Fishing along the Chicago lakefront, an avid fisherman landed a rare fish that immediately became his all-time favorite catch.
Fishing along the Chicago lakefront, avid fisherman Quinn Wunar landed a beautifully colored, double-striped steelhead—a rare fish—and it immediately became his all-time favorite catch.
Wunar was fishing alone Saturday off Burnham Park in water so clear he could see bottom 20-feet below, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
He was sight fishing and watched as a “gigantic steelhead” ran two coho off his bait, a spawn bag, known as a popular bait for trout and steelhead.
“In the middle of admiring how big the fish was, it turned back and smacked my bag and we were off,” Wunar told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It was an epic fight, but the net job was the toughest part with the water being the lowest it’s been in a few years. Yet we both survived to fight another day.”
You can clearly see the double stripes in the image above. It was the first double-striped steelhead in three years to be submitted to the Sun-Times for Fish of the Week honors.
“I’ve caught a lot of fish here in Chicago, but this double-striped winter steelhead…at Burnham is my favorite by far,” Wunar told the Sun-Times.
Authorities are searching for a man who appears to have been pulled overboard by a large tuna while fishing Sunday off South Kona, Hawaii.
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.
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.
Video footage captured Thanksgiving Day shows an accidentally hooked surfer being reeled by a fisherman on Huntington Beach Pier.
**Warning: Video contains profanity
On the pier was a fisherman who had accidentally hooked what Stab Magazine described as “the biggest catch in Huntington Beach this holiday season.”
In the water was a surfer with a hook in his wrist, shouting profanely (and in vain) for the angler to “let the string out” so he could remove the hook.
That wasn’t happening.
The accompanying footage, captured Thanksgiving Day by Instagram user Dan’s Surf Cave, shows Will Dobrenen, the surfer, pleading with the angler to allow his line to go slack.
Instead, the unidentified angler reeled, tightening the tension, as if he didn’t grasp that the surfer at the end of his line was in pain. Finally, the line broke, freeing the surfer.
Dan’s Surf Cave wrote: “So if surfing the Northside Huntington Beach Pier wasn’t challenging enough with the unruly crowds and lack of surfing etiquette you also have to be aware of becoming this evening’s catch of the day.”
Dobrenen told Stab Magazine: “I could not get the hook out with my finger because there [was] so much tension. I had to use my teeth to rip out the hook from my wrist.
“In doing so I was hoping that the hook would not catch my lip and make the situation worse.”
Dobrenen, thankfully, avoided becoming lip-hooked and continued to surf.
Dan’s Surf Cave added that the same “idiot” on the pier hooked two other surfers before calling it a day.
A 67.4-pound carp named Carrot, because of her striking coloration, has been caught again at a lake in France.
It was not the largest carp to have been caught at Bluewater Lakes this week, which is remarkable. But the bright-orange behemoth reeled in by Andy Hackett on Thursday was definitely the most striking.
The 20-year-old female carp, which resembles a giant goldfish, weighed 67.4 pounds before she was released to fight another day.
Bluewater Lakes, located in the Champagne region of France, is billed as the country’s premier carp fishery. It’s so popular that guests have to book well in advance.
The carp caught by Hackett, nicknamed Carrot, is prized among anglers because of her coloration (most giant carp are pale or brownish).
Carrot was stocked 15 years ago “as something different for the anglers to try to catch,” Jason Cowler, a spokesman for Bluewater Lakes, told FTW Outdoors. “Its’s not the biggest resident in the lake, but by far the most outstanding.”
Cowler said Carrot last season was caught “around nine times” and on Feb. 22 she broke the 60-pound mark for the first time, weighing 61.5 pounds.
Angler poses with 92-pound carp caught this week at Bluewater Lakes
She eluded capture until Thursday, when she tipped the scale at 67.5 pounds.
The Bluewater fishery boasts a substantial population of carp weighing 50-plus pounds. Since Hackett’s catch, anglers have caught carp weighing 92 pounds (named Miggsys) and 85.5 pounds (Peaches).
An angler in Toronto Harbor assumed he had hooked a big pike when he felt the weight at the end of the line. Turns out, it was a ‘unicorn.’
A Canadian man fishing in Toronto Harbor assumed he had hooked a big pike when he felt the weight at the end of the line, but when it came to the surface and he saw what it was his knees buckled.
“Once I saw it was a muskie, my knees immediately became like Jello,” Will Sampson told CTV News Toronto. “They just, like, buckled.”
Sampson and a friend were trolling in the harbor and had caught a couple of pike right away. Then, a fish hit his lure that felt heavy. That and the way it was fighting led Sampson to believe it was a big pike, “obviously.”
When he saw the color of the fish, he immediately recognized it as a muskie, which is related to northern pike but is typically a light silver, green or brown color, according to CTV.
They landed the fish and estimated its weight at just under 20 pounds with a length of 43¼ inches. For comparison’s sake, the world record is 67 pounds, 8 ounces caught on July 1949 in Wisconsin’s Lake Court Oreilles.
“We knew it was a unicorn, like obviously there’s muskie in Lake Ontario, [but] in Toronto Harbor it’s super unheard of,” Sampson told CTV.
Sampson, a fishing guide, has fished his whole life and has caught muskie before, but this was a first for this area.
He told CTV there are lots of muskie at the mouth of the Niagara River and at the other end of Lake Ontario near Kingston.
“After the arrival of Europeans, a host of changes resulted in the destruction or deterioration of fish habitat,” the city’s ‘Fishes of Toronto’ guide reads.
“A total of 15 exotic fish species were either intentionally introduced for food and recreation, or invaded through navigational canals or ballasts of ocean-going ships. Today, populations of most native fishes have declined dramatically and 10 species have disappeared entirely.”
Incidentally, once he took photos, Sampson released the fish.
Two fishermen caught red-handed with lead weights in the bellies of fish they caught in a tournament were indicted on felony charges.
Two fishermen caught red-handed with lead weights in the bellies of the walleye they caught in a tournament in Cleveland were indicted Wednesday on felony charges of cheating and attempted grand theft, among other charges.
Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominsky, 35, of Hermitage, Pa., were also charged with possessing criminal tools, a felony, and unlawfully owning wild animals, a misdemeanor, according to the Associated Press.
They are due to be arraigned Oct. 26. Neither responded to requests for comment.
For the three fifth-degree felonies, the two men could face up to 12 months in prison and fines of up to $2,500 for each offense, according to the Toledo Blade.
“The fourth-degree misdemeanor charge of the unlawful ownership of wild animals, which is related to the fish fillets that the pair allegedly had in their possession and stuffed inside their catch, carries up to 30 days in jail and up to $250 in fines, and a conviction on that charge could also result in an indefinite suspension of their fishing licenses,” The Blade reported.
The discovery of cheating was made at the weigh-in of the Lake Erie Walleye Trail event on Oct. 30. The two fishermen were declared the leaders and eventual winners with a total weight of 33.91 for the walleye limit of five fish.
But when tournament director Jason Fischer cut into one of the fish, he discovered lead weights and immediately held it up and screamed, “We got weights in fish!”
The fishermen who had been milling about nearby immediately congregated around Runyan (Cominsky was onsite nearby) and began assailing him with expletives and chastising him, as Fischer cut into other fish, discovering more weights. Online commenters chimed in with their disgust as well.
They were immediately disqualified; they would have won $28,760 in prize money.
Five walleye contained a total of eight, 12-ounce lead weights and two, 8-ounce weights, as well as fish fillets, according to the search warrant affidavits.
From AP:
Officers from ODNR, the Hermitage Police Department and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission seized a boat, trailer and fishing gear belonging to Cominski on Tuesday in Pennsylvania. The anglers had used the boat during last month’s tournament, the affidavits said.
One of the affidavits disclosed that Runyan and Cominski were investigated by Rossford police in northwest Ohio in April after being accused of cheating in a different walleye tournament. According to a Rossford police report, an assistant Wood County prosecutor concluded that although the men may have cheated, there was not enough evidence to charge them.
Some waters simply aren’t made for fishing. While a few states enjoy plenty of thriving fishing holes, other areas have little to offer anglers. Ever wondered which states are the absolute worst for fishing? Opinions on this controversial topic differ based on the kind of fishing a person prefers, but a 2021 study by Lawn Love sheds light on general rankings for each state.
The study analyzed data from Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, and Dick’s Sporting Goods to rank all 50 states. Factors such as community activity, access to water sources and fishing gear, and fishing license costs all influenced the rankings. Based on these metrics, here are the five worst states for fishing.
“This is pretty cool. This is something I don’t do all the time, so I think we all enjoyed ourselves.”
Five days earlier, Cameron Smith was walking the greens of St. Andrews as the British Open’s Champion Golfer of the Year.
On Friday, he motored across the coastal waters of Florida among the outdoors enthusiasts of the Sunshine State — and, very nearly, on top once more.
The combined efforts of Smith, Billy Horschel and a championship golf crew led the pack early, though not at the end, in Friday’s Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament at Jim King Park at Sisters Creek.
Instead, Joseph Shugart’s crew aboard the St. Augustine-based One Time caught a 49.77-pound winner for the day’s biggest catch, while the two-fish aggregate championship — a category that Smith and Horschel’s team led for more than an hour during the afternoon — ultimately went to Tommy Rady and the Salt Life Food Shack crew.
David Nelson (left) and Steve Strickland, crew members on Joseph Shugart’s boat One Time, react as they learn the weight of their 49.67-pound kingfish, the eventual winner, at the Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament at Jim King Park at Sisters Creek on July 22, 2022. [Clayton Freeman/Florida Times-Union]Less than a week removed from his golden final-round 64 at St. Andrews, Jacksonville resident Smith was back on the First Coast, teaming with seven-time PGA Tour winner Horschel and a crew filled with aces of the golf course to earn sixth place in the aggregate competition.
Already a champion this week on the turf, Smith nearly added victory in the surf. The crew, with Brandon Arthurs registered as tournament captain, weighed in a pair of 29-pounders shortly after 3 p.m. to assume the early lead at 59.27 pounds.
The learning curve proved smooth for Horschel, who had landed a 29.82-pounder in the mid-morning.
“Cam fishes a lot more than I do, the boys fish a lot more than I do, but, yeah, this is by far my biggest kingfish because I’ve never caught one,” said Horschel, whose own week at the Old Course was none too shabby. He tied for 21st at 5 under, reeling in $120,286 in prize money.
Horschel said that Terry Kelly — the father of Matt Kelly, caddie for PGA Tour golfer Marc Leishman of Australia — caught the Smith crew’s second kingfish at 29.45 pounds.
While Friday’s sixth-place aggregate prize of $1,500 is a far cry from the $2.5 million that Smith earned for his triumph at St. Andrews, the experience left one-of-a-kind memories for Horschel.
PGA Tour golfer Billy Horschel (left) and a second crew member react as their fish’s weight is displayed on a screen at the Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament at Jim King Park at Sisters Creek on July 22, 2022. [Clayton Freeman/Florida Times-Union]“This is pretty cool,” he said. “This is something I don’t do all the time, so I think we all enjoyed ourselves.”
For a while, the golfers’ catches looked like possible championship material. The Smith crew led the aggregate standings until Lyle Rose of Hilliard, aboard Cherokee Rose, pushed ahead with a pair of fish worth a combined 65.28 pounds around 4:30 p.m. Rady and the Salt Life Food Shack crew captured the $12,000 aggregate prize with catches of 39.80 and 31.83 pounds for a formidable aggregate of 71.63 pounds.
“The bite was pretty good all day,” Rady said.
Shugart shut down suspense quickly in the big-fish championship.
Shugart’s catch, the third to weigh in, proved untouchable, a mammoth kingfish at nearly 50 pounds that held up comfortably through the entire day. No subsequent fish even topped the 40-pound mark.
The crew finally reeled in the king after a battle of some 15 to 20 minutes shortly after 10 a.m. Once they had the fish on board, they knew the big-fish honors — and the prize of a new boat as part of a package worth an estimated $160,000 — appeared within reach.
“We fish all over, travel all over, the Keys, North Carolina, Biloxi,” said David Nelson, a crew member who weighed in the catch. “We’ve caught a lot of big fish, and we knew we were right there, we were contenders.”
Closest to Shugart’s team was the day’s first fish, brought to shore by Mike Strickland’s crew just after the weigh-in tent opened at 3 p.m. That fish, carried to the scales by Andrew Runyon and Bruce Brown, took the early lead at 40.81 pounds and finished in second place under the single-day fishing format.
For a while, Runyon said, the crew had no idea of the fish’s size during a grueling 30-minute morning fight.
“We didn’t get to see him for 25 minutes, and then he came up and gave us a broadside view of him and we got to see it,” Runyon said. “So, yeah, we got real excited when we saw it.”
Jacksonville’s Kaylee Canady captured first prize in the Lady Angler division with a catch of 27.49 pounds.
This year’s general tournament was the first for nearly a decade to be conducted over a single day, a schedule revamped earlier in the year due to the global surge in gasoline prices, which now shows signs of abating.
In all, tournament officials reported 343 entries for the single-day competition.
Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.
A Missouri angler has been cited for catching an over-limit of mostly undersized largemouth bass, apparently, for the sake of a social-media photo.
A Missouri angler has been cited for catching an over-limit of mostly undersized largemouth bass, apparently, for the sake of a social-media photo.
The Missouri Department of Conservation stated Monday that the unidentified angler violated fishing regulations “just so he could take a picture of a stringer full of fish.”
St. Francois County MDC Agent Clayton Lewis cited the angler at Hager Lake in Farmington. The daily bag limit is six bass measuring at least 15 inches; the stringer contained eight small bass.
The MDC stressed that fish placed on a stringer, although they might be kept alive and released later, “are counted towards daily and possession limits of the taker.”
The agency added: “MDC reminds anglers to check statewide and Conservation area regulations prior to fishing and to read area regulation signs. And please don’t boost your social media presence at the expense of our wildlife.”
Three men were ordered to pay fines totaling more than $4,200 for glaring fishing violations that occurred this past weekend on the Connecticut River.
Three men were ordered to pay fines totaling more than $4,200 for glaring fishing violations that occurred this past weekend on the Connecticut River.
According to the Connecticut State Environmental Conservation Police, an officer responding to a tip out of Cromwell found the men to be in possession of gross over limits.
Additionally, the men did not possess valid fishing licenses and exceeded the number of rods and reels allowed by law.
A photo released by the agency shows 32 carp laid out on a lawn. The Connecticut River is a designated “trophy carp body of water.” The daily creel limit is one carp per angler, measuring less than 26 inches.
In a news release issued Monday via social media, the CSECP stated that the officer was acting on a report of three males were “over bagging on carp.”
“Upon arrival our Officer observed a large carp hanging out of a cooler in the area of the 3 men fishing,” the agency explained. “Upon further inspection another cooler was checked which was filled to capacity.”
The dead carp were donated to a nearby rehabilitation center for injured mammals and birds of prey.
