Fishing – Page 21 – Syndication Server

Angler makes unexpected catch, and it’s a record by a whisker

In what was called a lifetime fishing achievement, Lavon Nowling landed a state-record flathead catfish in the Yellow River in Florida.

In what was hailed as a lifetime achievement for an angler, Lavon Nowling landed a state-record flathead catfish while fishing the Yellow River in Florida, using live bait to catch a 69.9-pounder.

“I’ve caught some good ones before this fish, but none of them were more than 54 pounds,” Nowling of Santa Rosa County told the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “I’ve been fishing since I was old enough to hold a pole and have been fishing on the Yellow River as long as I can remember.”

No doubt the flathead catfish, certified by fisheries biologists, will be remembered for a long time by Nowling, whose catch barely beat out the previous record of 69.3 pounds caught by Marvin Griffin in 2019, also in the Yellow River, located in the Florida panhandle.

“I’ve been deep-sea fishing to creek fishing and I never expected to catch a state-record fish,” Nowling said. “I was fishing for channel catfish and can’t believe I caught a huge flathead. I was in the right place at the right time.”

The flathead catfish was taken to the Blackwater Hatchery near Holt where it was weighed on a certified scale. The fish measured 48.5 inches in length with a girth of 38.25 inches.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Kayak angler ties 40-year-old record with Northern pike catch

“Flathead catfish are a nonnative fish found in many northwest Florida Panhandle river systems,” the FWC stated. “Flatheads prefer long, slow flowing, moderately turbid rivers. Their solitary lifestyle makes them more difficult to catch than other catfish. Adult flathead catfish feed primarily on live fish, crawfish, freshwater clams and mussels.”

On the FWC Facebook page, some commenters wondered why the fisherman didn’t release the fish, but others argued that because it’s non-native and decimating bream and bass stocks, these fish ought to be removed from the river. At any rate, officials from FWC lauded the catch.

“A state-record catch is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement for an angler,” said Jon Fury, FWC’s Director for the Division of Freshwater Fisheries Management. “We are pleased to award this state record to Mr. Nowling.”

Photo courtesy of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Kayak angler ties 40-year-old record with Northern pike catch

Leslie Slater was kayak fishing with her family in Connecticut when she landed a Northern pike that tied a 40-year-old state record.

Leslie Slater was kayak fishing with her husband and kids in Colebrook, Conn., recently when she landed a Northern pike that tied a 40-year-old state record.

The sharp-toothed pike, caught in West Branch Reservoir, the family’s favorite fishing spot, weighed 29 pounds and measured 46 inches, and Slater somehow managed to pull it into her kayak, as reported by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

“I was jigging a Rooster Tail for trout when all of a sudden I had a huge hit,” recalled Slater of Barkhamsted. “It pulled hard right to the bottom. It almost broke my pole in half. Then with all of the dead weight, I thought that I had lost the fish and snagged the bottom.

“Never in my life did I expect to see a freshwater fish of that size come out of Connecticut. The adrenaline rush pulling in a fish that size was awesome. I still can’t believe I pulled it into my kayak without flipping over or having my toes bitten off.”

Efforts to revive and release the fish failed, so Slater and the family began looking to weigh it on a certified scale.

“We had many staring at us as we carried in a fish of that size,” Slater said. “One deli was willing to weigh the fish, but it was too big for the scale, the head and tail hit the counter. The reaction we received from the deli customers was priceless.”

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DEEP Fisheries Division biologist Edward Machowsky, who has managed Northern pike in Connecticut for 20 years, caught wind of the catch and phoned Slater.

“Leslie’s excitement and enthusiasm over catching this monster pike was infectious and I knew we had to help her,” Machowsky said. “Thankfully, Ryan Craig, the owner of the Berkshire Country Store in Norfolk had equal enthusiasm in helping out and agreed to weigh the pike using his certified scale in the deli. In the end it tied the state record, and was a very fitting end to such a memorable catch.”

It was not clear how much time passed before the Northern pike was weighed or how much weight it might have lost during that time. It’s possible she could have broken the record. Nevertheless, Slater will cherish the catch of a lifetime.

“My favorite part of that fishing adventure, besides catching, was that my husband and kids were there to share the experience,” Slater said. “That catch will forever be a positive memory of 2020 for me and my family.”

Photos courtesy of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The photo is real and, yes, the halibut is massive

An image showing a Pacific halibut too large to be believed, by some, in fact portrays a fish worthy of a “barn door” designation.

An image showing a Pacific halibut too large to be believed, by some, in fact portrays a fish worthy of “barn door” designation.

The 327-pound halibut was caught earlier this month off Seaward, Alaska, during a J-Dock Fishing Company charter.

The image atop this post – and in William Gentry’s Instagram post below – generated so much social-media controversy that the fact-checking website Snopes took on the case.

View this post on Instagram

The month of Hogust is upon us!! Great day on the Predator with some really cool ppl!! We had some great ppl on the boat today and the fish gods smiled on us! #jdock #jdocksportfishing #hogust #halibut #jdockfishcompany #montague #sewardalaska

A post shared by William Gentry (@pred_nation) on Aug 11, 2020 at 9:31pm PDT

Not surprisingly, Snopes declared that while “a little forced perspective [photography] might be in play… in general, this is a real picture of a really big fish.”

Forced perspective is making an object appear larger by having it presented at a certain angle in close proximity to a wide-angle camera lens.

However, a 327-pound halibut is going to look massive no matter how it’s photographed.

Gentry’s post included the description: “The month of Hogust is upon us!! Great day on the Predator with some really cool [people].”

After the Aug. 11 catch, J-Dock posted other images to Facebook showing the white side of the halibut, without forced perspective, and a smiling crewman and angler.

(Neither Gentry nor J-Dock responded to For The Win Outdoors inquiries about the halibut’s length and crewman/angler IDs.)

J-Dock’s Facebook page contains images of several giant halibut, including a recent catch that weighed 200 pounds.

While catches of truly giant “barn doors,” such as the 327-pounder, are somewhat rare these days, they can occur.

In fact, Pacific halibut, which range from the Bering Sea into Central California, can weigh up to 500 pounds and measure about 9 feet.

According to the International Game Fish Assn., the all-tackle world record is a 459-pound Pacific halibut caught by Jack Tragis off Dutch Harbor, Alaska, in June 1996.

Tragis also holds the 130-pound line-class record for the same catch.

–Images showing the 327-pound halibut are courtesy of J-Dock Fishing Company

Whales perform ‘humpback ballet,’ leaves girl in awe

Watch: When Sarah, 10, told her dad she wanted to see some whales on their fishing trip, she couldn’t have imagined the whale show that would unfold, because as she would say later, “I didn’t know they could do that.”

When 10-year-old Sarah told her father all she wanted was to see some whales on their fishing trip, she could not have imagined the whale show that would unfold before her eyes, because as she would say later, “I didn’t know they could do that.”

Sean Russell and daughter Sarah were fishing for cod off Conception Bay in Newfoundland on Sunday when they discovered whales feeding nearby.

“I noticed the whales turned and came toward us,” Russell told Global News. “There was no jumping at all for like an hour.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler startled as whale breaches ‘a foot in front of my face’

“They came right up to us, and we thought we may have spooked them or something, but they dove right under our boat,” Russell said in a follow-up video, according to CBC News.

Sarah picks up the story, saying in the same video, “Then they disappeared. Where are they?… Then, out of nowhere, they start shooting out, and they were spinning, two or three spins in the air—two of them.”

There were at least three more breaches captured in footage shot by Russell, who aptly called the video a “humpback ballet.”

“It was mind-blowing,” Sarah said. “I didn’t know they could do that.”

“To have two of them spin was absolutely amazing,” Sean added. “It was quite an experience I’ll never forget with her. She’s my fishing buddy.”

Sarah won’t soon forget it, either. The priceless expression on her face tells the story.

Photos courtesy of Sean Russell.

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Earthquake leads to fisherman’s surprising catch of opah

A fisherman caught 143-pound opah in the Philippines, and a fisheries expert believes a 6.6 magnitude quake in the country led to the catch.

A fisherman made a surprising catch of a 143-pound opah off Tubabao Island in the Philippines on Tuesday just hours after a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the central Philippines. A fisheries expert believes the quake led to the catch.

The opah, a fish that lives in deep water from 165 to 1,640 feet, was probably “spooked” by the earthquake shockwaves causing it to surface in the shallow waters around the island in Oras, or so the fisheries expert strongly believes, according to Philippine News Agency.

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“This was quite a revelation, seeing this magnificent fish,” Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Juan Albaladejo told PNA. “We know that it is quite abundant in our eastern seaboard, usually schooling with highly migratory tuna species but rarely seen.”

The colorful fish, also known as a moonfish, was caught with hook and line by Armando Amos, who sold the fish at a local market for approximately $250.

According to NOAA Fisheries, little research on the basic biology and ecology of the opah has been conducted, despite its value to commercial and recreational fishermen. Most opah are caught in longline fisheries and average about 100 pounds with a diameter of 3 feet.

Photos courtesy of Ranilo Ebron.

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Angler startled as whale breaches ‘a foot in front of my face’

Angler gets video of a feeding whale breaching right next to her boat, sending she and her friends into a frenzy in a stunning encounter.

When a whale was spotted in the distance, Kimberly Glenz took out her phone and hoped to get a couple of good shots. Little did she know she would capture video of the whale breaching right next to the boat, sending she and her group of fishing friends into a frenzy.

Five of them were fishing in the mouth of the Columbia River off Illwaco, Wash., on Sunday when the stunning encounter occurred. (Warning for language.)

“I got my phone out to take pictures while we were getting ready to turn around, and the whale came up right underneath of us,” Glenz explained. “His mouth came up about a foot in front of my face. Then we saw his tale, and then his fin on each side of the boat.”

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Glenz told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors she was “pretty much caught off guard,” but still managed to keep the whale within the frame. She added that they “got little splashes, but we didn’t get drenched like I expected.”

You could tell by the video there was bait in the water by the birds flying about. And when the whale starts back down into the water after getting a mouthful of prey, you can see the little fish in the air, trying to escape, as seen in the red circle at the bottom right of the photo below.

“I have personally never even seen a whale, and neither have any of my friends,” Glenz told For The Win Outdoors. “It was so intense. We talked about it the entire day. My family didn’t believe me until I showed them the video. We all just stood there trying to catch our breathe, and the usual [comments like] ‘Oh my God, you guys’ and ‘That really just happened.’ We were out there for my best friend’s birthday and she had one hell of a gift.”

As for the fishing?

“We were fishing the riptide but weren’t getting any bites,” Glenz said. “The day was actually pretty uneventful, until Moby Dick tried to kiss me.”

Photos courtesy of ViralHog and Kimberly Glenz.

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Osprey nabs giant bass, and of course anglers are jealous

A Florida wildlife officer this week watched an osprey pull from the water a largemouth bass so big that it did not even attempt to fly off with its catch.

A Florida wildlife officer this week watched an osprey pull from the water a largemouth bass so big that the bird did not even attempt to fly off with its catch.

Of course, the catch became the envy of anglers from around the state.

“These birds catch bigger fish than I do!” one angler declared in the comments section of a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission post on Facebook.

The post shows three images of the majestic raptor standing on a riverbank with the lunker bass.

“Officer Davenport was in his patrol boat on the Santa Fe River when he saw the osprey wrangle a large fish out of the water! Since the bass was nearly as big as the bird, the osprey decided to dine right there at the water’s edge,” reads the description.

“Wish I could catch a bass that big,” another angler chimed in.

Yet another angler recalled watching a similar event that he once witnessed during a slow day of fishing.

“One of these pretentious [birds] spent a full five minutes circling the pier where we were fishing from while carrying a HUGE bass and screaming at us,” the comment reads. “Obviously he was making un of us for failing to catch anything.”

Largemouth bass are prized game fish in Florida, and among the many species of fish targeted by ospreys, which are found year-round in the state.

The birds of prey, with wing spans of up to six feet, catch their prey by plunging feet first into waterways with their talons.

Typically, ospreys will fly off and eat from the safety of a high perch. But in some cases, apparently, a riverbank will suffice.

–Images courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Rare tuna catch from shore attracts ‘pack of giant roosters’

Theo Anest accomplished a rare feat recently by landing a yellowfin tuna from shore, while using spinning gear, on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

But as Anest reeled the 37-pound tuna toward the beach, another remarkable event occurred: Several massive roosterfish, seemingly attracted by the commotion, accompanied the hooked tuna into the surf zone.

This placed them within fly-casting range and before long, local guide Lance Peterson was battling an estimated 80-pound roosterfish on a fly rod.

Images show Theo Anest (left) and Lance Peterson with their tuna and roosterfish. Credit: Theo Anest

“The tuna was spotted and specifically cast to,” Peterson, owner of Lance Peterson Fishing, told For The Win Outdoors. “I was hoping a few of its buddies would swim in for a look as it neared the beach, and sure enough there were some curious onlookers; mostly giant roosters.”

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The catches were made early last month in Baja California Sur’s East Cape region. But photos were not shared until last week, with Peterson describing the event on Facebook as “a truly rare double hookup from shore.”

Catching yellowfin tuna from shore is not unheard of, but it’s rare considering that the pelagic fish are generally found in schools several miles offshore.

Roosterfish, however, are a coastal species prized by East Cape anglers because of their exotic appearance, size and power. Anglers typically release their catches to preserve the vulnerable fishery.

Peterson was searching for roosterfish when he spotted the yellowfin tuna feeding on forage fish. He texted Anest and told him to bring spinning gear.

Anest, a sales representative for Scott Fly Rods, arrived with a long spinning rod and cast a silver metal lure toward the tuna.

“They never quite came into fly range but we could see waves of them passing through an area 40 to 100 yards off the beach,” Anest recalled. “As soon as I hooked the tuna, 100 curious grande roosters that were lurking in the vicinity followed that tuna in.

“However, when Lance made that cast we were still certain they were all tuna until about 20 giant combs [roosterfish dorsal fins] came out of the water.”

Added Peterson: “We had sighted several tuna that day, but they were lock-jawed. Eventually Theo stuck one. The commotion brought in several fish to investigate, among them a pack of giant roosters.

“I was convinced I had managed to hook the smallest specimen in the group, which makes me wonder how big the others were!”

Anest kept the tuna, while Peterson released the roosterfish after posing for a quick series of images.

Any roosterfish over 50 pounds is considered a prize catch, especially on a fly rod. The all-tackle world record – a 114-pound roosterfish caught off La Paz, north of the East Cape – has stood since 1960.

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Angler breaks 32-year-old lake trout record, stirs controversy

Chance Scott reeled in a fish of a lifetime—a record-breaking 53-pound, 15-ounce lake trout—but it created quite a controversy.

Chance Scott reeled in a fish of a lifetime—a whopping 53-pound, 15-ounce lake trout—but when the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources acknowledged it as a state record and posted it on Facebook, it created quite a controversy.

The common refrain was that he should have thrown it back.

Scott landed the lake trout at Flaming Gorge, known for its trophy fishery. The fish measured 44.1 inches with a 34.7-inch girth, and displaced the previous record of 51 pounds set in 1988.

“Nice catch, Chance!” the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources wrote on Facebook.

Most commenters agreed it was a nice catch, but many thought it should have been released, even though keeping it was perfectly legal. Among the comments:

“Should have set it loose.”

“Dang!!!! Nice catch, should have released though.”

“This is why that fishery is going downhill fast, but congrats…I guess.”

“That fish is probably over 30 years old. Not sure why anyone would keep it.”

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“It’s sad that he kept it. What does that prove? They’re no good to eat when they’re that big. Think of the thousands of offspring she could have provided if he wouldn’t have allowed his ego to dictate.”

“Should have taken pictures, a few quick measurements, and turned it lose. Could have a form mount made. It takes decades for a fish to get that big.”

“I don’t get why on earth anyone that enjoys fishing would keep a trophy fish like that impeding someone else or yourself from catching it again? You want a mount? Take pics and measurements, that way the mount lasts longer anyway. If it’s about feeding a family, head to a trout farm. All the same type of people who keep trout end up complaining later there’s no fish or they’re all small.”

“It took about 53 years for that laker to grow that big. If anglers want to continue catching lakers that big at the Gorge, they need to be released. Sure it was his choice to keep it, but if everyone starts doing it the trophy potential will greatly reduce.”

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But while Scott had his detractors, plenty of commenters defended him and his record catch:

“Nice fish man!! Ignore the haters, they are just jealous anyway!”

“Awesome fish!!! Congratulations to the angler!!! A record fish. Why not keep it? It will make a very impressive mount of a lifetime. There are plenty of big/trophy fish in the Gorge. Keep that record fish and get it mounted.”

“Congratulations! Don’t let people shame you for keeping it. Feed the whole family or hang it on the wall. You caught it, do what you want with it.”

“Man after seeing these comments I’m happy I no longer live in this state. I’ve never seen so much animosity between hunters and fisherman. I also think it would have been cool to see this fish released, but can respect the fact that this man decided to keep it too. Bottom line is that if you’re bashing someone for keeping a fish (the state record none the less) that they legally caught, you’re part of the problem.”

Photo courtesy of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

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Angler lucky to be alive after whale knocks him off boat

Cris Lane is fortunate to be alive after a minke whale slammed into his fishing boat, knocking him into the water.

Lane and Dave McCann were fishing Monday off West Cork, Ireland, when several whales began to feed on schooling fish. A minke whale struck the boat as both men were attempting to capture video footage with their cellphones.

Lane and his phone went flying over the rail, while McCann managed to stay on board as his phone captured part of the violent collision.

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“My main thought when I surfaced about 10 feet from the boat was don’t drift away,” Lane told For The Win Outdoors. “David doesn’t have any experience with boats and couldn’t get me.”

Lane, who was wearing a lifejacket, swam to the boat and climbed safely back on board.

Minke whale delivers glancing blow to fishing boat. Photo courtesy of Cris Lane

He said the men were fishing above a reef three miles offshore when they spotted a large fin whale, five or six minke whales, and several dolphins feeding on thousands of small fish that had grouped into a bait ball.

They were more than 200 yards away initially, but the moving bait ball delivered the foraging event alongside the boat, and as they held out their phones a minke whale slammed against the side of the vessel.

Cris Lane after climbing back aboard his boat

“It lifted us 3-4 feet out of the water and I think he gave us a slap of his tail for good measure,“ Lane recalled. “Not much went through my mind before I hit the water as it happened in the blink of an eye.”

Lane said the whale struck with a “glancing blow” and seemed to be fine afterward, and added that his vessel was not damaged.

He later shared words of wisdom via Facebook: “Always wear your lifejacket.”

–Follow Pete Thomas and the Outdoors on Facebook and Instagram