Record – Page 45 – Syndication Server

Angler lands record trout, but reaction is mixed

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game last week announced that a 31.25-inch rainbow trout caught by a visiting angler is a new state record.

The hefty trout, caught in late May by Wyoming’s Brett Jones at American Falls Reservoir, replaced the catch-and-release record of 30.5 inches, set in 2018.

But IDFG’s Facebook announcement generated mixed reactions. It seems that not everybody is a fan of catch-and-release records because they require only a measurement and don’t include the weight of the fish.

“Catch-and-release records are a joke,” one commenter wrote.

“They don’t mean jack,” another chimed in.

It’s worth noting that some comments were congratulatory – “Wow!” and “Awesome!” are two examples – and that catch-and-release record programs are designed to encourage conservation.

Because the fish must be released, they can be caught again at even larger sizes.

In Jones’ case, he had to provide a photo of the ruler or tape showing the measurement of his trout from its snout to the end of its tail. He also had to include a photo of himself with the fish, and the name of at least one witness to the measurement and release.

One of the Facebook detractors claimed to have caught “at least three bigger than that.”

Perhaps. But Idaho has common rainbow trout – the type caught by Jones – and a faster-growing Gerrard strain of rainbow trout.

The certified weight record for Gerrard rainbow trout is 37 pounds. That fish was caught at Pend Oreille Lake in 1947. The Idaho catch-and-release record for Gerrard rainbow trout, also set at Pend Oreille Lake, is 36.5 inches.

The common rainbow trout certified weight record is 20 pounds. That fish, caught on the Snake River in 2009, measured 34.25 inches.

So it might not have been significantly heavier than the 31.25-inch trout released by Jones.

–Image showing Brett Jones and his record rainbow trout is courtesy of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game

Alabama to finish 2020 CFB season with 11-1 record according to CFN

Alabama finished 2019 with a final record of 11-2, College Football News predicts that Alabama drops one game in 2020 with an 11-1 record.

Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide football team ended their 2019 campaign with a final regular-season record of 10-2, with losses to the eventual National Champions, LSU at home and in-state rival, Auburn, at Jordan Hare.

This record, paired with a win over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl, would bring joy to most programs across the country. However, this record led to Alabama missing the College Football Playoffs for the first time since its creation, which did not sit well with members of the team and fans.

College Football News predicted the records of the entire SEC and believes Alabama will end their 2020 season with a final record of 11-1. The lone loss is to come from Alabama’s contest against LSU in Baton Rouge, LA.

The loss to the Tigers seems interesting seeing that they lost most of their team, especially their Heisman-winning quarterback Joe Burrow; and members of their coaching staff, more specifically Joe Brady, the teams former passing game coordinator.

All together, Alabama would be set to face off against Georgia, in the SEC Championship, as LSU suffered three total losses in their prediction, leaving the Crimson Tide to be the SEC West’s representative.

Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on all things Alabama football as we get closer to the start of the 2020 college football season!

Teen lands 583-pound grouper on second deep-sea fishing trip

A 16-year-old girl on her second deep-sea fishing trip reeled up an estimated 583-pound goliath grouper off Florida.

A 16-year-old girl who went deep-sea fishing recently for only her second time, reeled up an estimated 583-pound goliath grouper, which dwarfs the women’s world record for the species.

“I was, like, in shock pretty much,” Reegan Werner told the TwinCities Pioneer Press on Saturday. “My biggest fish before that was a salmon.”

Werner, who is from Farmington, Minn., was fishing May 31 near Marco Island off Florida with her brother, mother, and stepfather.

Werner’s brother, Owen, hooked a hammerhead shark before the enormous grouper devoured Werner’s bait. Her catch, after a fierce but short battle of 15 minutes, became the highlight of the family excursion.

“These things have amazing power,” Paul Hartman, Werner’s stepfather, told the Pioneer Press. “A 115-pound girl catching a fish like that is beyond explanation just with the laws of physics.”

Goliath grouper have been protected off Florida since 1990, so the estimated weight was obtained using a time-tested measurement formula. The fish, which measured 83 inches with a 75-inch girth, was released immediately after the measurement process and a quick photo.

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According to the International Game Fish Assn., the heaviest goliath grouper caught by a woman weighed 366 pounds. That fish, caught by Betsy Walker off Panama in 1965, is the women’s world record for 80-pound-test line.

The overall world record is a 680-pound goliath grouper caught by Lynn Joyner off Fernandina Beach, Fla., in 1961. Joyner’s fish also holds the men’s record for 80-pound-test line.

Thanks to the longstanding harvesting ban, the population is growing and larger fish are again being encountered by scuba divers and catch-and-release anglers.

According to Hartman, who fishes often in the Gulf of Mexico, the grouper caught by Werner has been caught before and is nicknamed “My Lord.”

He explained that it’s because “each time it showed up, all anyone could say is, ‘My Lord, look at that!’ ”

–Image showing Reegan Werner and the giant goliath grouper is courtesy of Paul Hartman

Angler lands record catfish, creatively spares its life

A Nebraska angler has shattered the state record for flathead catfish with the catch of an 89-pound behemoth he fought for 45 minutes.

A Nebraska angler has shattered the state record for flathead catfish with the catch last Saturday of an 89-pound behemoth he fought for 45 minutes.

But perhaps as noteworthy are the steps Richard Hagen took to ensure that the fish, reeled from the Missouri River late at night, was not killed.

They included storing the massive flathead in an unplugged deep freezer filled with aerated water and – after Hagen failed to find an aquarium interested in housing the fish – trucking the freezer back to the river so he could release his prized catch back into the river.

“He got me wet when he took off,” Hagen, 61, told the York News-Times. “I said, ‘Goodbye and lead a happy life.’ ’’

Two days passed between the time Hagen caught the flathead he named Brutus, while fishing with his brother near Brownsville, and the time he let it go.

During that period Hagen weighed Brutus on his home scale (88 pounds), found a certified scale at a local business (89 pounds), and contacted the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission so the fish could be inspected. He kept the water-filled freezer in the back of his truck.

On Monday, Daryl Bauer, fisheries outreach program manager for the Game and Parks Commission, blogged that he was skeptical about a potential new record … until he inspected the enormous flathead.

“Looks like our rod & reel state record flathead will now stand at 89 pounds!” Bauer wrote.

As of Friday morning, the record still stood at 80 pounds, for a flathead catfish pulled from Loup Power Canal in 1988. Bauer, however, wrote that he needed time to complete paperwork before making Hagen’s record official.

Bauer told the News-Times that he commended Hagen for releasing the fish after obtaining a weight and capturing images.

“That fuels everyone’s imagination,” Bauer said. “There’s a state record flathead catfish [still] swimming around in there.”

Hagen, who lives in Swanton, used a bluegill as bait and fought the flathead on 50-pound-test monofilament.

Said Matt Seitz, conservation officer for Game and Parks: “That’s the biggest freshwater fish I’ve ever seen up close.”

–Image courtesy of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

Giant white seabass could break 67-year-old world record

An angler fishing recently in Baja California Sur, Mexico, caught an 88-pound white seabass that could break a 67-year-old world record.

Ricardo Reyes Martinez landed the giant seabass on April 30, but the International Game Fish Assn. announced the catch this week as a potential record breaker in two categories.

“This just in! Ricardo Reyes Martinez recently caught this incredible 39.9-kilogram (88-pound) white seabass to potentially set the new IGFA All-Tackle and Men’s 30-lb Line Class World Records,” the IGFA wrote on Facebook.

The current all-tackle world record stands at 83 pounds, 12 ounces. That fish was caught by Lyal Baumgardner off San Felipe, Mexico, in 1953. Baumgardner also set the record for 30-pound-test line.

Reyes, 36, was surf casting for snapper on the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula, southwest of La Paz, when the seabass struck.

Gary Graham, author of the Baja Bytes column, quoted Reyes as saying, “I did not expect to win a world record. I did not even plan to send the information, but when I saw the fish was a good size, I decided to send in the official documentation.”

The IGFA, which requires a certified weight, line sample, a photo and witness statement, typically takes weeks or months before making a record determination.

White seabass, members of the croaker family, are found from Magdalena Bay in Baja California Sur to Juneau, Alaska. They’re highly prized by anglers and considered delectable as table fare.

–Image showing Ricardo Reyes Martinez with his potential-record white seabass is courtesy of the IGFA

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.

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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

Pat McAfee predicts Brandon McManus will break NFL’s longest field goal record

Former NFL punter Pat McAfee believes Broncos kicker Brandon McManus has the leg to break the NFL’s field goal record.

Pat McAfee, a former Colts punter who now works for DAZN, tweeted Wednesday that Broncos kicker Brandon McManus will break the NFL’s record for the longest field goal in league history. McAfee included a complimentary condition with his prediction, though.

“I’m calling it now #Broncos kicker @thekidmcmanus is going to break the longest field goal record if he doesn’t rip his [expletive] leg apart first,” McAfee tweeted.

McAfee’s joke about ripping his leg apart was a reference to McManus’ short runup for kickoffs that shows off his powerful leg strength.

“You’re stupid, you do like a three-step approach,” McAfee told McManus in a light-hearted tone on his show on Wednesday. “You’re just trying to rip everything in your leg — and I enjoy watching it. Your leg is so strong, you can do that, it makes no sense to me.”

The current record for the longest field goal is 64 yards, set by Lions kicker Matt Prater when he played for Denver in 2013. Before that, Tom Dempsey (1970) and Jason Elam (1998) shared a record-long of 63 yards.

McManus tweeted that if he breaks the record, “all the beers will be on me.”

All the beers will be on me https://t.co/zbfgLm7dsb

— Brandon McManus (@thekidmcmanus) May 20, 2020

McManus nearly had a chance to break the record last season but coach Vic Fangio opted against having his kicker attempt a 65-yard field goal against the Chargers. Later in the game, McManus converted a 53-yard game-winning field goal. Getting a win was great, but McManus still hopes to break the record someday.

“At the end of the day, I’m mad because I didn’t get to kick, and in his mind, he made the right decision for the team,” McManus said following a 23-20 win over Los Angeles in December. “I have no problem with that, but like I said, I would love to have my name in the history books.”

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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.

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“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