Tag: Fishing

Fishing for walleye, teen catches $2,000 belonging to a farmer

Connor Halsa was drifting for walleye when he hooked into what he believed to be a big fish. Instead, it was a big haul of cash.

Connor Halsa was drifting for walleye on Lake of the Woods in Minnesota when he hooked into what he believed to be a big fish. Instead, it was a big haul of cash.

When he got a strike from the would-be walleye, Halsa set the hook “really hard,” he told WDAY.

When he reeled his catch to the surface, his cousin netted a billfold and brought it into the boat.

“My cousin opened the wallet, and he said some words you probably shouldn’t say, and he showed everyone, and we took the money out and let it dry out,” the 14-year-old told WDAY.

The haul was $2,000.

“It’s hard to calculate, but the odds are out of this world,” WDAY wrote. “One million acres of lake. Seventy miles long, 70 miles wide, and Connor hooked a billfold the size of a deck of cards.”

“My dad said we should give it to the person, and I said we should, too,” Halsa told WDAY.

Inside the wallet was a business card. So, they called the number and tracked down the owner of the wallet and the cash. It was Jim Denney, a farmer from Iowa who had gone fishing on the lake a year before.

“The water was really rough, and I was sitting on the back of the boat and it was rocking back and forth, and it worked itself out [of the pocket of his bib overalls] and slipped off into the water,” Denney explained to WDAY.

He didn’t realize he had lost the wallet until he went to pay the final bill at the resort he was staying at. Fortunately, the resort lent him the money until he could pay the bill.

“That’s the (worst) feeling I ever had, didn’t have a penny on me,” Denney told WDAY.

Denney was reunited with his wallet and cash when he traveled to Moorhead to see Halsa, whom he offered a cash reward but it was refused. Denney gave Halsa a custom cooler with an image of a fish on the lid. He also took the family to dinner.

“I would take Connor for a grandson any day, and I would fight for him any day,” Denney said.

As for Halsa, it was a life lesson.

“Be nice to everyone and give back,” he told WDAY. “We didn’t work hard for the money, he did. It was his money.”

Photo courtesy of WDAY.

Yellowstone reveals plan to halt spread of invasive brook trout

The recent discovery of brook trout in a popular Yellowstone National Park creek has biologists hustling to remove the nonnative species.

The recent discovery of brook trout in a popular Yellowstone National Park creek has biologists hustling to remove the nonnative species.

The trout were found in Soda Butte Creek, a popular fly-fishing destination in the northeastern portion of the park.

Brook trout are invasive and threaten native Yellowstone cutthroat trout. If left unchecked, brook trout could spread from Soda Butte Creek throughout the Lamar River watershed.

The park, in coordination with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and Custer Gallatin National Forest, will close a 9.6-mile stretch of Soda Butte Creek to the public Aug. 14-18.

ALSO: Another walleye fishing tournament marred by cheating scandal

During this period, biologists will kill brook trout with EPA-approved rotenone treatments.

Beforehand, during the week of Aug. 7, biologists will capture Yellowstone cutthroat trout via electroshocking. They’ll be kept alive in upper tributaries away from the treatment area.

A similar treatment program was successful in removing brook trout from Soda Butte Creek after they were discovered in 2015.

Cutthroat trout are the only trout native to Yellowstone National Park. They’re prized by anglers and play an important ecological role throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

–Brook trout image is generic

Watch: Shark attacks fishing boat 8 times, leaves ‘astronomical’ damage

Video footage shows a bull shark doing damage to a fishing boat off the Florida coast. “I was shaking like an earthquake,” angler said.

A fisherman said he was “shaking like an earthquake” when a bull shark suddenly attacked his boat while his group attempted to catch cobia off the Florida coast.

Joshua Jorgensen, the originator of YouTube’s BlacktipH Fishing show based in Palm Beach Gardens, captured aerial footage of what amounted to eight attacks.

In the video, he explained the encounter:

“I was flying my drone at the beach and spotted two huge cobia swimming with a bull shark. Cobia is one of the best tasting fish in the ocean. So I called my buddy Carl, and he raced over to try catch them.

“I was following his boat with my drone and then all of a sudden the shark attacked his engines.”

Jorgensen posted the video to Instagram. (Note: On some servers, you might have to click the link to view.)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by BlacktipH (@blacktiph)

“The shark attacked the boat five times, swam away and then came back for more,” Jorgensen said in the video. “In total, the shark attacked Carl’s boat eight times.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Boy fishing from pool noodle lands big bass, but it ends in heartbreak (video)

“We’re thinking, you know, maybe he grabbed the propeller,” Carl said in the video. “We weren’t expecting the damage that we had when we got back to the dock, and it was just astronomical. The whole middle of the engine’s completely ripped out. The trim tab’s broken.

“And I didn’t think a shark could actually shake a boat like that. The boat was shaking like a bag of popcorn. Like literally, I was shaking like an earthquake. I was like, what’s going on? I went back there and I noticed it was a shark doing it. I’m like, are you kidding me? This is like a ride from Universal Studios.”

Some commenters on Instagram suggested that the bull shark was protecting the cobia, inferring that they were his for the eating not the fishermen’s.

Another commenter simply stated, “Bull sharks really have anger management issues.”

Catch of massive tarpon off Florida sparks controversy

The recent catch of a giant tarpon off Pensacola Beach, Fla., has sparked criticism regarding the manner by which the fish was handled.

The recent catch of a giant tarpon off Pensacola Beach, Fla., has sparked criticism regarding the manner by which the fish was handled.

The accompanying image, provided to WEAR ABC 3 News (and shared by other outlets), shows six young men hoisting or posing with the tarpon chest high while they stood knee-deep in water.

Tarpon fishing in Florida is restricted to catch-and-release with the following exception, as stated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC):

“One tarpon tag per person per year may be purchased when in pursuit of a Florida state or world record. Vessel, transport and shipment limited to one fish.”

The FWC adds: “Tarpon over 40 inches MUST remain in the water unless in pursuit of a state or world record using a tarpon tag. Keep tarpon, especially the gills, in as much water as is safely possible.”

It was not clear if the angler who reeled in the tarpon was in possession of a tarpon tag.

ALSO: Yellowstone bison fight shows why rut should be taken seriously; video

It’s obvious, however, that the tarpon was considerably longer than 40 inches.

Florida Sportsman Magazine commented beneath the WEAR post: “WEAR should probably delete this photo. It’s promoting taking tarpon this size out of the water, which is illegal. Please don’t encourage this type of behavior.”

Sport Fishing Magazine shared the WEAR post and several comments were congratulatory. However, most followers seemed to prefer that regulations are taken seriously.

Reads one comment: “Illegal. Young guys…. Need to keep fish lower. [Instagram] moment got the best of them. Hopefully they got [it] back in water quickly.”

The image was supplied to WEAR by a reader named Mary Enfinger, but catch details were sparse.

The Florida record for tarpon is 243 pounds, for a fish caught off Key West in 1975. The world record stands at 286 pounds, 9 ounces, for a catch off Guinea-Bissau in 2003.

–Image courtesy of Mary Enfinger, via WEAR ABC 3 News

Fishing in pond, boy catches exotic fish that has human teeth

A boy fishing a neighborhood pond in Oklahoma caught an exotic fish from South America that is related to piranha and has odd choppers.

A boy fishing a neighborhood pond in Oklahoma caught an exotic fish from South America that is related to piranha and features teeth that look human.

In photos displayed in a Facebook post by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Charlie Clinton held up his catch to show off the species known as a pacu and opened its mouth to show its human-like choppers.

“Pacu have been caught in a few fisheries in Oklahoma before,” the ODWC wrote. “Non-native pacu in Oklahoma waters are most likely the result of individuals buying them as pets, and releasing them when they outgrow their tank.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Boy fishing from pool noodle lands big bass, but it ends in heartbreak (video)

“These fish are generally harmless to humans, but the practice of dumping unwanted pets in waterways can be incredibly harmful to native wildlife.

“Pacu can reach sizes up to 3.5 feet and 88 pounds! They are an exotic, invasive species that can cause damage to our local ecosystems. Anglers who catch pacu in Oklahoma are asked to remove them from the watershed and contact their local game warden.”

Photos courtesy of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Boy fishing from pool noodle lands big bass, but it ends in heartbreak

A boy caught the largemouth bass of a lifetime and cradled it like a baby as he kicked to shore, but the bass had other ideas.

A boy sitting on a pool noodle and fishing on an undisclosed pond caught the largemouth bass of a lifetime and cradled it like a baby as he attempted to kick to shore while also holding on to his fishing rod.

Alas, the video posted by Matt Busbice, presumably the boy’s father, ended in heartbreak. (You might need to click the link, as some servers won’t show the below video. But it’s worth it.)

As you see at the end, the bass did a strong kick and escaped the boy’s grasp. It got away, and the boy’s reaction is one of shock. Then the video ends.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Surfacing diver barely dodges passing boat (video)

Years from now the boy will look back on this event and have a laugh, thankful that it was caught on video. Hopefully, the heartbreak will fade as the memory lives on.

Fisherman lands world-record-size catfish that stretches over 9 feet

An angler in Italy made “a dream come true” by landing the biggest wels catfish he’s ever seen, and almost lost his boat doing so.

Fishing solo in a boat on Italy’s River Po, known for its huge wels catfish, Alessandro Biancardi made “a dream come true” by landing the biggest wels catfish he’s ever seen, and almost lost his boat doing so.

“When it surfaced for the first time, I really realized that I hooked a monster, adrenaline started pumping hard and the fear of losing it almost sent me into a panic,” Biancardi said in his news release. “I was alone facing the biggest catfish I’ve ever seen in 23 years.”

After a 43-minute battle, Biancardi got the wels catfish to the boat but without help it became challenging.

“I tried gloving its mouth two, three times, but it was still too strong,” Biancardi stated. “[So] I decided to go in shallow water, trying to land it from shore and after a few tries, I managed to land it.”

He tied up the catfish in the water to let it recover and phoned friends for help measuring the beast.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Fisherman snags record carp after losing it twice and officials applaud him

“Then I suddenly realized that the boat was not anchored, and it was going away in the current,” he said. “I was forced to have a swim to recover it with all my stuff.”

Eventually he and friends managed to measure the fish. With 10 witnesses looking on, the wels catfish stretched 9 feet, 4.4 inches long, qualifying it for the International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record for length by 1.6 inches, according to Biancardi. He sent in the paperwork to IGFA, so it is a pending world record.

“I was very curious about the weight, but I feared stressing it too much, that rare specimen, so I decided to safely release it, hoping it could give another angler the same joy he gave to me,” he said.

On Instagram, Biancardi, who is on the MADCAT Fishing Team, wrote “After a week I can’t get this record-breaking catch out of my mind,” adding, “After years of constant dedication, I managed to make a dream come true.”

Photos courtesy of Alessandro Biancardi.

Huge walleye caught by Tennessee teen on prom night

A pair of Tennessee teens went fishing after their junior prom recently and landed a walleye so large that it was recognized by the state.

Do fishing and romance go hand in hand?

It seems so for a pair of Tennessee teens who celebrated after their junior prom recently by landing a walleye so large that it was recognized by the state.

“MaryJo Mattingly and Luke Lankford of Anderson County High School went night fishing on Melton Hill Lake after their junior prom and she caught this 7.06-pound walleye,” the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency boasted on Facebook. “Note she still has her makeup and nails on!”

MaryJo Mattingly poses with walleye. Photo: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

MaryJo’s walleye doesn’t come close to the state record of 25 pounds, established in 1960. But MaryJo’s is most likely the largest walleye ever landed by a high-school junior on prom night.

ALSO: Giant crappie catch in Kansas breaks 59-year-old record

Reads the top Facebook comment, from Tyler Teague: “You better marry that young lady, young man! That is the real catch.”

Another comment from Brent Hemsley: “Two wonderful young people. World needs a lot more of kids like this. Way to go!”

Fisherman’s photo of weird catch oddly looks like a painting

The image of a strange fish caught by a commercial angler had some people thinking it was fake. One thought it was from a Tim Burton movie.

The image of a weird-looking fish caught by a commercial fisherman in Russia had some people thinking it wasn’t real.

“Is this a drawing?” one commenter on Instagram stated. “The hand looks real, but the fish/organism does not.”

“Looks like a painting,” another commenter stated.

“Me thought exactly the same!” one replied.

The photo was taken by Roman Fedortsov, whose trawler boat is based out of the port city of Murmansk in the northwest part of Russia.

A few years ago, he began photographing the bizarre catches made by his trawler and started posted them online. He now has an Instagram following of 652,000.

Fedortsov’s latest odd catch is what he called a big-eyed Macrurus, though perhaps it is a Macrourus berglax, as listed in the World Register of Marine Species.

Also on FTW Outdoors: 112-pound halibut caught through the ice in a unique fishery

Among the other reactions to the image on Instagram:

“Looks like a creature from a Tim Burton Movie.”

“You mean it’s a real fish? I thought it was computer fantasy.”

“I thought it was a drawing.”

It should be noted that the deep-sea creature doesn’t actually have eyes as big as depicted in the photo. While it has large eyes, they bulge out when brought up from the depths because of the change in pressure.

But commenters are right, it does look like a painting.

Photo courtesy of Roman Fedortsov.

Crappie angler lands giant bass; ‘I thought I was hooked on a log’

A 15-year-old Arkansas angler was fishing for crappie earlier this month when his line became stuck on what he initially thought was a log. But the log began to move….

A 15-year-old Arkansas angler was casting for crappie earlier this month when his line became stuck on what he initially thought was a log.

But the log began to move and that’s when Logan Cernosek “realized it was huge fish,” he told the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

The largemouth bass, caught April 2 at an undisclosed location in Randolph County, tipped a portable scale at 12 pounds, 4 ounces. It placed Logan among an elite few in the state who have caught bass topping 10 pounds.

The AGFC Fisheries Division stated on Facebook: “The fish was weighed on a portable scale and then released to grow even bigger and hopefully be caught again someday. Logan said he never thought he would catch a bass this big in his lifetime.”

The Arkansas record for largemouth bass is the 1976 catch of a 16-pound, 8-ounce largemouth at Mallard Lake.

The world record is a tie at 22 pounds, 4 ounces, for catches in Japan (2009) and Georgia, USA (1932).