World Record – Syndication Server

Angler ‘still in shock’ after landing pending-record swordfish

Luc Ofield battled the massive swordfish for nearly five hours off San Diego; his catch could shatter the existing California record.

A San Diego angler last Sunday battled a massive swordfish for nearly five hours and returned to port in the dark with a potential record catch.

The swordfish landed by Luc Ofield tipped the San Diego Marlin Club scale at 666.2 pounds. A second weigh-in recorded a weight of 663.8 pounds.

The current California record stands at 520 pounds, for a swordfish caught off San Diego in October 2023. (It can take weeks for the state to review new record submissions.)

“After a 4.5 hours long battle with the gladiator of the sea, Luc and Dave managed to subdue this monster of a Swordfish!” the San Diego Marlin Club announced Monday via Instagram. “666.2 lbs weighed at the Marlin Club last night and it looks like this will take the new California State Record Swordfish!”

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBdFfYmRWaN/

Ofield, who works at Angler’s Choice Tackle in San Diego, issued a statement Tuesday via Instagram, noting the lower weight and a longer fighting period:

“The ultimate battle with a Goliath of the sea! I have the utmost respect for this fish and the amazing battle it gave. 4 hours and 50 minutes of raw strength. Thanks to the boat skills of my buddy Dave, or this fish would have never made it to the scales.

“Thanks to Dylan, Michael, Todd, Jack, for helping record this piece of history once we reached the dock. 663.8 lbs! New pending state record. Still in shock.”

For comparison, the all-tackle world record stands at 1,182 pounds. That record, which might never be broken, was set in 1953 off Iquique, Chile.

Watch: Georgia track’s Christopher Morales Williams sets new world record

This incredible performance by Christopher Morales Williams set a new world record…

The University of Georgia took the national spotlight on Saturday thanks to an outstanding performance by UGA track star Christopher Morales Williams, who’s 44.49 400-meter set a new world record at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship.

Williams, a sophomore, set the school, meet, facility, collegiate and world records all in one race. He cleared second place, Florida’s JeVaughn Powell, by more than a second (45.61).

The SEC Network’s broadcast crew was shocked to learn that William’s run eclipsed the previous world record:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3wKj0mLivk/

Williams’ performance notched UGA’s fifth men’s title in the event. The Bulldogs will train through the first weekend of March before traveling to Boston, Mass., for the NCAA Indoor Championships (March 8-9). Georgia will begin its outdoor season at the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta on March 15-16. The SEC Outdoor Championships will be held in Gainesville, Fla., on May 9-11.

West Virginia blue catfish record falls again, keeping streak alive

Michael John Drake becomes the fourth West Virginia angler to establish a blue catfish state record in as many years.

A West Virginia angler has become the latest state-record holder for blue catfish.

Michael John Drake, of St. Albans, was fishing with cut shad at the R.C. Byrd Pool on the Ohio River earlier this month when the giant catfish struck.

The fish weighed 69.45 pounds and measured 50.51 inches. The weight eclipsed the record mark of 67.22 pounds set last year by Steven Price.

According to the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, this is the fourth consecutive year in which a new state record for blue catfish has been established.

For comparison, the all-tackle world record for blue catfish stands at 143 pounds, for a fish caught at Virginia’s Kerr Lake (Buggs Island Lake) in June 2011.

First-time angler lands rare moonfish, a pending world record

A first-time angler on an overnight trip out of San Diego has landed a potential world-record opah, or moonfish.

A first-time angler on an overnight trip out of San Diego has landed a potential world-record opah.

Beau Leaman of Santa Clarita, Ca., caught the 188.6-pound opah, or moonfish, after a 45-minute battle while fishing Monday aboard the Horizon.

Capt. William Wilkerson told FTW Outdoors that Leaman was using a rental rod on a 1.5-day tuna excursion with friends. “He was fishing pretty deep and at first he thought he was stuck on the bottom,” Wilkerson said.

The opah, caught on a jig, was reeled from 300-plus feet and the crew knew by its movements that it was not a tuna. They used four gaffs to hoist the fish through a gate near the stern (see video below).

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A post shared by Horizon Charters (@horizoncharters)

The wounds on its side, visible in the images, were caused by cookie-cutter sharks as the brightly colored fish was reeled toward the surface.

Leaman, 37, implied that the experience was as bittersweet as it was surreal, saying:

“Once it was on the boat, I think most of us were in dismay. From the shark bites on its side, to its blend of orange and red, its tail fin slapping the deck, its massive eyes and fins that don’t seem to do much work… It did not look real.”

Opah catches are rare because the fish do not typically swim in schools and their whereabouts are unpredictable. Because of this, there is no directed commercial fishery for opah and catches almost always are incidental.

The world record stands at 180 pounds, 12 ounces, for a 2014 catch south of San Diego.

Wilkerson said the International Game Fish Assn. has been contacted about Leaman’s catch and that a world-record application will be submitted.

–Images and video courtesy of Horizon Charters and H&M Landing

Angler sets a women’s world record for largemouth bass

Four months after catching the largemouth bass of a lifetime, Lea Anne Powell can now officially say she is a world-record holder.

While fishing with a friend who is a fishing guide, Powell caught a 12-pound largemouth bass out of O.H. Ivie Lake in Texas on Feb. 28, and she confirmed to KETK on Tuesday that the International Game Fish Association verified it as a 12-pound line-class world record in the women’s category.

“I submitted everything in March and it was official on June 23rd,” Powell told KETK. “I had been driving them insane by calling. I’ve been very anxious you know, I wanted it. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

Powell caught the bass on 10-pound Seaguar Red Label Line. But she said, “The way that line actually tests, it actually tests up to 12 pounds.”

It should be noted, though, that the IGFA doesn’t have a 10-pound line class. It has 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 and 20.

The weight of the previous record was unclear. Powell’s previous best was a 7½-pounder.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler didn’t know he hooked a fish; turns out to be rare catch, record

“The process [of submitting the fish for record consideration] was fairly intensive,” Powell told KETK. “I had to go online, fill out a whole bunch of paper work and then I actually had to mail in a line sample of the line that was used to catch the fish. All the paper work, photos and documentation that I have had to go through multiple panels and I believe internationally.”

Powell was fishing with Dalton Smith, owner of Dalton Smith Guide Service who had a few days off and invited her to go fishing, a sport she took up eight years ago.

“I lost both of my parents in 2015 and I actually found peace within fishing,” Powell told KETK. “A friend of mine kept asking me to come fish and I had a natural knack for it and it just stuck.”

Photos courtesy of Lea Anne Powell.

Angler didn’t know he hooked a fish; turns out to be rare catch, record

A fisherman made a rare catch off the coast of North Carolina that has been certified as a state record and could become a world record.

Fishing deep for swordfish, Jeremiah Elliott made a rare catch off the coast of North Carolina that has been certified as a state record and could become a world record—and he didn’t even know he had hooked up.

Elliott was fishing with his brother Zachary Elliott and two friends on a 30-foot boat some 50 miles offshore, as reported by FOX News and the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.

“We were dropping squid about 2,000 feet down, and we didn’t realize we had a fish on [the line],” he told FOX News. “When you bring a fish up from that depth, a lot of times their stomachs expand, and they float.

“We didn’t even know there was anything on [the line] until it came to the top.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Fisherman lands world-record-size catfish that stretches over 9 feet

Once they landed the fish, they had no idea what it was until they started for shore and got to within cell service and looked it up online.

What he caught was a bigscale pomfret (Taractichthys longipinnis), a fish typically found in the Atlantic Ocean at depths from 165 feet to 3,280 feet.

“It’s a weird-looking fish,” Elliott told FOX News. “It’s like prehistoric, almost.

“It’s very rare to catch them in North Carolina. People catch them in Florida.”

Upon reaching shore, the fishermen found a weigh station. The bigscale pomfret weighed 26 pounds, 11.4 ounces

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries certified the fish as a state record, as there was no previous state record for this species.

However, the International Game Fish Association world record for a bigscale pomfret is 20 pounds, 10 ounces caught off Florida in 2004 by W. Gordon Davis.

Elliott told FOX News he’s submitted his catch as a world record to the IGFA. So that record is pending.

Photo courtesy of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.

MORE:

Cabo angler lands record-size Sierra – why it won’t be a record

An angler in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on Wednesday enjoyed a fish dinner prepared with a sierra mackerel catch that had a solid chance of breaking a 33-year-old world record.

An angler in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on Wednesday enjoyed a fish dinner prepared with a Sierra mackerel catch that had a solid chance of breaking a 33-year-old world record.

The 18.7-pound Sierra, caught by Sean Green in the Sea of Cortez, was weighed on a hand-held scale before it was filleted.

According to Pisces Sportfishing, “If they would have weighed it on a certified scale and this weight held this would have certainly been the NEW All Tackle World Record! Meaning, the LARGEST FISH of this SPECIES EVER CAUGHT on rod and reel & breaking the record held for over thirty years.”

The world record for Sierra stands at 18 pounds. It was established in March 1990 in Ecuador and matched in September 1990, also in Ecuador.

Sierra fillets from what might have been a world-record Sierra. Photos courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

Pisces Sportfishing explained that Green and his buddies were fishing aboard the vessel Crudo and trolling live mullet for roosterfish when the massive Sierra struck.

It remains unclear if they knew they had landed a potential record-setting fish.
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Pisces stated late Wednesday: “In this case we will never know, Team Crudo preferred to enjoy their catch and not worry about the potential of a record. The Sierra is being enjoyed as ceviche with a few cold beers as we speak…. What would you have done?”

Sierra mackerel, commonly referred to as Sierra, are prized for their fighting ability as table fare. Many regard them as the perfect fish for the citrus-marinated delicacy known as ceviche.

Fisherman catches big-bellied, world-record-size lake trout

Fishing at an undisclosed lake in Colorado, Scott Enloe battled a big-bellied lake trout that was so big it wouldn’t fit into the net.

So, after a 13-minute battle, Scott and his son Hunter Enloe pulled the potential world-record fish into the boat, as reported by Free Range American.

“I’ve got the largest net that Frabill makes and it wasn’t big enough,” Scott told Free Range American.

Neither was their boat’s livewell big enough to hold the fish. “But I had the livewell full, so we stuck its head in with the tail and whole body sticking out,” Scott added.

“Wrapping your arms around a fish to dunk its head underwater is definitely an unorthodox approach, but it worked for the few seconds it took the anglers to prepare their tape measure, scales and camera,” Free Range American wrote.

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A post shared by Hunter Enloe (@nymphapotamus)

Scott indicated he can usually eyeball a fish and determine its weight, “but when they’re this big, I had no clue what that fish weighed,” Scott told Free Range American. “I was just like, ‘I know it’s a record. It’s just too big.’”

On a hand scale, the humongous lake trout weighed 73.29 pounds and measured 47 inches. By comparison, the official world-record lake trout is 72 pounds caught on Aug. 19, 1995 by Lloyd Bull in Great Bear Lake in Northwest Territories, Canada.

The Colorado record for lake trout is 50.35 pounds caught in 2007 by Donald Walker in Blue Mesa Reservoir.

After carefully weighing and measuring the fish, the anglers released it alive to grow some more, so Scott’s fish qualifies for the International Game Fish Association All Tackle (Length) World Record, which currently stands at 42.9 inches, according to the record book.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Fisherman’s photo of weird catch oddly looks like a painting

Colorado established a catch-and-release category in January 2020 with a standard length starting at 32 inches for a lake trout. Scott would be the first record-holder in that category.

The father-son fishing duo are experienced at catching large fish, as evidenced by Hunter’s Instagram page. In fact, Hunter landed a 31-pound lake trout 30 minutes before his father’s catch.

“Dad and I have put in serious time to learn about these fish and how to catch them and most days they will outsmart you and that’s what keeps us addicted to them,” Hunter wrote on Instagram. “Congrats to my dad on another catch-and-release record. It was a special day and we just sat on the boat for a few hours not fishing just taking in what happened. Another awesome memory with my dad.”

Oklahoma teen lands massive sunfish, breaks 50-year-old record

A 16-year-old from Cheyenne, Oklahoma, has landed a massive redear sunfish to shatter a state record that had stood for 50 years.

Oklahomans who aspire to catch a record-size sunfish might want to visit their nearest farm pond.

Cord Smith, a 16-year-old from Cheyenne, is the new record holder after reeling a 2-pound, 5.6-ounce sunfish on from a one-acre pond in Roger Mills County.

His April 10 catch shatters the previous state record, 2 pounds, 1.25 ounces, established at a different farm pond in 1973.

According to Field & Stream, Smith was casting plastic lures after school with classmate Jacob Suarez when the massive sunfish struck.

Cord Smith (left) and Jacob Suarez pose with record sunfish. Photo: ODWC

Both anglers realized they might have netted a state record sunfish, so they kept the fish alive in a bucket until they could have it weighed on a certified scale at a Cheyenne market.

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation certified the record on April 25, stating on Facebook: “Well done young man!”

The catch was a surprise because redear sunfish, also called shellcrackers, typically favor natural baits.

For comparison, the world record for redear sunfish is 6 pounds 4 ounces. That catch occurred May 4, 2021, at Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Georgia angler’s catch of giant crappie stuns biologists

A Georgia angler’s catch of a 3-pound, 11-ounce black crappie has captured the attention of state biologists.

James King landed the enormous crappie Sunday on the Coosa River.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources stated Tuesday on Facebook: “Some of our fisheries biologists reported that this is the biggest crappie they’ve encountered in their careers.

“This is also the biggest crappie submitted for an angler award in over 20 years according to our electronic records.”

Photo: Georgia Department of Natural Resources

The Georgia record for black crappie is 4 pounds, 4 ounces, set in 1971 and tied in 1975.

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“Might be time for someone to land a new one. Who knows?” the Georgia DNR continued.

For comparison, the world record for black crappie is 5 pounds, 7 ounces, set at Tennessee’s Richeison Pond in 2018.

–Images showing James King and his 3-pound, 11-ounce crappie are courtesy of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources