angler – Syndication Server

Tennessee bass angler lands alligator in rarest of catches

Justin Wyrick caught the gator in a part of Tennessee where the reptiles are not known to exist.

The extraordinary catch Monday of an alligator at an East Tennessee lake has piqued the interest of state biologists.

Justin Wyrick hooked the alligator while casting a jig for bass at Norris Lake. The toothy critter measured 3-plus feet.

According to the Volunteer Times, Wyrick’s brother Tyler helped Justin get the gator safely on shore.

The catch was so rare that a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officer biologist arrived to confirm the species and deliver the gator to the Little Ponderosa Zoo.

Alligators are not native to Tennessee and sightings in East Tennessee are exceedingly rare. (The gator caught by Wyrick might have been an illegal pet released into the waterway.)

However, the TWRA states on its website that alligators are expanding into Southwest Tennessee from neighboring southern states.

In recent years, the agency explained, several confirmed sightings have been recorded. One of the gators, caught on video at the Wolf River Wildlife Management Area, measured 7 feet.

“Alligators expanding into Tennessee is just another species that we must learn to coexist with like many of the other southern states,” the TWRA website states. “Alligators can survive Tennessee winters by going into a hibernation-like dormancy called brumation.”

The agency added: “TWRA would like to remind everyone that possessing or releasing alligators in Tennessee is illegal and poses safety and ecological risks as well as alligators are a protected species and catching or shooting one is a violation of the law.

“If you come across one while exploring the outdoors in West TN, leave it alone and enjoy Tennessee’s unique biodiversity.”

–Image showing Justin Wyrick with the alligator is courtesy of Patricia Goins

Lake Michigan serves up record burbot for Indiana angler

Anthony Burke caught a 14-pound, 3.6-ounce burbot to shatter the previous record by nearly three pounds.

An Indiana angler has shattered a state record with his recent Lake Michigan catch of a 14-pound, 3.6-ounce burbot.

Anthony Burke’s catch on Jan. 6 eclipsed the previous record by nearly three pounds and marked the third time in 13 months that a new state burbot record had been established.

Burbot are native to Lake Michigan and spend most of their time in extremely deep water off Michigan and Illinois, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

They migrate into shallower Indiana waters during the fall and winter to feed and spawn.

Anthony Burke poses with record burbot. Photo: IDNR

“Unseasonably warm weather and light winds on Lake Michigan the last several winters have provided boaters with a longer open-water fishing season and more opportunities to catch fish that are usually not in our waters, like burbot,” Ben Dickinson, a biologist with the DNR, said in a news release.

Burbot are found in parts of Canada and the northern United States, and in parts of Europe. They spend most of their time at depths of nearly 700 feet.

They’re prized as table fare because their flesh cooks up firm and white.

The all-tackle world record for burbot stands at 25 pounds, 2 ounces. That fish was caught in March 2010 at Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Montana angler kills grizzly bear north of Yellowstone

A Montana angler shot and killed a grizzly bear Wednesday north of Yellowstone National Park in an apparent case of self-defense.

A Montana angler shot and killed a protected grizzly bear Wednesday in an apparent case of self-defense.

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, two anglers surprised the adult male bear while hiking on private land along Tom Miner Creek north of Yellowstone National Park.

The bear charged both anglers in what Fish, Wildlife & Parks described as “defensive behavior” in close quarters. One angler shot and killed the bear.

The case is under investigation and further details were not provided.

The incident occurred four days after two hunters shot and killed a female grizzly bear in self-defense near the Montana town of Whitefish.

The men were scouting in advance of the fall hunting season for non-protected game when they surprised the bear. Both men opened fire and one was shot in the shoulder and required hospitalization.

The grizzly bear had a cub that ran off after the incident.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks stated in a news release that anyone venturing into bear country should make “localized noise” to alert bears and reduce the likelihood of surprise encounters.

–Generic grizzly bear image courtesy of ©Pete Thomas

Watch: Frightened angler chased from pond by ‘hungry’ alligator

A Florida news station has shared footage showing an alligator emerging from a pond and chasing an angler who had briefly turned his back on the reptile.

A Florida news station has shared footage showing an alligator chasing a frightened angler who had briefly turned his back on the reptile.

“Never turn your back on a hungry gator!” Matt Devitt of WINK Weather advised on Facebook.

The video clip is short and it was not clear how far the angler ran or what inspired the gator to chase him.

“Clear evidence the gator has been fed by humans,” one person suggested in the comments. “A truly wild gator would shy away from humans.”

Because the clip cuts off without a proper ending, another person remarked: “We need a Part 2.”

MORE: Can you spot the hidden animal in these 14 photos?

Watch: Huge shark attacks startled angler’s kayak off Oahu

A Hawaii angler on Friday survived a harrowing encounter with a large shark that attacked his kayak as he fished off Oahu. The frightening moment was caught on video.

A Hawaii angler on Friday survived a harrowing encounter with a large shark that attacked his kayak as he fished off Oahu.

Scott Haraguchi captured the dramatic incident with a Go Pro video camera that was still running after he had landed a fish. (The footage is posted below.)

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Viewers can see the shark materialize off the bow a moment before it slams and bites the side of the kayak. Haraguchi kicks at the predator and immediately screams “Tiger shark!” as a warning to his nearby fishing companion.

[mm-video type=video id=01h0t7nnqmjced2gxg31 playlist_id=01g3929z3xrgcfk7jg player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01h0t7nnqmjced2gxg31/01h0t7nnqmjced2gxg31-5568dee8a45a1135deffb91704477a41.jpg]

The encounter occurred off Kualoa in Windward Oahu, not far from where a large tiger shark was spotted the next day.

Haraguchi, who was not injured, explained via YouTube that he heard a “whooshing” sound just before he saw the shark. “I looked up and saw a wide brown thing on the side of the kayak,” he recalled. “I thought it was a turtle at first.”

Tiger sharks, which can measure nearly 20 feet, commonly prey on green sea turtles.

But according to KITV 4, Haraguchi spotted an injured seal shortly after the shark attacked his kayak. He theorized that the shark mistook the kayak for the seal.

Texas lake yields 10th ‘Legacy Lunker’ bass of 2023

O.H. Ivie Lake in Texas has yielded 10 largemouth bass topping 13 pounds so far in 2023, and anglers statewide will benefit from the catches.

The 13.89-pound bass caught Friday by Nolan Sprengeler was No. 10 for the sprawling reservoir on the Colorado and Concho rivers.

It was the 12th “Legacy Class Lunker” donated since Jan. 1 to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for its long-running selective-breeding program. The others were caught at Lake Nacogdoches and Lake Alan Henry.

The Toyota ShareLunker Program collects bass weighing 13 pounds or more. The big females are encouraged to spawn in a hatchery and their offspring are stocked throughout Texas.

Angler Nolan Sprengeler makes his big score with ShareLunker 644 from O.H. Ivie. She weighed in at 13.89 lbs. This is the 10th Legacy Class Lunker from O.H. Ivie and #12 for the season. Congrats Nolan and thanks for sharing your Lunker!#biggerbetterbass #sharelunker pic.twitter.com/SvXFpOpzKI

— TPWD Fishing (@TPWDfish) February 25, 2023

Sprengeler’s catch comes two weeks after Jason Conn reeled from O.H. Ivie the eighth-heaviest bass in state history, weighing 17.03 pounds.

O.H. Ivie, which attracts anglers from around the world, produced Legacy Class Lunkers on four consecutive days in early February.

According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the largest bass caught in Texas was an 18.18-pound largemouth reeled from Lake Fork in 1992.

For comparison, the world record is a tie at 22 pounds, 4 ounces. One bass was caught by George W. Perry at Montgomery Lake in Georgia in 1932. The other was caught by Manabu Kurita at Lake Biwa in Shiga, Japan, in 2009.

Any bass catch exceeding 10 pounds is considered to be exceptional.

Angler lands massive barramundi as bull shark goes after catch

An angler on Australia’s Gold Coast has landed a massive barramundi after a ferocious battle that also involved a hungry bull shark.

Ryan Selvey, 21, was fishing at night from the banks of the Nerang River this week when the 4-foot, 2-inch barramundi struck.

After the catch, while holding the fish on his lap, Selvey explained via TikTok that the “shark came up chasing him just as we were about to land him, nipped him a little bit, but… what a … horse of a barra!” (Warning: the TikTok footage contains profanity.)

Selvey is quoted by 9News as saying the barramundi was larger than the shark “and the shark couldn’t get a good bite on it.”

Barramundi, which reside in freshwater but spawn in estuary mouths and coastal mud flats, are similar in appearance to snook and closely related to Nile perch. They’re prized by anglers for their fighting ability and as table fare.

Selvey didn’t mention a weight but his fish was exceptionally large.

Then International Game Fish Assn. lists as the world record a 98-pound, 6-ounce barramundi caught at Lake Monduran, Queensland, in 2010.

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Angler lands record-tying ‘convict fish’ near Georgia ghost town

A Georgia angler has tied a 21-year-old state record with the catch of a nearly 15-pound sheepshead near the seaport community of Sunbury.

“To be honest, I’ve been telling folks it’s been my goal to catch a state record for 10 or 12 years,” Golden, an avid fisherman from nearby Midway, told the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. “I’m excited to say that I did it.”

The DNR certified the catch Feb. 2. The official weight was 14 pounds, 14.37 pounces; close enough to tie the record catch of a 14-pound, 14-ounce sheepshead by Ralph White in 2002.

Golden, 63, used an oyster for bait while fishing with Capt. Harry Robertson aboard a private boat.

Top image shows Ben Golden with his record-tying sheepshead. This image shows Ralph White with his record sheepshead caught in 2002.

Sheepshead, immensely popular among Georgia anglers, are often referred to as “convict fish” because of vertical stripes on their bodies.

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The Georgia DNR stated that catches in the 7-pound range are common and that the fish “primarily live inshore, often near rocky areas, docks, bridges or artificial reefs, or other areas with barnacles.”

(The world record stands at 21 pounds, 4 ounces, for a sheepshead catch off New Orleans in 1982.)

Sunbury, on the bank of the Midway River, was founded in 1758. On the eve of the American Revolution the town boasted as many as 1,000 residents, but by the mid-1800s it was mostly abandoned.

Explore Southern History describes the Ghost Town of Sunbury as “one of Georgia’s most ‘dead’ or lost towns.”

Search continues for Hawaii angler pulled overboard by ‘huge fish’

Authorities are searching for a man who appears to have been pulled overboard by a large tuna while fishing Sunday off South Kona, Hawaii.

Mark Knittle, 63, was fishing with a friend about four miles beyond the Honaunau Boat Ramp when the pre-dawn incident occurred, according to Hawaii News Now.

Knittle, from the community of Captain Cook, had just hooked the tuna and told his friend, “The fish is huge,” moments before going over the rail.

Mark Knittle image courtesy of Hawaii Fire Department

It was not clear whether Knittle was harnessed to his rod and reel and fishing with a super-tight drag, which could explain how he could be pulled overboard.

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The friend tried to grab the line and also jumped overboard to try to reach Knittle before he vanished underwater.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that Hawaii Island police have opened a missing person case involving Knittle, who is 5 feet 10, weighs 185 pounds, and has curly brown hair and a white mustache and beard.

The search, involving the U.S. Coast Guard and Hawaii Fire Department, was scheduled to continue Tuesday.

–Yellowfin tuna image is generic

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Record sturgeon catch described as ‘exceedingly rare’

A Idaho lake known for bass and crappie fishing is now famous for having produced the state-record white sturgeon.

Greg Poulsen, visiting from Utah, landed the nearly 10-foot, 4-inch sturgeon Aug. 5 after a marathon battle at C.J. Strike Reservoir.

White sturgeon, the largest freshwater fish in North America, are protected in Idaho and the state only recognizes catch-and-release records.

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The sturgeon released by Poulsen measured 124 inches (10.33 feet). The previous record was 119.5 inches, set in 2019.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game, which announced the record on Friday, explained that white sturgeon exceeding 10 feet are “exceedingly rare” anywhere but the deep-running Hells Canyon stretch of the Snake River.

Even in Hells Canyon, though, of the more than 4,000 white sturgeon counted during IDFG surveys over the past 30 years, only 10 sturgeon exceeded 10 feet.

“So, yes, they do exist, but these are very rare and special fish,” the IDFG stated Friday.

Sturgeon populations in Idaho have declined sharply from historic levels because of dams, pollution and over harvesting.

The release-only rule has been in place since 1971. But Idaho does list a rod-and-reel weight record for white sturgeon: a 394-pound fish caught on the Snake River by Glenn Howard in 1956.

The state also has record of a 675-pound white sturgeon caught via set line in 1908.

C.J. Strike Reservoir is an impoundment of the Snake River and Bruneau River.

Poulsen and his wife, Angie, and friend Wendy Guess – all from Eagle Mountain, Utah – are pictured posing with the record sturgeon in the water. Hoisting sturgeon even for photos is banned.

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