Tag: Record

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.

RELATED: Angler’s giant flathead catfish could shatter record

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.

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

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.”

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.

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

What was Redskins record against Miami’s Don Shula in Super Bowl and regular season?

With the passing of NFL legend Don Shula, we look back at the impact he had on the Washington Redskins Super Bowl record over the years.

Legendary Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula — who was briefly a member of the Washington Redskins — passed away on Monday morning, as was confirmed by his children.

Shula, who is the NFL’s winningest head coach of all-time with 328 credited wins to his name, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997 after a brilliant coaching career with the Baltimore Colts and the Dolphins, leaving a legacy that spanned 33 years as a head coach across four decades. By the time Shula hung it up for good, he’s accomplished everything there was in the National Football League. Championships, longevity, Coach of the Year honors, and so on.

So how did the Redskins fare against the legend of Shula? Aside from beating him in Super Bowl XVII in 1983, not too well, unfortunately. The two sides also faced off in Super Bowl VII in 1973, which the Dolphins won. Shula coached in Miami from 1970-1995, right during the time when Washington was at its peak. In that time, the Redskins were 3-6 against Shula and the Dolphins.

While the two sides split Super Bowl wins, Shula and the Dolphins got the last laugh when it came to overall record. To his last day, he stood as one of the premier coaches in the NFL, and a legend that will live on long after he is gone. Rest in peace, Don Shula.

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Touchdown Wire predicts Seahawks finish 11-5 in 2020 regular season

Barry Werner of Touchdown Wire is predicting the Seattle Seahawks will finish the 2020 regular season with a record of 11-5.

The when and if there is a start to the 2020 NFL regular season is still an unanswered question with the coronavirus pandemic still sweeping the nation.

However, that hasn’t stopped Barry Werner of USA TODAY’s Touchdown Wire from predicting the Seahawks will finish the year with an 11-5 record.

“Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll and the Seahawks simply are winners,” Werner writes. “Expect plenty of exciting games and another playoff appearance.”

Werner issued his way-too-early predictions following the NFL draft and first couple of months of free agency, weighing moves from all 32 teams around the league.

The Seahawks are never finished tweaking their roster and likely have a few more transactions up their sleeves before things get started (hopefully) this summer.

You can take a look at Werner’s 2020 season predictions for all 32 NFL clubs here.

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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.

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.

RELATED: Watch: Quarantined angler lands fish from balcony – 50 feet up

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

Which Saints uniform combination won the most games in 2019?

The New Orleans Saints won all three of their “Color Rush” games in 2019, and debuted a new uniform combination for the Sean Payton era.

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A number of NFL teams are debuting new uniforms this offseason, but they’re all playing catch-up to the New Orleans Saints. The Saints have one of the league’s best color palettes, embodied with a crisp set of uniforms and iconic jerseys. It’s a great compliment to the city’s character, which was reflected in a recent ranking of NFL kits.

But which uniform combination benefited the Saints the most in 2019? Here’s the full breakdown, ranked by winning percentage:

  1. “Color Rush” alternates: 3-0 (1.000)
  2. White jerseys, white pants: 5-1 (.833)
  3. Black jerseys, black pants: 5-2 (.714)
  4. Black jerseys, gold pants: 0-1 (.000)

The Saints finally gave their “Color Rush” specials the performances those terrific jerseys deserve, winning all three contests in which they were worn — including two road games with the Seattle Seahawks and the Atlanta Falcons, and an early-season prime-time matchup against the Dallas Cowboys.

Curiously, the gold pants were limited to a few preseason appearances and Week 2’s disastrous loss to the Los Angeles Rams before getting phased out. The Saints introduced white pants not long after and never went back to the gold trousers, which had been a staple over the last decade. Maybe they’ll continue to be a third-tier option in 2020.

For the curious, here’s the record for each uniform combination used in the Sean Payton era, since 2006 (not including the alternate, kind of hideous gold jerseys worn during a 2002 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, which Cameron Jordan wants to revive):

  • White jerseys, white pants: 5-1 (.833)
  • “Color Rush” alternates: 6-2 (.750)
  • “Black and Gold” throwbacks: 2-1 (.667)
  • Black jerseys, gold pants: 23-13 (.639)
  • White jerseys, black pants: 38-25 (.603)
  • Black jerseys, black pants: 41-27 (.603)
  • White jerseys, gold pants: 31-24 (.564)

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Cameron Jordan reacts to Tom Brady signing with the Buccaneers

New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan welcomed Tom Brady to the Buccaneers and the NFC South, a division title he plans to defend.

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There might not be many NFL players more eager to fulfill an interview request than New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan. Jordan made an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio to discuss the latest news in his orbit, including recognition on the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s NFL All-Decade Team. But he also focused on current events — like the arrival of longtime New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the NFC South, having signed a free agent contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who debuted new uniforms on Tuesday).

“I mean, this is going to be super, super weird,” Jordan said, “and the fact that he will be in my division, gives me more chances to hit him, hopefully.”

So, Jordan is definitely taking this development in stride. Jordan has played against Brady just twice to date, recording one sack, two hits, and seven combined tackles (four solo). The Saints lost both contests, with the 2013 matchup coming down to a last-second touchdown pass from Brady with pressure in his face, while the 2017 tilt was, well, less memorable.

While he took time to recognize the supporting cast Brady will work with — wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, in an offense designed by the pass-happy Bruce Arians — Jordan saved his greatest appreciation for what Brady adds to the always-competitive division. Most importantly, he wants to let Brady know that the Saints intend to defend their title, and that the Buccaneers should expect to play for second-place.

Jordan said, “You’re talking about somebody who’s been known as one the greatest of all time, with six Super Bowls, and he’s a winner. And for him to be in my conference, I’m not excited about it, but at the same time, I sort of am. I would love to welcome him to the NFC South, which we’ve won for the last three years.”

 

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Saints kickers past and present pay tribute to the late Tom Dempsey

New Orleans Saints kickers Wil Lutz, Garrett Hartley and Morten Anderson paid tribute to Tom Dempsey, who lost his fight against coronavirus

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The New Orleans Saints family lost a local legend over the weekend, when legendary kicker Tom Dempsey — famous for his 63-yard field goal back in 1970, which set an NFL record that lasted decades — lost his battle with the novel coronavirus. Dempsey and his family remained residents of New Orleans well after his playing career with the Saints ended, doing their part to join a community that had welcomed them with open arms.

Several other important place-kickers in Saints history recently stepped up to remember the trailblazer who, in Morten Anderson’s words, showed them how to be a pro:

Each player paid tribute to Dempsey in their own way; Saints great Garrett Hartley, who famously sent New Orleans to its first Super Bowl with a walk-off field goal in overtime during the NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings, celebrated Dempsey’s legacy with his own 63 yarder:

And as for the current Saints kicker, Wil Lutz: the Pro Bowler was one of the first to respond to the news of Dempsey’s passing, doing his part to extend his condolences to the family while acknowledging the impact he left behind:

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