majeed said he customized his set-up, going with his favorite corn scent and carp bait. About two hours into fishing, he hooked his first big one: a 30-pound grass carp.



But two hours later, he connected with something massive. It took about 20 minutes to land a channel catfish. It was one of the biggest he's seen.



"I couldn't pick it up with one arm," Majeed said.



Majeed weighed it when he got home. It tipped the scales at 45 pounds, he said. That's 9 pounds heavier than the state record for channel catfish, 36.2-pounds, caught in 1999 in Yakima.



He called state fish and wildlife officials, who told him he would have to weigh the catfish on an official scale. He didn't want to waste the meat and wait for the week to start, so he filleted the fish instead. Still, he'd like his name in the record books.



"I'm fighting with them right now," Majeed said of WDFW.



Fish and wildlife officials posted the catch on Instagram, and said that Green Lake was stocked with catfish in 2005, 2011 and 2014. Catfish can live up to 20 years, so this was likely more than a decade old.



As for the meat, Majeed said it tasted great.



"I gave some to my mom, my brother and I still have a bunch in the freezer," Majeed said.



He plans to head back to Green Lake on Saturday. Maybe, for an official record.