Ryan Selvey was fighting what he described as a personal-best giant trevally when the tax collector came calling.
A fisherman based in Queensland, Australia, this week shared an image showing him posing with the head of a giant trevally after its body was cleanly severed by a shark during the fight.
“The hat says it all,” Ryan Selvy bemoaned via Instagram. “What would have been a [personal best] GT.”
The letters on the cap read, “Tax sucks.” (Click here to view Selvey’s post.)
For anglers around the world, a shark that steals hooked fish is referred to as the taxman, or tax collector.
Giant trevally are found throughout the Indian and central Pacific oceans, eastward to Hawaii, where they’re called ulua.
They’re prized mostly for their fighting ability and Selvey said the GT claimed by the shark would have been the largest he had caught (though well short of the world-record, 160-pound, 7-ounce giant trevally caught off Japan in 2006).
Selvey did not provide an estimated weight for the GT, but told FTW Outdoors that he was wearing the cap when the taxman came calling.
“The Endless Summer” meets Ken Burns is how Michael Fowlkes imagined this documentary, one filled with compelling vintage footage and photos.
When Michael Fowlkes set out to make “The History of Sportfishing,” he imagined a documentary likened to the movie “The Endless Summer” meeting Ken Burns, and based on the reactions from those who have watched it, he succeeded.
“This film should be in the Smithsonian,” one viewer of the series stated.
“The History of Sportfishing” is a 12-part documentary filled with compelling vintage footage and photos, including historical footage of famous author and fisherman Zane Grey becoming the first to land a 1,000-pound fish on rod and reel.
Fowlkes, an award-winning producer/director who has spent over 50 years on the water fishing and filming, spent four years completing the 12-hour film series, which is now available online. A preview of Chapter 1 is offered on YouTube.
Some of the other reactions by those who have viewed the series:
“Absolutely riveting.”
“My girlfriend was away for the weekend, sat down Saturday afternoon to look at the first episode and ended up binge watching the entire series. I couldn’t turn it off.”
“I am amazed at how extensive and well done this project is.”
“Incredibly well done and thorough.”
“A truly amazing historic documentary.”
George Farnsworth with his 336-pound black sea bass caught near Catalina Island off Southern California in 1903.Clinton Morehous on July 3, 1899 with his world-record bluefin tuna caught off Catalina Island in the early days of sportfishing.
The positive reviews should not come as a surprise. Fowlkes has produced 24 feature films on the sport of fishing, including the highly acclaimed classic called “A Tribute to Tuna.”
Perhaps most notably, his award-winning “Inside Sportfishing” television series ran for 27 consecutive years and became the highest-rated, and longest-running fishing show in the history of FOX Sports West, earning 27 International Telly Awards for broadcast excellence.
“For over a decade I’ve envisioned telling the story of how big-game fishing got started [and doing so] in an action-driven documentary-style format,” Fowlkes told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors. “I imagined `The Endless Summer’ meets Ken Burns for sportfishing.”
Young girl poses with 11 white sea bass averaging 50 pounds, caught on rod and reel off Catalina Island in the early days.Legendary angler Michael Lerner and his team hauling in a catch. Note the vintage camera setup atop the boat.Angler Paavo Kotonen weighing a 145.5-pound marlin at the Balboa Angling Club in Southern California in 1948. The fight lasted 3 hours, 40 minutes.Lou Marron poses with the 1,182-pound broadbill swordfish he caught in 1953 in Iquique, Chile. It is a world record that still stands today.
“My earliest memories are of fishing with family,” Fowlkes told For The Win Outdoors. “Over the years it wove itself into every part of my life. To have an opportunity to give something back to this sport at this point in my life has truly been a privilege and an honor.
“The film is a joyous celebration of the sport, preserving its history and helping to secure its future for generations to come.”
Photos courtesy of Michael Fowlkes and Inside Sportfishing.
The yellowfin tuna was hooked at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island, which is seasonal home to great white sharks.
A fishing-themed social media site on Saturday shared a “throwback” image showing an angler posing with the head of a large yellowfin tuna.
BDOutdoors’ Instagram description was somewhat predictable: “Paying his dues to the local taxman,” followed by a shark emoji.
The image was captured at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island before the designated biosphere reserve was ordered closed to sportfishing and commercial shark diving.
Guadalupe Island, 160 miles west of Ensenada, is seasonal home to dozens of great white sharks.
When long-range sportfishing vessels from San Diego were allowed to fish at Guadalupe, tuna were routinely snatched from hooks before they could be reeled to the boats.
The term “taxman,” however, is used around the world in reference to fish-stealing sharks.
Anglers vacationing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on Wednesday brought to port a blue marlin that weighed an estimated 1,000 pounds and measured an astonishing 14 feet.
Anglers vacationing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on Wednesday brought to port a blue marlin that weighed an estimated 1,000 pounds and measured an astonishing 14 feet.
Pisces Sportfishing, whose fleet was not involved in the extraordinary catch, reported via Facebook that the Minnesota anglers were aboard Dream Maker with Capt. “Cheque” Cervantes.
“Happening NOW in Cabo. Another ‘out of season’ Blue Marlin today, weighing in at 660 lbs and measured out to 169 inches; 14 feet!” Pisces exclaimed.
Marshall Ryerson, who arranged the charter, told FTW Outdoors that the marlin was so long and heavy that only part of the fish could be hoisted onto a local dock scale. Based on its 169-inch length and 69-inch girth, Ryerson added, the marlin’s weight was estimated at 1,000 pounds.
Anglers pose with blue marlin estimated to weigh 1,000 pounds
That would rank as one of the top blue marlin catches in the steeped history of Cabo San Lucas sportfishing.
(For the sake of comparison, a blue marlin caught by Pisces in 2019 weighed 814 pounds on an official scale after measuring 167.5 inches with a 66-inch girth.)
The marlin was caught by Caesar Larson and Luke Fox, who were among five anglers on a charter in search of tuna and dorado. The massive billfish attacked their lures five seconds apart and they fought the marlin with both rods for 90 minutes before it was alongside the 34-foot boat.
Ryerson, who said the marlin was in no shape to be released, addressed the greater challenge of transporting such a large marlin back to port.
“It took seven of us and every bit of energy from each of us to get the fish in the boat,” he said, referring to the anglers and crewmen. “After several attempts and help from the waves we were able to get the fish up and into the boat.”
Luke Fox (left) and Caesar Larson pose with marlin they caught off Cabo San Lucas
Ryerson added that the meat was donated to a local charity that benefits impoverished children.
Tracy Ehrenberg, who runs Pisces Sportfishing, told FTW Outdoors that a 700-pound blue marlin was landed a week earlier. Both catches were unusual because prime fishing season for blue marlin is July through October.
“However, there is always one big blue caught in the first month of the year,” Ehrenberg said. “Two is exceptional. But if you go back and examine the archives, the biggest blue marlin in my memory are caught out of season, like April or May.”
The marlin was donated to a charity that feeds impoverished children
Ehrenberg said the fleets are currently focused on striped marlin, which are more abundant during the winter, along with dorado and other small gamefish.
Catch-and-release marlin fishing is strongly encouraged in Cabo San Lucas, and the vast majority of anglers set their billfish free whenever possible.
Autry Hogan saved his allowance to buy a new fishing rod and last Saturday the 7-year-old Tennessean broke in the lucky rod by landing a catfish as big as himself.
Autry Hogan saved his allowance to buy a new fishing rod and last Saturday the 7-year-old Tennessean broke in his new equipment by landing an 83-pound catfish.
Autry, who was fishing on the Cumberland River with his father, grandfather, and younger brother, required help holding up a catfish that was about as long (47 inches) as he is tall.
The father of an 11-year-old boy was thinking junior world record after his son landed man enormous leopard grouper last week in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.
The father of an 11-year-old boy was thinking junior world record after his son landed an enormous leopard grouper last week in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.
Little did Isaac Amador Davis know that no such record exists.
The grouper, caught by Isaias Amador at Las Animas Island near La Paz, was nearly as long as the boy is tall. Isaac could not locate a certified scale in La Paz so he delivered the catch to Cabo San Lucas to obtain an official weight.
Isaias Amador and father pose with 23.4-pound grouper. Photo: Pisces Sportfishing
The Pisces Sportfishing scale read 23.4 pounds. Massive for a leopard grouper.
Pisces announced via Facebook that paperwork was completed for submission to the International Game Fish Assn. for consideration as a Junior World Record. Isaac Amador Davis also hoped the catch might qualify as a line-class record for 50-pound-test line.
Pisces stated: “We are happy to see kids like Isaias enjoying the sport and awesome parents supporting them to do what they love and recognizing the value in organizations like IGFA. Congrats once again Isaias!”
However, Pisces soon discovered that the IGFA maintains only an all-tackle world record for leopard grouper. The all-tackle record, for heaviest fish regardless of line strength, stands at 28 pounds, 10 ounces.
That fish was caught by Robert Wheaton in April 2017, in the Sea of Cortez near Loreto.
Since the IGFA maintains line-class and junior records for dozens of other species, For The Win Outdoors asked why leopard grouper has only one category.
Zack Bellapinga, Angler Recognition Coordinator for the IGFA, said basically that catches do not occur frequently enough for leopard grouper be included in all IGFA award programs.
“I would love for line-class records to be open to all species but that requires a lot more space in our database, which we don’t have, as well as physical space to store all the new record files,” Bellapinga said.
“With this being the case, we have limited line-class records to a set of commonly caught species. I am, however, looking to open more line classes for 2022 and will look into leopard grouper as a potential addition to our current list.”
None of this, of course, should diminish what Isaias has accomplished. His leopard grouper is still one of the largest ever caught, certainly by a young boy, and he landed the fish in only 12 minutes.
A Georgia angler who went fishing for crappie recently on the Ogeechee River ended up breaking a 25-year-old state record for hickory shad.
A Georgia angler who went fishing for crappie recently on the Ogeechee River ended up breaking a 25-year-old state record for hickory shad.
Christian Blake Jones of Swaisboro landed the 2-pound, 3-ounce hickory shad to erase a record (1 pound, 15 ounces) set in 1995.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources announced the record Tuesday via Facebook and in a news release, without quoting the angler.
“A day of fishing is good, but you know what makes it even better? A day you catch a new state record!” the GDNR’ Wildlife Resources Division exclaimed in the news release.
While 2 pounds, 3 ounces might not seem impressive, it’s an absolute whopper by hickory shad standards, and falls just 11 ounces shy of the all-tackle world record (2 pounds, 14 ounces) set in Florida in 2008.
Although hickory shad are not considered a glamour species, they put up a mighty struggle on light-tackle fishing gear.
States the International Game Fish Assn.: “Don’t let the species name fool you; there is nothing mediocre about the sporting qualities of this small herring. Hickory shad, like their larger cousins the American shad, are spirited fighters on light tackle, and can be fooled by small jigs and flies.’
Hickory shad are anadromous and spend most of their lives along the western Atlantic coast, from Maine to the St. Johns River in Florida. But they can be found in rivers during the spawning season.
Georgia’s spawning season runs from January to about May, depending on the region.
–Image showing Christian Blake Jones with his record hickory shad is courtesy of the Georgia Department of Resources
CJ Oates on Thursday was reeling his lure past a wooden dock when “I felt the slightest tick.” He reared back, inspiring a violent head shake, and realized that he had hooked an enormous largemouth bass.
CJ Oates on Thursday was reeling his lure past a wooden dock when “I felt the slightest tick.” He reared back, inspiring a violent head shake, and realized that he had hooked an enormous largemouth bass.
“She was so massive that I could barely reel to get her in,” Oates, who was fishing at Lake Austin, Texas, told For the Win Outdoors. “She was built like a mini school bus.”
After a nighttime fight described as “madness,” Oates boated a bass that weighed 13.02 pounds, a milestone catch and a fish that could help boost fishing opportunities around the state.
CJ Oates
It was the second “Legacy Class” largemouth bass to have been donated live to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 2021, marking a fast start to the agency’s seasonal Toyota ShareLunker Program.
There are several divisions but only Legacy Class fish – those 13 pounds or heavier – are used in a selective breeding program that runs during the spawning period from January through March. Biologist encourage spawning and rear the young for future stocking opportunities.
Travis Moore
“Congratulations, CJ, and thank you for your contribution to helping make bass fishing bigger and better in Texas!” Parks and Wildlife wrote on Facebook.
According to the ShareLunker website, “Out of the millions of bass anglers in Texas, only a select few have ever crossed the 13-pound threshold.”
Oates’ catch, on a football jig, occurred less than a week after Travis Moore landed a 13.44-pound largemouth bass during a tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir.
“This was one of the best days of my life. I’ve caught a few 12-pounders and handful of 10-pounders, but this one here is special for me. As a bass fisherman, this is what we fish for every time we go out on the water.”
Oates said he and John Davilla had fished several spots on Lake Austin without any luck before the the giant bass struck at 9:30 p.m.
“For a moment I thought I was hung up and then I felt her head shake,” Oates recalled. “At that point things started to get really serious. During all this madness we didn’t have time to turn the headlamps on so we didn’t have much of a gauge of how big she was.
“So I get her to the boat and she started jumping and splashing and it was hard for my buddy to to net her in the darkness, but he finally got her. He picks her up and and sets her in the boat and that’s when we turned our headlamps on. We couldn’t believe what we had done.”
–Images of CJ Oates (top) and Travis Moore are courtesy of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
The winter fishing season is off to a noteworthy start in Idaho as one angler has already pulled a record trout through a hole in the ice.
The winter fishing season is off to a noteworthy start in Idaho as one angler has already pulled a record trout through the ice.
Jordan Rodriguez, after boring a hole on newly frozen-over Grasmere Reservoir on Dec. 12, reeled up a 2.27-pound Lahontan cutthroat trout.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game on Friday announced that the catch smashed the previous state record of 1.17 pounds, set in September at the same 29-acre lake.
“With winter finally here, you might have thought we were done with new record fish for a while. Nope, not yet!” Martin Koenig, Natural Resource Program Director for the IDFG, wrote in a blog post.
Koenig explained that Lahontan cutthroat trout are native to the Lahontan basin of northern Nevada, northeastern California, and southeastern Oregon. But the fish are routinely planted in several high-desert Idaho lakes, including Grasmere Reservoir in Owyhee County.
Koenig did not say what type of bait or lure Rodriguez used to entice the 20-inch cutthroat onto his hook.
–Image showing Jordan Rodriguez with his record catch is courtesy of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game
When Benjamin Knutson’s fishing rod bent double recently on Minnesota’s Mille Lacs Lake, “I knew right away,” he said. “This was the one I was hunting for; it was her!”
When Benjamin Knutson’s fishing rod bent double recently on Minnesota’s Mille Lacs Lake, “I knew right away,” he said. “This was the one I was hunting for; it was her!”
The muskie measured 56.5 inches and weighed an estimated 51 pounds; an exceptional catch for the large but shallow lake.
But while that could have justified calling it a day, Knutson, two hours later, landed another muskie that measured 53.25 inches and weighed an estimated 54 pounds (based on a length-girth measuring formula).
Both muskies were released and fell just short of record qualification in the state’s Catch-and-Release length category (the record is 57.4 inches).
Giant muskie No. 1. Photo courtesy of Benjamin Knutson
Also, the second muskie, if Knutson’s weight estimate was accurate, would have tied a Minnesota weight record that has stood since 1957. (That fish measured 56 inches.)
But that does not diminish the feat of catching two near-record muskies in one day, on a lake that’s famous for muskie fishing but does not produce many 50-inch fish.
Giant muskie No. 2. Photo courtesy of Benjamin Knutson
“They’re just not that common,” Tom Heinrich, Mille Lacs fisheries supervisor for the Department of Natural Resources,” told the Star Tribune.
Knutson, 28, caught both muskies in frigid temperatures on Nov. 25 while fishing with a companion. The Star Tribune featured the “nearly inconceivable” double-catch over the weekend.
Knutson, who runs the Minnesota Angling Guide Service, was casting Bull Dawg rubber muskie lures from his 20-foot boat at a time of year when muskies are gorging on schooling tullibee.
He told For The Win Outdoors that the first muskie used head-shakes to try to shake free before “diving right into the center of the net.”
The second muskie made a powerful run to Knutson’s right before charging the boat. It began to thrash when it was half-netted and Knutson thought for a moment that he might lose the fish.
Knutson told the Star Tribune that after catching the first muskie, he shared the photograph online and telephoned a fishing buddy and said, “Dude, I did it.”
After the second catch he was simply astonished. “I have it all on film,” he said. “I’ve never heard of it… one guy catching two fish like that.”
–Photos showing Benjamin Knutson with two 50-pound-class muskies are courtesy of the angler
