Fishing – Page 23 – Syndication Server

Angler ‘gathering thoughts’ lands 103-pound catfish

A Tennessee angler who could not find a friend to fish with last Saturday caught one of the largest blue catfish ever caught in the state.

A Tennessee angler who could not find a friend to fish with last Saturday night reeled in one of the largest blue catfish ever caught in the state.

David Anderson’s catch of a 103-pound blue catfish, on a tributary to Nickajack Lake, places him among a small number of anglers around the country who have landed catfish topping 100 pounds.

The catch was only nine pounds shy of the Tennessee record, a 112-pound blue catfish caught on the Cumberland River in June 1998.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, which announced Anderson’s catch on Wednesday, stated that he used a nightcrawler as bait and caught the behemoth from the bank of Suck Creek after an hourlong fight on 12-pound monofilament.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: With no boat traffic, game fish swarm Cabo San Lucas marina

Anderson kept the catfish alive until a friend arrived with a scale early Sunday, then released it back into the creek.

Apparently, he didn’t mind fishing alone or missing out on the state record. He told the TWRA: “Fishing is more than catching for me. It’s my church. It’s my go-to place. It’s my getaway, where I gather my thoughts.”

As he walked the creek’s bank his thoughts were on the estimated 60-pound catfish that he lost when his line broke over Memorial Day weekend.

He hooked the 103-pound catfish just before midnight Saturday. His rod had been lodged securely in the rocks. “It didn’t bump or tug, but literally was jerked out,” Anderson said. “I grabbed it, leaned back and let the drag out.”

Some of his friends watched and joked with him via Facebook Live. “Just pull the fish in,” one of them said.

Anderson said he felt a huge sense of relief when, after reeling the fish close to the bank, it rolled so smoothly into his net.

However, the net broke as he tried hauling the fish into shallow water. “I was not going to let this fish get away after the fight, and I gathered both net and fish and took them to the bank,” he said.

He secured the fish with a rope, thinking it could beat the state record, and waited for a friend to arrive with the scale. “At this point, I just wanted to let it go,” he said. “You just don’t see them this big and I was concerned.”

The catfish was set free within minutes after it was weighed.

Mike Jolly, a TWRA fisheries biologist, estimated the fish to be at least 25 years old.

For the sake of comparison, the International Gamefish Assn. lists as the all-tackle world record a 143-pound blue catfish caught on Kerr Lake in Virginia in 2011.

Guide finally gets to fish, smashes paddlefish record

An Oklahoma fishing guide had a lot going for him recently when he landed a 143-pound paddlefish that fought shattered the state record.

An Oklahoma fishing guide had a lot going for him recently when he landed a 143-pound paddlefish that fought like “a small car” and shattered the state record.

To start with, Jeremiah Mefford was at Keystone Lake with family instead of clients, so he was free to fish rather than guide.

His wife and son had already released several paddlefish and they “both decided to let me reel one in and of course I’m OK with that,” Mefford, who operates Reel Good Time Guide Service, wrote on social media. “Little did I know it was a true monster!”

Given the size of the fish, Mefford was fortunate that it was a Saturday instead of a Friday or Monday, when all paddlefish must be immediately released.

Fishing for paddlefish is strictly regulated and this rule has cost at least one of Mefford’s clients to miss out on a record catch.

Also working in Mefford’s favor, as they fished over Memorial Day weekend, was the swift arrival of two Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation biologists. This allowed the paddlefish to be weighed and safely released, instead of being harvested for the sake of a record.

Paddlefish, although they date back 125 million years, are fragile and need to swim constantly, so keeping them in a confined space over a long period is basically sentencing them to death.

ODWC biologist Jason Schooley told the Sand Springs Leader that he and another biologist “immediately headed to the lake with the scale, cradle, and additional equipment… We had the fish weighed within 68 minutes of receiving the call, and I felt that was about a best-case-scenario response time.”

The fish was resuscitated in shallow water before it was set free. Schooley said the paddlefish “plainly swam into deeper water, remained upright, and we followed its directed swimming for a few minutes [via sonar] until we were convinced that the fish was likely to survive the experience.”

Paddlefish are plankton eaters so snagging is the most effective angling method. Anglers can only use barbless hooks, which allow for easy releases. Anglers are allowed to harvest only two paddlefish per year.

Mefford said the 143-pound fish was surprisingly strong, and choppy water made the fight even more difficult.

“Hooked into a small car and the fight was on,” he wrote. “This fish had my arms worn out and I was not quite sure if it was from my lack of working out or was it a GIANT? After fighting the fish for several minutes it surfaced about 40’ from the boat and we got our first glimpse.

“As it wore out and got closer all I could think was wow, we did it again.”

Mefford kept the fish in a live well while he waited for the biologists to arrive. It weighed 146 pounds on his boat scale, but the official weight, on a certified digital scale, was 143 pounds.

The previous Oklahoma record was the catch of a 132-pound, 8-ounce paddlefish in 2018 on the Arkansas River.

–Images showing Jeremiah Mefford (and son Brody) are courtesy of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

Angler’s giant flathead catfish could shatter record

A Pennsylvania angler, using a trout head for bait, caught a 56.3-pound flathead catfish last Sunday night to set a pending record.

A Pennsylvania angler, using a trout head for bait, caught a 56.3-pound flathead catfish last Sunday night to set a pending state record for the species.

Jonathan Pierce reeled the monstrous flathead from the Schuylkill River after it devoured the bait and “took off like a torpedo,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I had my drag tight, and it was still pulling line.”

Pierce, 34, a father of four from Roxborough, kept the fish alive overnight in a 45-gallon aerated plastic container so it could be weighed Monday on a certified scale. The fish was released back into the river after the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission took measurements.

If Pierce’s record submission is approved by the PFBC – the process can take days or weeks – the catch will shatter the record of 50 pounds, 7 ounces, set in 2019 on the Susquehanna River.

It’ll also become the largest fish on the PFBC’s list of rod-and-reel fishing records. (As of Friday morning, a 54-pound, 3-ounce muskellunge caught in 1924 topped the list.)

Pierce, who was using a 10-foot rod and baitcaster reel, told Penn Live that he hooked the flathead on his first cast after arriving at his fishing spot at 8:30 p.m.

The angler, who releases all of the flathead catfish he catches, keeps trout for table fare and sometimes uses their heads as catfish bait.

The giant flathead, after its initial run, swam into a rocky snag and held firm for 2-3 minutes. Pierce loosened the reel’s drag to take pressure off the fish, and it swam free of the rocks, allowing for an easier fight.

Eight minutes later it was netted by Pierce’s girlfriend, and Pierce knew immediately that it was record-size, and took the necessary steps to keep it alive overnight.

He was so excited that he hardly slept.

–Images of pending Pennsylvania-record flathead catfish are courtesy of Jonathan Pierce

With no boat traffic, game fish swarm Cabo San Lucas marina

In Cabo San Lucas, sportfishing is limited and boat traffic is so light that large game fish are swarming the marina.

In Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, sportfishing is currently limited to locals for personal consumption, and boat traffic is so light that large game fish are swarming into the marina.

The accompanying footage, captured Saturday by Mario Banaga of Pisces Sportfishing, shows a school of frenzied jack crevalle chasing bait fish in a corner of the marina.

“We’re still not allowed out fishing… so the fish have decided to come to us!” Pisces exclaimed on Facebook.

[protected-iframe id=”177f12d4874cf802595fc41194bcbfbd-58289342-114731612″ info=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpiscessportfishingfleet%2Fvideos%2F546712829360760%2F&show_text=0&width=476″ width=”476″ height=”476″ frameborder=”0″ style=”border: none; overflow: hidden;” scrolling=”no”]

Rebecca Ehrenberg, yacht services specialist with Pisces, half-jokingly told For The Win Outdoors: “Hopefully sportfishing will open again here soon – Cabo needs it and the fish are practically begging us to catch them at this point!”

Before COVID-19 brought tourism to a halt, the Cabo San Lucas marina bustled with activity and larger fish were too spooked to venture into the main harbor areas.

Nowadays, Ehrenberg said, schooling bait fish seeking protection from predators inside the marina are attracting the larger game fish.

Besides jack crevalle, which are prized for their fight on light tackle, dorado (mahi-mahi) have been seen gathering beneath idle sportfishing boats.

In an earlier Facebook post, Pisces reported that some Cabo San Lucas hotels will open as early as May 30, and that hundreds of businesses and individuals have been training (virtually) with state health officials for the eventual re-opening of the iconic tourism destination at Baja California’s tip.

Massive marlin landed after epic struggle; feeds townsfolk

An 849-pound black marlin landed after an epic struggle off Barra de Navidad, Mexico, may be the largest marlin ever caught in the area.

An 849-pound black marlin, landed recently after a six-hour struggle off Barra de Navidad, Mexico, is believed to be the largest black marlin ever caught in the region.

But Osiel Arteaga Aguilar’s catch, after his 24-foot skiff had been towed six miles offshore in blustery conditions, also generated some much-needed excitement for a fishing community sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tourism is temporarily non-existent in Barra de Navidad, north of Manzanillo in the state of Jalisco. Sportfishing is allowed only for personal consumption, but the enormous marlin caught on May 17 provided sustenance for dozens of townspeople.

Arteaga, 45, was interviewed over the weekend by Tracy Ehrenberg, whose family runs Pisces Sportfishing in Cabo San Lucas. Ehrenberg told For The Win Outdoors that Arteaga and two deckhands, Jesus Benjamin Samora and Jose Alfredo Zamora, had ventured 24 miles to sea a day after landing a 176-pound blue marlin.

Fishing was slow and the windswept ocean was not safe, so they began the long voyage home.

“They kept their gear in the water and when they were seven miles offshore they caught a small striped marlin, which was handled quickly, then they continued to head back home,” Ehrenberg stated in a report on the catch. “At six miles from shore something hit their lucky pink and purple lure about 220 feet behind the boat.

“Osiel assumed it was another striped marlin. Boy was he wrong! They saw the head, then shoulders then half the body emerge from the water in a powerful thrust of a massive black marlin – the moment was suspended in time.”

The powerful billfish ran and the chase was on to avoid having the reel spooled. Six hours later, in late afternoon, the fishermen were 12 miles offshore and the marlin suddenly died, so the new struggle was to somehow raise what felt like dead weight.

They managed to hook the carcass with another line and 45 minutes later they had the fish alongside the skiff, or panga.

“I have no idea how they got that fish in the panga,” Ehrenberg wrote. “But according to Osiel, they managed to get half the fish up over the side of the boat, then put a rope around the tail and swung it clockwise so the belly of the fish was across the middle of the panga with the head sticking out one side and the tail the other.”

It was dark when the anglers reached the dock, and a giant crowd was present when they unloaded the marlin. After it was weighed on a borrowed scale, they celebrated and began to process the meat.

“The fish was carved up and shared among the excited locals, but Osiel, happily giving fish away, realized it was all gone – he did not even get to try it,” Ehrenberg continued. “Nevertheless, he felt very satisfied at having caught the biggest fish of his life and to be able to help the people of his town during this difficult time.”

–Images courtesy of Osiel Arteaga Aguilar and Vidal Dávalos, via Pisces Sportfishing

Kayak fisherman’s ill-advised move invites shark attack

A kayak fisherman fought off a great white shark that chomped down on his boat 30 seconds after unintentionally prompting the attack.

A kayak fisherman off Northern California fought off a great white shark that chomped down on his boat moments after he bled out a fish he had just caught, evidently unintentionally inviting the shark attack by doing so.

Michael Thallheimer Jr. of Eureka was camping in Shelter Cove in Southern Humboldt County when he decided to go fishing by himself Monday morning around 6:15, according to the North Coast Journal and Lost Coast Outpost.

“I had caught two small ling cod and then caught a large one about 36 inches or so,” Thallheimer told North Coast Journal. “I put it on my fish clip. I cut through the gills and it pumps all the blood out. As soon as I did that, it wasn’t 30 seconds after, that [the shark] attacked.

“All of a sudden, it was attached to the side of my kayak.”

He described it as a 16- to 18-foot great white shark.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler risks swimming with sharks to avoid losing fish

“I saw a nose and an eyeball with no soul,” he told the Journal. “That animal doesn’t give a [darn] … [The shark bit] right in the middle of the kayak directly next to my knee and thigh, about 6 inches away.

“I slapped the thing as hard as I could on the end of its nose.”

It was enough to prompt the shark to let go. It then whipped its tail hard, hitting the kayak.

“It gave me a good thump, [but] it didn’t damage the kayak. I think he was pretty scared. He turned and split as fast as it could.”

Thallheimer immediately headed for shore, pedaling with his feet. Then he suddenly realized “the paddle was not there.” He told the Journal the shark had bitten through the rope that held the paddle to the kayak, so he circled around to retrieve his paddle and headed in.

Halfway back to the harbor, Thallheimer realized his kayak was filling with water; the Journal reported the shark had bitten a hole in the side of the kayak. He phoned 911 but as he was talking, a wave rolled the kayak, sending him into the water and his phone and keys to the bottom of the ocean.

He scrambled to get back into the kayak only to have it roll again and again.

“Every time I would pull it right side up, it would flip over,” he told the Journal.

“[Eventually] I got off and held on to the side of it…I was in the water maybe 15 minutes…It never left my mind the whole time that [the shark] might be going to come back. I had a freshly killed fish dangling around my feet because it was clipped to my kayak…I kept telling myself, ‘Be calm. Panic is not going to do any good.’”

A radio attached to his lifejacket alerted him that help was on the way.

“Fishermen responded, pulled him into their boat and dragged his kayak back to the marina,” Shelter Cove Fire spokesperson Cheryl Antony told Lost Coast Outpost. “He was hypothermic but suffered no injuries.

“He said he was so scared when he realized his boat was sinking and he didn’t know where the shark was. He was thankful to be alive because it could have gone really bad to be out there all by himself. Anything could have happened.”

Photos of rescue of kayak fisherman and rope that shark bit through courtesy of Shelter Cove Fire. Generic images of kayak fisherman and great white shark courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Follow David Strege and the outdoors on Facebook.

Giant white seabass is heaviest ever landed on kayak

A Southern California kayak fisherman caught his first-ever white seabass last Saturday and it turned out to be one of the largest ever landed.

Brian Beam, who was fishing with James Loud off Dana Point, tethered and boated the 80-pound seabass after a 45-minute fight off Dana Point.

Beam, 37, could not find a certified scale because of business closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, so he took the fish home and weighed it twice on his bathroom scale: 81 and 79 pounds, so he split the difference.

Western Outdoor News describes Beam’s catch as a kayak-fishing world record, besting a 75-pound white seabass caught by kayak-fishing pioneer Dennis Spike in 2000.

Perhaps more noteworthy, it’s less than four pounds shy of the all-tackle world record (83 pounds, 12 ounces), which has stood since 1953. If Beam could have found a scale while the fish was still fresh, it could have been much closer to the overall world record.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Paddleboarder surrounded by orcas, reacts accordingly

“I’d never even seen one over three pounds before,“ Beam told For The Win Outdoors. “You can only imagine how I felt once I realized what it was.”

Beam and Loud had paddled for 30 minutes to green water beyond a red tide, and Beam hooked the 5-foot-long seabass after his first cast of a live sardine. It towed him a half-mile south before he reeled it into view.

“My initial reaction was slight panic,” Beam said. “The fish was sideways, which made it appear twice as big in the water. It looked bigger than my kayak and I still had no idea what it was, which added to the excitement.”

Beam added that a rush of adrenaline helped with the task of hoisting such a heavy fish onto his kayak, after tethering it with rope.

The angler has reached out to the International Game Fish Assn. in an attempt to get the weight of the fish certified, but said the excitement generated by his catch is more rewarding than a potential record.

In a Facebook post Wednesday he wrote, “It’s been incredible hearing stories of how this accomplishment helped reunite family and friends and even created a little excitement in the mist of a global pandemic when finding things to get excited hasn’t been that easy.

“It’s truly a remarkable accomplishment and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to achieve and share it.”

–Photos courtesy of James Loud

Boy gets bragging rights over sisters with prehistoric catch

A boy seeking to catch a fish bigger than his two sisters had caught hit the jackpot with a sturgeon that weighed 25 pounds more than him.

A 9-year-old Tennessean boy seeking to catch a fish bigger than his two sisters had previously caught hit the jackpot when he reeled in an 80-pound sturgeon that was 25 pounds heavier than him.

Coye Price, who weighs 55 pounds, made the catch of a lifetime at Old Hickory Lake around the Spencer Creek area in 25 feet of water while attempting to catch a big catfish, according to the Nashville Tennessean.

His sister Caitlin, 11, had recently caught a 39.8-pound striped bass and his other sister Farrah, 8, had caught a 58-pound blue catfish a while ago. So it was Coye’s turn.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler risks swimming with sharks to avoid losing fish

Using skipjack herring for bait, Coye hooked the sturgeon in the main river channel and it took him 15 minutes before landing the fish. It was weighed (the exact weight was 79.8 pounds) and released.

“Coye had been saying, ‘Man, I don’t have nothing on these girls; I’ve got to catch a big fish,'” Coye’s father Chris of Bethpage told the Tennessean. “So not only did he catch a bigger fish than they had, but sturgeon are rare, which is the other cool part about it.”

Sturgeon are prehistoric fish that have existed since the Triassic period from 208 million to 245 million years ago. They are also referred to as “primitive fishes” because their characteristics have remained relatively unchanged since the earliest fossil record.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency reported that lake sturgeon populations have dramatically declined and are listed as endangered in Tennessee. They can grow to over 8 feet, weigh up to 300 pounds, and live 150 years.

Photos from Chris Price via the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Follow David Strege and the outdoors on Facebook.

Angler risks swimming with sharks to avoid losing fish

A fisherman determined not to lose his first tarpon braved jumping into waters known for dangerous bull sharks to untangle his line.

A fisherman determined not to lose his first tarpon braved jumping into waters known for dangerous bull sharks and swimming to the fish to untangle his line that got caught up in the rope of a crab trap.

Steven Starmer was fishing in Tampa Bay off a pier in Oldsmar, Fla., last week when the incident occurred. The bay is known for its bull sharks and in fact he had caught two from the same spot two weeks before.

“There’s been some 9- to 10-foot bull sharks up in the bay,” Starmer told the Bradenton Herald. “We’ve been broken off by some monsters.”

The first catch on this day was not a “monster” but a small bull shark, caught by Starmer’s friend Petey Santos. It was released and the fishermen waited for another bite.

“I watched something huge explode over the top of my bait,” Starmer explained to the Herald. “As soon as I set the hook a tarpon started jumping like crazy, shaking his head.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Watch ice fisherman pull a 50-pound fish through tiny hole

“Probably around 15 minutes into the fight it started to go toward a buoy about 75 yards out. I then noticed when I was fighting it I was dragging him and the buoy was moving too. They were tangled together. That’s when I knew what I had to do.”

So he handed his fishing rod to a friend, took off his shirt and jumped into the water. He swam out to the fish, not giving any mind about the danger of bull sharks possibly lurking below.

“I wasn’t even thinking about sharks,” Starmer told the Herald. “All I thought about was this is my first tarpon and I’m going in after it. My friends said, ‘Dude, you’re nuts, we’ve seen the sharks out here,’ but it never crossed my mind.”

Aided by a low tide allowing him to stand in water 5-feet deep, he grabbed the tarpon and began the untangling process.

“It took me a minute to get it untangled,” Starmer told the Herald. “The leader was wrapped around the rope a couple times. I was trying to hold him so he didn’t run into me. Luckily he was tired when I got out there so he was pretty calm at that point.

“A boat pulled up to me and was able to get some photos. I got him free and Rob Messina reeled him in the rest of the way.”

Starmer told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors the tarpon was 6-feet long and weighed 100 pounds or more.

With the battle won, Starmer unhooked the tarpon near the pier and began reviving it.

“The best part of the story was that the fish was released successfully,” Starmer said.

Asked about the threat of sharks, Starmer reiterated to For The Win Outdoors, “I was not thinking about it. I wanted the tarpon.”

And he got it. Without incident, we might add.

Photos of the angler untangling the tarpon and holding the fish courtesy of Steven Starmer.

Follow David Strege and the outdoors on Facebook.

Fly angler’s catch could shatter world record

A Florida angler’s catch of a massive permit could shatter a world record that has stood for 21 years.

Kathryn Vallilee, while fly fishing recently off Key West, landed a 21-pound permit on 6-pound tippet. If her line-class record application is approved she she will have broken the existing record – set in 1999 – by more than 11 pounds.

“The fight for me was so tense because I knew this fish was the one,” Vallilee, who was fishing with Capt. Brandon Cyr, told For The Win Outdoors. “And I think my focus on fighting it was what makes that memory so vivid. When Brandon got the fish in the net, I just felt a wave of relief wash over me.”

The International Game Fish Assn. announced Vallilee’s March 22 catch this month via Twitter and the angler, who already holds the line-class record for 4-pound tippet, expects her record to be approved in the coming weeks.

Permit, a favorite among south Florida fly anglers, are tough fighters that travel in schools over sandy flats.

Vallilee, with Cyr as guide, has been trying for the 6-pound tippet record since early 2020. On March 22, she fell just short with a morning catch weighing 9.5 pounds (the record stands at 9 pounds, 12 ounces). But later in the day she and Cyr saw three much larger permit moving like shadows over the white sand.

“Even at a distance these fish seemed to be larger than the ones we had hooked previously,” said Vallilee, who was casting a Skok’s Strong Arm Merkin fly. “Hooking that fish is a bit of a blur to me, but I remember stripping a few times basically just to keep the slack out of the line before coming tight to one of the fish.”

The permit remained with the school briefly before darting into a nearby channel. “And this made us pretty nervous,” Vallilee explained, “because you never know what is on the bottom for the fish to wrap the line around and break off.”

Vallilee, who owns a Key West fly-fishing shop with her husband, said the process of weighing, photographing and releasing the permit was accomplished in less than a minute.

“It’s so gratifying after an experience like that to see the fish shoot off like a bullet and think, ‘Maybe I’ll see you again someday,’ ” she said.

–Images showing Kathryn Vallilee and Capt. Brandon Cyr are courtesy of Amber Rose