Tag: Fishing

Family with ‘zero crocodile sense’ risks death while fishing by crocs

Video footage from an Australian tour company shows “people blatantly risking their lives” by fishing near multiple saltwater crocodiles.

An Australian tour company posted video footage of a family that was having a picnic on the road with kids and adults constantly at the water’s edge as they fished.

The footage is from Cahills Crossing, a popular tourist attraction in Kakadu National Park where crocodiles can safely be watched from three viewing platforms alongside the East Alligator River.

The crocodiles are drawn to this area by mullet and barramundi, fish they feed on as the tide pushes in and over the road that leads to Arnhem Land, according to Parks Australia.

It also draws ignorant families and fishermen.

“It’s staggering how often I see people crossing too high or standing way too close to the water fishing,” local tour guide David MacMahon told Yahoo Australia. “There have been two crocodile fatalities at that crossing and with the remarkably stupid behavior I see it’s lucky there isn’t more.

“Keeping safe around crocodiles is easy! They live in the water and we stay on land, a couple of meters back. That’s all it takes.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_KmcJcyGMS/

The tour guide at Cyaround Australia Tours has been frequenting the crossing for six years.

“In that time, I’ve seen some absolutely crazy things happen here with people blatantly risking their lives near multiple large saltwater crocodiles,” the guide for Cyaround Australia Tours wrote on Instagram, where the video footage can be watched in case it doesn’t show up on your server.

“Everything from people walking their children and dogs across the road at low tide, to people slipping over trying to pull in a fish with a big croc chasing the fish.

“Today was no better. This family was literally having a picnic on the road with the kids constantly on the water’s edge and absolutely zero crocodile sense. At this time there was close to 10 visible large crocs within 50m of them and probably another 25 crocs we couldn’t see at the time.”

MacMahon identified the young child climbing on the rock wearing a green T-shirt and hat as a “perfect size snack for a crocodile.”

“We’ve got to stop behavior like this,” MacMahon added. “We need to teach people how to stay away from the water. Otherwise, someone’s going to get taken. It’s only a matter of time, and then everybody suffers.”

$3.7M for a 77.5-pound white marlin is among millions paid in tourney

Two other fish caught in the White Marlin Open, the world’s largest billfishing tournament, were worth over a million dollars.

An angler aboard the boat called Waste Knot landed a 77.5-pound white marlin that earned his team a whopping $3,699,630 in the prestigious White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland.

The catch made by Ven Poole of Raleigh, N.C., allowed his team to cash in on a variety of jackpots that contributed to the amazing cash payout out from the total prize money of $8.59 million.

Waste Knot wasn’t the only boat to make more than a million dollars in what is dubbed as the world’s largest billfishing tournament.

Noah McVicker of Ocean City boated a 76-pound white marlin that was worth $1,797,119 for the team of Billfisher. And Rob Jones of Cincinnati caught a 220.5-pound tuna to earn his team, Blue Runner, a nice prize of $1,007,012.

“We are incredibly proud of how this year’s White Marlin Open unfolded, despite the challenges posed by the weather,” said Jim Motsko, Tournament Director and Founder of the White Marlin Open. “The level of competition was outstanding, with some of the most impressive catches in the tournament’s history.”

Among the impressive catches was an 897.5-pound blue marlin caught by Lance Blakemore of Horseheads, N.Y., on the Stone Cutter and an 894-pound blue marlin landed by Phil Key of Millers Island, Maryland, aboard Moore Bills. Those fish were worth $520,374 and $410,936, respectively.

All told, 318 boats participated in the event with 1,824 pounds of fish donated to the Maryland Food Bank through a partnership with Catch-N-Carry.

Photos courtesy of White Marlin Open and Unscene Productions.

Rare catch in Lake Erie called a ‘unicorn,’ and a fish of a lifetime

A teen fishing in a tournament thought he had hooked a big steelhead, but once it was boated, he quickly realized its true identity.

A teen fishing in a walleye/steelhead tournament thought he had hooked a big steelhead, but once the fish was boated, he quickly realized it was a salmon species that was out of place in Lake Erie. It was an Atlantic salmon.

Colton Alex, an experienced fisherman at age 18, was fishing in the tournament with Capt. Joe Nemet of Nemesis Sport Fishing when the fish hit a spoon 65 feet down, according to GoErie.

“It fought like a bigger steelhead,” Alex told GoErie. “Once it was netted, as soon as I felt the jaw, saw the jaw, I thought ‘OK, this is a coho [salmon],’ but as soon as I saw the spots, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is an Atlantic salmon.’

“This is probably the rarest catch I’ve had on Lake Erie. Definitely, it’s kind of a unicorn of a fish for sure…

“I’ve caught my fair share of salmon. I caught Atlantics in Ontario, but I never caught one in Erie or even seen one being caught, and it was by far the biggest one I even heard of being caught.”

The fish measured 30 inches and weighed 10.4 pounds.

“It was the biggest Atlantic salmon I’ve ever seen,” Nemet (above, holding fish) told GoErie. “If you were going to tell me I was going to catch a 10.4-pound Atlantic salmon, I would tell you it was probably going to be on Lake Ontario, not Lake Erie.”

Mark Haffley, a biologist for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, told GoErie that Atlantic salmon are rare in Lake Erie and that they’ve seen some each year caught in the tributary fishery. He added that “they are being stocked in the southern tip of Lake Huron and that is more than likely how they are getting here.”

Catches of Atlantic salmon in Erie will continue to be uncommon, Haffley said.

“Getting salmon here is uncommon and getting an Atlantic [salmon] here is even more uncommon,” Nemet told GoErie. “It’s definitely a fish of a lifetime.”

Photos of Colton Alex and Joe Nemet holding the fish courtesy of Alex. 

Fishing show host boats giant tarpon, asks not to be judged

Paul Worsteling battled the “silver king” for two hours in the Pacific off Colombia. He had hoped to set the tarpon free.

A TV fishing show host has asked social-media followers to withhold judgement after sharing an image showing him posing with a massive tarpon that he landed recently off Colombia.

“BEFORE YOU JUDGE – PLEASE READ THE POST,” Paul Worsteling, of the Australia-based iFish TV, implored via Instagram.

Tarpon, known for their power and spectacular acrobatics, are listed globally as vulnerable. Most anglers release the “silver kings” whenever possible.

Worsteling, who was fishing out of Darien Lodge, said he casted a lure to the tarpon and fought the “beast” for two hours before it was alongside the boat.

“Unfortunately she fought to the death and could not be revived on the leader,” Worsteling bemoaned.

Worsteling added that tarpon, which range from Virginia to Brazil in the western Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, are considered invasive in the Pacific off Colombia. (Their dispersal into the Pacific was via the Panama Canal.)

“The upside to this is Tarpon are an invasive species in Colombia and very much appreciated by the small local community we are staying with,” Worsteling stated Friday. “It’s been an afternoon of joy bringing the fish back and watching as the locals all come together to harvest and distribute the fish.”

Worsteling did not provide a length or weight of the tarpon.

The world record for tarpon, according to the International Game Fish Assn., stands at 286 pounds, 9 ounces. That gargantuan fish was caught in the Atlantic off Rubane, Guinea-Bissau, in 2003.

‘Tax man’ comes calling for angler battling giant tuna

Fiji angler Brock Harmer is left with only the head of prized game fish after shark swoops in to claim its share.

A sportfishing guide in Fiji has provided striking evidence of what can happen if a hooked game fish puts up too long of a fight.

“The emotional rollercoaster of chasing doggies,” Jana Crossingham stated via Instagram, referring to an image showing the severed head of a giant dogtooth tuna. “So close yet so far…”

Crossingham told FTW Outdoors that a shark claimed the body of the estimated 110-pound dogtooth tuna, leaving only the head for angler Brock Harmer.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jaga Crossingham (@jagafiji)

The image, showing an impressive set teeth and jaws, inspired one social-media follower to comment: “That would [still] make an epic skull mount.”

Many anglers around the world jokingly refer to a shark that chomps a hooked fish as the tax collector, or tax man.

Jaga Crossingham with what was left of his catch after pilot whales moved in.

Crossingham explained that sharks aren’t the only collectors and shared an image of the guide hoisting what was left of a dogtooth he recently landed.

In this instance the tax collectors were “a pack of pilot whales.”

Fisherman man pleads ignorance after killing great white shark

The New Zealand man, who removed the protected shark’s head and jaw, claimed to have had an excuse.

A New Zealand fisherman who recently captured and decapitated a protected great white shark has been fined $600 – his excuse being that he did not  know what type of shark he had caught.

The nation’s Department of Conservation announced Friday that its investigation began March 15, after a Māori elder notified authorities after she spotted the headless shark carcass near the Mahia Boat Ramp.

(View a graphic image of the carcass in this link.)

The fisherman was located and confessed to catching the shark and removing its head and jaw. The man told authorities he did not know it was a white shark.

“As well as failing to report his capture of the animal, the man received the infringement for being in possession of the head and jaw of the shark without a relevant authority under the Wildlife Act,” said the DOC’s Matt Tong.

Some on social media did not believe the man’s story. The Blue Planet Society stated via X: “His defense? Claims he didn’t know it was a great white shark. Even though he kept the head.”

The shark’s head and jaw were donated to the Māori community.

Great white sharks are protected under New Zealand’s Wildlife Act 1953. Intentionally hunting and killing them is punishable by fines of up to $250,000 and two years’ imprisonment.

Fishermen are required to report unintentional white shark captures if the sharks cannot be released alive.

“Accidentally catching something is not an infringement,” the DOC explained. “But keeping, killing, or failing to report it is.”

–Top image courtesy of the Department of Conservation

Bass fisherman reels in colorful surprise at Texas pond

The colossal fish caught by Jose Naranjo was a type of carp commonly used to decorate residential and community ponds.

A Texas angler was hoping to catch bass recently at San Antonio pond, but instead hooked and landed a giant koi.

“I’ve seen it there before and have wondered if anyone’s caught it before,” Jose Naranjo told My San Antonio. “It’s actually one of three that are in those ponds.”

Koi are a type of domesticated carp, considered ornamental because of their bright coloration. They’re used to decorate residential or community ponds and in Japan the fish represent love and friendship.

Naranjo theorized that the koi he caught on April 5 had been released there by somebody who no longer wanted the fish.

Naranjo was practicing catch-and-release fishing and set the koi free after posing for a photo. He estimated the koi’s length at 30-plus inches.

Interestingly, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department raises koi as forage for largemouth bass brood stock in hatcheries.

“They are easy to raise, grow fast, and lack sharp dorsal spines, making them easy for the bass to eat,” the agency explains on its website. “In an average year, the hatcheries will produce 15,000 to 20,000 kilograms of koi.”

Texas lake yields four monstrous bass in four days

The largest of the catches at O.H. Ivie Lake, weighing 15.82 pounds, is the 37th heaviest bass caught in state history.

A Texas reservoir this week yielded an astonishing four largemouth bass topping 13 pounds in four days.

The bass were caught at O.H. Ivie Lake and the largest – weighing 15.82 pounds – was landed March 18 by Kyle Hall of Granbury.

“I got on the water around 8 or 8:30 a.m. and really didn’t catch much until around 4 p.m.,” Hall said. “I reeled in a 10.20-pound fish and then about an hour later I did something random and ran up the river where I caught an 11-pounder.

“I then ran back down and by the dam I came across this fish. She about ripped the rod out of my hand.”

All four bass were kept alive and “loaned” to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for a hatchery spawning and stocking effort designed to enhance fisheries across the state.

The Toyota ShareLunker Program, as it’s called, accepts only “Legacy Class” bass weighing at least 13 pounds for the spawning portion. So far this year, 17 Legacy Class bass have been donated to the program.

Hall’s bass was the heaviest caught this year in Texas, and the 37th heaviest in state history.

According to the TPWD, Hall has donated Legacy Class bass in three consecutive seasons – all three of his catches coming at O.H. Ivie.

Said Natalie Goldstrohm, Toyota ShareLunker program coordinator: “This reservoir has established itself as a top destination for many trophy largemouth bass anglers and it is no surprise that Kyle Hall and others target these giants at O.H. Ivie year after year.”

The other Legacy bass caught at O.H. Ivie this past week included a 14.18-pounder by Bud Robey on March 17;  a 13.62-pounder by Larry Walker on March 20, and a 13.22-pounder by Scott Hines on March 20.

O.H. Ivie is on the Colorado and Concho Rivers east of San Angelo.

The 2024 Toyota ShareLunker Program will run through March 31.

Kayak angler lands record crappie while bass fishing

Eric Allee was targeting bass when he reeled in perhaps the largest crappie ever caught in the state.

A Colorado angler who landed perhaps the largest crappie ever caught in the state last November has been awarded a catch-and-release record.

Eric Allee was targeting bass from a kayak at McKay Lake on Nov. 12 when he spotted what he assumed were three large crappie on his forward-facing sonar unit.

Allee, a marketing director at Eagle Claw Tackle in Denver, hooked one of the fish with a 3.6-inch Berkley Flat Worm and soon realized that he might have a record crappie on his line.

On Friday, after being informed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife that his 18.25-inch black crappie had broken the previous catch-and-release length record, Allee told FTW Outdoors what went through his mind during the fight:

“It all happened so fast, but it felt like slow motion if that makes any sense. My heart was pounding, I was trying to remain tactful, and I was petrified at the same time.

“When she breached the surface, I would cringe every time her head would shake. Anyone who’s ever chased crappie knows they’re notorious for having paper-thin skin around the framework of their jaw; with a fish that heavy, if she was hooked in the thin-skinned parts of her mouth, it’s a recipe for disaster.

“After what seemed like forever, I felt instant relief when I scooped the net under her and lifted her out of the water.”

Eric Allee poses with 18.25-inch black crappie before releasing the fish. Photo: Eric Allee

Allee said the crappie weighed 3 pounds, 15 ounces on a scale he keeps on his kayak. He knew he could also shatter the Colorado weight record (3.48 pounds, set in 2017) if he killed the fish to have it weighed somewhere on a certified scale.

But Allee told FTW Outdoors that the fish was so large and magnificent-looking that he chose to toss it back after immortalizing the catch with a photograph.

“I didn’t want to kill the fish for the record,” he said. “It’s not that I’m against killing fish, I eat crappie often, but didn’t want to kill the fish just for the record.

“There’s more to it for me, too. I practice selective harvest and there’s something special about watching big fish go back.”

Colorado is not known for giant crappie, but any crappie topping three pounds is a giant.

For comparison, the all-tackle world-record black crappie in the weight category stands at 5 pounds, 7 ounces. That fish was caught at Richeison Pond in Tennessee in 2018.

The International Game Fish Assn. lists as the length (release) record a tie between five catches measuring 37 centimeters, or about 14.6 inches.

Allee said he did not consider applying to the IGFA for a possible length record and bemoaned the fact that he missed the 60-day limit for record submissions.

West Virginia blue catfish record falls again, keeping streak alive

Michael John Drake becomes the fourth West Virginia angler to establish a blue catfish state record in as many years.

A West Virginia angler has become the latest state-record holder for blue catfish.

Michael John Drake, of St. Albans, was fishing with cut shad at the R.C. Byrd Pool on the Ohio River earlier this month when the giant catfish struck.

The fish weighed 69.45 pounds and measured 50.51 inches. The weight eclipsed the record mark of 67.22 pounds set last year by Steven Price.

According to the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, this is the fourth consecutive year in which a new state record for blue catfish has been established.

For comparison, the all-tackle world record for blue catfish stands at 143 pounds, for a fish caught at Virginia’s Kerr Lake (Buggs Island Lake) in June 2011.