Tag: Reno

Angler lands record carp after marathon battle

A Nevada angler who has caught dozens of trophy-class carp during the past several months finally landed a record breaker.

A Nevada angler who has caught dozens of trophy-size carp over the past several months finally landed a record breaker.

But only after a marathon struggle and a commendable effort to ensure that the 35-pound, 3-ounce carp could be safely released after it was certified as the new state record.

Brenden Burnham, who was fishing Sunday afternoon at Virginia Lake in Reno, told For The Win Outdoors that he had failed to cast one of his baits where he wanted to, but left it in the water anyway.

Soon, his line began to twitch.

“I decided to pick the rod out of the rod holder and put a bit of tension on the line,” Burnham said. “As soon as I did the line just smoked off of the reel. There was absolutely no stopping the fish from going where it wanted to.

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“People started crowding around watching me battle this fish, as this is a park lake so gets pretty crowded.”

Burnham, 41, battled the carp for 45 minutes and had to wade far into the shallows to net his catch, which he believed rivaled the existing state record of 34 pounds, 10 ounces.

“I knew exactly what the previous state record was, so I knew what I needed the fish to be in order to beat it,” Burnham said.

While transferring the carp from a net to his carp cradle, used to keep fish immobile and submerged so they can eventually be released, he asked someone in the crowd to telephone the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

An agency biologist arrived to weigh and certify Burnham’s catch, then watched him set it free.

The NDOW announced the new record Monday via Facebook.

Said Burnham: “I had been trying for the state record and my good friends knew this.  Just three days before I had caught five carp out of this lake which has never happened – I don’t believe – for anyone.

“The weights were 14 pounds, 17 pounds, 27 pounds, 29 pounds and finally 30.5 pounds. I knew the potential for the state record was there and, well, the rest is history.”

The Nevada Department of Wildlife considers carp weighing 15 pounds or more to be trophy class. Burnham said he caught and released 46 trophy-size carp in 2019, and six so far this year.

On Sunday he was fishing with 20-pound-test line. When asked to reveal what he used as bait, he respectfully declined.

–Images are courtesy of Brenden Burnham

Joet Gonzalez determined to bounce back with a bang

Joet Gonzalez is determined to demonstrate that his loss to Shakur Stevenson was just an off night.

Boxing, says featherweight contender Joet Gonzalez, is a learning process. That applies whether you win or lose.

Gonzalez is coming off the biggest fight of his career and his first loss, a unanimous decision against Shakur Stevenson for a vacant 126-pound title last October in Reno, Nevada. All three scorecards were the same: 119-109, or 11 rounds to one. It wasn’t close.

Gonzalez hasn’t made excuses, even when he has had the opportunity. Five months later, nothing has changed. It just wasn’t his night.

“I just found myself stuck in this [rut],” said Gonzalez, who faces Chris Avalos on March 19 at Avalon Hollywood in Hollywood, California. “I was doing the same thing over and over again, every round. I knew what I needed to do I just couldn’t do it. It was weird.

“… That’s boxing. You learn something in every fight.”

Joet Gonzalez (right, against Rafael Rivera) remains focused on winning a world championship. Tom Hogan-Hoganphotos / Golden Boy

Gonzalez (23-1, 14 KOs) has had a lot of learning opportunities.

For example, he has had the opportunity to spar with highly respected world champions Vasiliy Lomachenko and Oscar Valdez, which he described as “good sparring, really good work.”

He said he held his own against Lomachenko, who many regard as the No. 1 fighter pound for pound in the world, but he added that the gifted Ukrainian was no ordinary sparring partner.

“You could say Lomachenko is in his own category. The guy’s very competitive, very, very skilled and smart in the ring,” he told Boxing Junkie.

Of course, the fight against Stevenson – his first professional setback – also provided valuable lessons.

The main one: That no matter how prepared you are for fight you never know how things will unfold in the ring. All a fighter can do is train properly, do his best, accept the result and come back to do it again.

“I had a great camp [for Stevenson],” he said. “I had great sparring, everything. It just wasn’t my day. What I learned is that you can have one of your best camps, best sparring, and, come fight time, you don’t perform the way you’re supposed to.

“And then you have camps where you look like s—, you get your ass beat in sparring, maybe you’re not in great shape, and come fight time you knock the dude out cold. It is what it is.”

Gonzalez certainly isn’t dwelling on the past. He said taking his first loss wasn’t as devastating as one might think. He leaned on his family to help him in the immediate aftermath, took about a week off to rest and then went right back to the gym.

His record looks different now but he’s the same determined boxer with sights locked onto another title shot.

“My goal is still there, my hunger is still there,” he said.

Of course, he’ll have to get past Avalos (27-7, 20 KOs) to get back into the championship hunt.

Avalos has been a major player at both junior featherweight and featherweight but has come up short in his biggest fights, knockout losses to Carl Frampton for a 122-pound title in 2015, Oscar Valdez at 126 pounds later that year and Leo Santa Cruz for a 126-pound belt in 2017.

After the loss to Santa Cruz, he stepped away from boxing for two years only to lose a decision to Abimael Ortiz in his comeback fight this past November.

Still, Gonzalez isn’t taking anything for granted. They know one another because they both grew up in the Los Angeles area and they even sparred once, when Gonzalez was still an amateur and Avalos a young pro. Gonzalez doesn’t remember much about the session other than it was “normal sparring.”

“He’s a tough guy,” Gonzalez said. “He comes to fight. He doesn’t come as an opponent, he comes to win. I’m ready. I want to make a statement. I want to show boxing fans, boxing people that [the loss to Stevenson] was just a bad night and that I can do well against tough guys.

“I’m still going forward toward my goal of being a world champion.”

 

Follow Michael Rosenthal on Twitter @mrosenthal_box