sportfishing – Syndication Server

Anglers set out for tuna, land 1,000-pound blue marlin

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.

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(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.

Boy saves allowance for new rod, lands 83-pound catfish

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 fish was released but based on a photo supplied by the family, Clarksville Now reported that the species “appears to be a flathead” catfish.

Autry Hogan and his father hoist 83-pound catfish. Courtesy photo

The Tennessee record for flathead catfish – 85 pounds, 15 ounces – has stood since 1993.

Clarksville Now reported that Autry’s new goal is to beat that record.

“Now, he has pretty high expectations,” said his father, Joshua Hogan.

Boy lands massive grouper, but hopes for a record are dashed

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.

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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!”

https://www.facebook.com/piscessportfishingfleet/posts/10158991734818744

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.

–Images courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

Angler targeting crappie smashes 25-year-old shad record

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.

https://www.facebook.com/WildlifeResourcesDivisionGADNR/posts/10157839263233388

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

Catch of enormous bass a boon for all Texas anglers

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.

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.

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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.

“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.

Moore, who used a Carolina rig, told San Angelo Live:

“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

Angler pulls record trout through ice to jump-start winter season

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

In rare feat, angler lands two near-record muskies on same day

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.)

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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

Anglers nabbed with 173 fish over the limit; charges pending

Two anglers in Texas face multiple charges and civil restitution after being caught with 173 crappie over the legal possession limit.

Texas Game Wardens in Upshur County, acting on a late-November tip pertaining to a giant pile of fish that had been cleaned and dumped at Lake O’ the Pines, found two men in possession of the gross over-limit.

Wardens seized 350 crappie fillets and donated the fish to “multiple families around the area,” according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Crappie, in the sunfish family, are popular among recreational anglers in Texas. The daily catch and possession limit is 25 fish per person.

–Image showing confiscated crappie fillets is courtesy of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Giant yellowfin tuna puts anglers at tipping point

A 365-pound yellowfin tuna was landed after a marathon struggle Tuesday off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, but the real battle was wrestling the massive fish onto the 22-foot skiff.

“I actually told the guys to make sure the bilge pump is on,” Eduardo Aripez, captain of the vessel Nicole, told Rebecca Ehrenberg of Pisces Sportfishing. “When we started pulling it onboard the boat almost tipped over and took on a lot of water, but we managed.”

Aripez and two other locals, Franciso Beltran and Inocencio Pina, landed the tuna after a 3.5-hour battle that lasted into the darkness at Outer Gordo Banks, north of Cabo San Lucas in the Sea of Cortez.

It’s at least the third “super cow” yellowfin tuna – weighing 300 pounds or more – caught at Gordo Banks in the past three weeks.

On Nov. 9, a 310-pound yellowfin tuna was landed just days after the end of the prestigious Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot competition, which produced only three fish topping 200 pounds.

On Nov. 12, a 370-pound yellowfin tuna was caught at Gordo Banks after a 60-minute fight aboard the vessel Hard Efforts.

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All three fish were caught on live skipjack tuna.

For the sake of comparison, the all-tackle world record for the yellowfin tuna stands at 427 pounds. That fish was caught by Southern California angler Guy Yocom in 2012, 180 miles south of Cabo San Lucas.

The 365-pound tuna, caught on 80-pound-test line with a 130-pound-test leader, was weighed at La Playita, which provides close access to Gordo Banks.

Eric Brictson, owner of Gordo Banks Pangas, told For The Win Outdoors that the same fishermen have been targeting giant tuna in late afternoon, often returning in the dark. They also caught two black marlin this past week.

“I think we’re going to have a good December, with warmer conditions than usual,” Brictson said. “We had that about 10 years ago, when the cows bit all through December.”

–Image showing Eduardo Aripez, Franciso Beltran and Inocencio Pina posing with the 365-pound yellowfin tuna is courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

Catfish anglers are shattering records in Georgia

Catfish anglers in Georgia are enjoying a remarkable season as three records have fallen during the past month.

Most notable was the Oct. 17 catch of a 110-pound, 6-ounce blue catfish on the Chattahoochee River, by a visiting angler from Florida.

Tim Trone’s catch – his goal had been merely to land his first 50-pound catfish – shattered the state record by more than 17 pounds.

Tim Trone with Georgia state-record blue catfish

“The tail comes out the water and all I thought was, ‘Man, I got my 50-pound fish. I’ve got the 50-pounder,’ ” Trone told Fox 8 News.

On Oct. 27, Aaron Churchwell, a veteran catfish angler from Rome, Ga., landed a 52-pound, 1-ounce blue catfish on Allatoona Lake in northwestern Georgia.

That smashed a lake record (44 pounds) set on Oct. 10.

Aaron Churchwell with Allatoona Lake-record blue catfish

Churchwell was targeting flathead catfish with live shad, but that wasn’t working so he caught a small channel catfish and used a hunk of its flesh to entice the giant blue catfish.

“I’ve fished Allatoona for about four years now, and there’s one little area on the lake that holds big fish, but they are not easy to catch,” Churchwell told Gon.com. “We mark them there all the time, but you just can’t get them to eat. We were drifting through, and every time we’d drift across it, we would catch one a little bigger.”

The record-setting catfish was kept in a live well overnight and weighed the next day. A state biologist certified the weight before Churchwell released the fish.

The 44-pound blue catfish was caught on live shad by Arturo Medina, who had been fishing for striped bass. The catch narrowly broke the Allatoona Lake record set in 2017.

Medina, who also released his fish, held the record for 17 days.

–Images show Aaron Churchwell (first and third), Tim Trone (second) and Arturo Medina with their giant blue catfish catches