— The lure of fishing to Landon Evans is wondering just what could be on the other end of the line or "chasing the big one," as he says.

Two weeks ago, the 15-year-old West Johnston High School student had no idea just how big a catch lurked beneath the Lake Gaston waters. But one yank sent his rod horizontal, and he knew he had a fight, one that he was determined to win.

"I've got to get it," Evans said. "It's got to come on the dock. I wasn't going to lose it."

It took 30 minutes and the help of Evans' mother and father to net a blue catfish four and a half feet long and weighing nearly as much as Landon himself

"I had no idea, I figured it may be 60 or 70 pounds at the most," he said. "Even when I got it up to the surface and it rolled the first time, I thought 80 or 90 pounds at most. Never did I think it would be almost 120 (pounds)."

"It was a goose chase trying to get it weighed," Evans said.

He called a local store to get help with the task.

"I called it in the next morning, (asked) 'Have y'all got a scale that I can weigh a fish on?' and (the man who answered the phone) kind of laughed at me because I told him I couldn't pick it up," Evans said. "He told me 'Just because you can't pick it up doesn't mean it's a record fish.'"

But it was, weighing in at 117 pounds and eight ounces. The fish set three records -- a North Carolina, International game Fish and World Junior Angler record.

The catch was good enough to please Evans for now, but he's still chasing after even bigger fish.

"I still believe there's a bigger one out there," he said.