Tag: World Record

‘Showstopper’ yellowtail catch just shy of 34-year-old world record

A New Zealand angler this week came within a few pounds of breaking a yellowtail kingfish world record that has stood for 34 years.

A New Zealand angler last Saturday came within a few pounds of breaking a yellowtail kingfish world record that has stood for 34 years.

Giovanni Wright, pictured above, caught the massive kingfish at Three Kings Islands during an Enchanter Fishing Charters expedition.

A spokesman for the company told FTW Outdoors that the fish weighed 50 kilograms, or 110 pounds, on an “unofficial” boat scale. It was released “to fight another day” after the crew determined that it would not exceed the current record weight of 114 pounds, 10 ounces.

According to the International Game Fish Assn., the record is a tie between yellowtail kingfish caught in 1984 and 1987, both off New Zealand.

The IGFA lists the species (Seriola lalandi lalandi) simply as yellowtail (southern). New Zealanders commonly refer to them as yellowtail kingfish or kingfish.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Hunter hit with fines, suspensions for poaching bighorn sheep

The species occurs in warm waters off Australia, New Zealand, southern Brazil, St. Helena, and South Africa.

Wright was fishing with 100-pound-test line and fresh squid caught the night before as bait. The battle lasted 35 minutes.

“The showstopper for the trip went to Giovanni with a horse kingfish of 50 kg. This is one of the biggest kings I have ever seen,” Enchanter Fishing Charters exclaimed on Facebook. “They also landed a couple of kings over the 40 kg mark and plenty of others ranging from 25 kg to 30 kg making for some very tried and sore boys at the end of the day.”

The charter company, which specializes in multi-day trips to remote destinations, bills itself as the “Three Kings Specialists.”

Boy, 12, lands record catfish, pens letter of appreciation

A 12-year-old Texas angler has fulfilled a three-year quest to set a youth record by landing a nearly 25-pound blue catfish at Calaveras Lake.

A 12-year-old Texas angler has fulfilled a three-year quest to set a youth record by landing a nearly 25-pound blue catfish at Calaveras Lake.

Colt Franke now holds the record for the largest blue catfish caught by a junior angler at the popular fishing reservoir southeast of San Antonio.

His catch last week was recognized by the Inland Fisheries San Antonio District – Texas Parks and Wildlife, which announced via Facebook:

“Help us congratulate Colt F. who caught this 33.5 inch, 24.5 lbs. Blue Catfish at Calaveras Lake. He had been trying to break the youth record the past 3 years and was able to achieve his goal last week! His next goal is to get his name on the Texas Elite Angler list. No doubt we will see it there someday!”

Colt was so pleased that he penned a letter to TP&W, thanking the agency for “everything that y’all do” and for recognizing the efforts of young anglers.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Public plea issued after catch of freakishly large goldfish

In the letter Colt explained that he had been “trying to catch this fish for 3 years while working on my dad’s boat.” His dad, Travis, guides for San Antonio Fishing Charters.

Colt said that when the catfish struck he tried to pass the rod to someone else but his dad, knowing it was a large fish, responded, “No, you reel it in.”

Colt and his dad typically release fish, but Colt kept this trophy for the sake of setting the record. He added that the meat “was donated to a local pantry.”

While his achievement is noteworthy, there are much larger blue catfish to be caught.

The overall Texas record for blue catfish in the junior division stands at 72.40 pounds. That fish was caught by Cade Childress last March at Lake Tawakoni.

The state’s rod-and-reel record for anglers of all ages is 121.50 pounds, for a blue catfish caught at Lake Texoma in 2004. 

For the sake of comparison, the overall world record for blue catfish stands at 143 pounds. That whopper was reeled from Kerr Lake in Virginia in 2011.

Giant muskie catch on icy lake may have ‘crushed’ 64-year-old record

A Minnesota angler appears to have broken a 64-year-old state record with the nighttime catch of a nearly 56-pound muskie.

A Minnesota angler appears to have broken a 64-year-old state record with the nighttime catch of a nearly 56-pound muskie.

“The rumors are true!” Nolan Sprengeler wrote on Facebook after his catch Monday of a 55-pound, 14.8-ounce muskie at Mille Lacs Lake.

The current record, 54 pounds, was set at Lake Winnibigoshish in 1957.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Things go from bad to worse for man caught poaching salmon

Sprengeler, 27, of Minnetonka, told FTW Outdoors that he submitted his record application to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday. As of the time of this post he had not heard back from the agency.

Sprengeler told KARE 11 that he and some buddies were enjoying perhaps the final night of fishing before the lake becomes too ice-covered to fish from a boat. The air temperature was 18 degrees as they broke through ice near the marina to access deeper water.

Sprengeler has been pursuing the catch-and-release record (57-1/4 inches) for weeks. But the muskie he landed Monday, “after a quick battle and a few ridiculous head shakes,” was deep-hooked and not responsive during the release attempt.

“I didn’t realize how giant this fish was until I pulled it out of the net and immediately called Kevin [Kray] over to assist with the buddy pictures,” Sprengeler wrote. “It measured an incredible 57.75” in length with a 29” girth.

“The next hour or so was spent trying to get her to release. Eventually we realized this was not going to happen and made the decision to bring it to a certified scale and crush the Minnesota State Record.”

On Tuesday, the fish was weighed at a UPS Store in Golden Valley.

For the sake of comparison, the International Game Fish Assn. lists as the all-tackle world record a 67-pound, 8-ounce muskie caught at Wisconsin’s Lake Court Oreilles in 1949.

–Top image shows Nolan Sprengeler (left) and Kevin Kray posing with the giant muskie

Bittersweet moment as angler breaks 41-year-old walleye record

A Pennsylvania angler has been notified that his recent catch of an 18-pound, 1-ounce walleye replaces a state record that had stood since 1980.

A Pennsylvania angler has been notified that his recent catch of an 18-pound, 1-ounce walleye replaces a state record that had stood since 1980.

“I’m tickled about the fish. I’m glad it beat the record, but it’s a shame to beat an old record like that,” Richard Nicholson, 62, told Go Erie.

Nicholson hooked the 34-inch walleye Oct. 28 on the Youghiogheny River in Fayette County, while fishing with live creek chubs.

His first inclination was to fillet the fish, but his son, Richard Nicholson Jr., convinced him to have the fish weighed for record consideration.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Great white sharks tracked to ‘infamous’ California surfing beach

The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, after a period of review, on Sunday presented a record certificate to Nicholson, who lives in Connellsville, describing his catch as an “outstanding angling achievement.”

The previous Pennsylvania record, held by Mike Holly of Bradford, was the 1980 catch of a 17-pound, 9-ounce walleye on the Allegheny River.

For the sake of comparison, the world record stands at 25 pounds. That fish was reeled from Tennessee’s Old Hickory Lake in 1960.

–Image showing Richard Nicholson with his record walleye is courtesy of Nicholson, via the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission

Angler’s enormous rockfish catch could have shattered record

A California angler this week caught a giant bocaccio that might have shattered the state record had he not filleted the fish on the boat.

A California angler this week caught a giant bocaccio that might have shattered the state record had he not had the fish filleted on the boat.

Rob Tressler, pictured above, landed the 20.33-pound rockfish while fishing aboard the Pacifica out of Seaforth Sportfishing in San Diego.

After Lori Heath shared the image via Facebook it was quickly pointed out that the state record stands at 17 pounds, 8 ounces. The record was set in Northern California in 1987.

Tressler had his fish weighed on a hand-held boat scale before it was carved into fillets. California requires potential record fish to be weighed on a government-certified scale in front of at least two witnesses.

Tressler, the Chief Science Officer for the San Diego Blood Bank, received some good-natured ribbing beneath Heath’s Facebook post. But all comments were complimentary and most people were simply in awe of the bocaccio’s size.

“Holy Cod!” reads one comment.

“The biggest one I’ve ever seen,” reads another.

Bocaccio, which range from Baja California to Alaska, are a slow-growing, slow-to-mature rockfish species that is vulnerable to overfishing. A limited recreational harvest is allowed off California.

For the sake of comparison, the world record for bocaccio stands at 27 pounds, 14 ounces. That fish was caught in Alaska’s Elfin Cove in 2011.

–Image showing Rob Tressler with his bocaccio is courtesy of Lori Heath

Fly angler lands potential world-record blue catfish

A Texas fly fisherman recently prevailed in a marathon battle with a potential world-record blue catfish.

A Texas fly fisherman last week prevailed in a marathon battle with a potential world-record blue catfish.

Ben Christensen hooked the 31.55-pound catfish while casting an olive-colored creek damsel fly on 12-pound tippet with a 4-weight rod in the Pedernales River.

“I sight casted to the fish and watched it take the fly, then fought it for 40 minutes,” Christensen, of PearlSnap Flyfishing, told Texas Parks and Wildlife.

The agency’s Inland Fisheries San Marcos/Austin District weighed and measured the catfish and announced the catch as a new waterbody record.

However, Christensen could also become a world-record holder.

According to the International Game Fish Assn., the 12-pound tippet record for blue catfish stands at 26 pounds, 4 ounces. That fish was caught in Florida’s Escambia River in 2018.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: ‘Stunned’ researchers rescue 4,000-pound sunfish from net

Christensen on Wednesday told FTW Outdoors that he plans to submit catch details to the IGFA for record consideration.

He said he kept the catfish because he believed it was going to perish after the grueling battle.

“It was old, blind in one eye, and its stomach was empty when we filleted him,” Christensen said. “I took thin fillets off the fish and composted his body in the middle of as piece of land where I hope to plant a wine grape vineyard.”

Of the spirited battle, Christensen stated on Instagram: “It was on like Donkey Kong! Took me to the backing, and I fought him for 40 minutes like we were offshore or something.”

Christensen said he’s writing a book titled, “Fly Fishing in San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country.”

–Images courtesy of Ben Christensen

Angler fishes after work, sets peacock bass record

A Florida angler has been granted a state record for his recent catch of a butterfly peacock bass weighing 9.11 pounds.

A Florida angler has been granted a state record for his recent catch of a butterfly peacock bass weighing 9.11 pounds.

Felipe Prieto’s after-work catch at an unidentified Broward County reservoir beats a record (9.08 pounds) that has stood since 1993.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announced the certification Friday afternoon, adding that Prieto’s peacock bass “supersedes the previous state record that has stood for almost three decades.”

Peacock bass, which are large cichlids and not true bass, are native to tropical South America.

Butterfly peacock bass were stocked in southeast Florida canals in 1984, according to the FWC, “to reduce the number of undesirable exotic fishes, especially tilapia.”

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Yellowstone tourist gets jail time after close grizzly bear encounter

The predatory game fish are the only nonnative fish to have been legally established in Florida. They’re prized by anglers because of their striking coloration and the challenge they pose to light-tackle anglers.

According to the International Game Fish Assn., “The butterfly peacock’s powerful, laterally compressed body and aggressive temperament make it pound for pound one of the hardest fish to handle on light tackle.”

FWC Commission Chairman Rodney Barreto added: “Anglers from across the country travel here to catch a peacock bass, which only adds to the tremendous economic impact fishing has in Florida.”

For the sake of comparison, the IGFA lists as the all-tackle world record a 12-pound, 9-ounce butterfly peacock bass caught on Venezuela’s Chiguao River in 2000.

In Florida, peacock bass inhabit mostly warmer waters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. But recent milder winters have allowed for some northward range expansion.

–Image showing Felipe Prieto with record peacock bass is courtesy of the FWC

[listicle id=1140194]

Connecticut angler’s catfish record revoked; state issues apology

A Connecticut angler credited with shattering the state’s white catfish record last month has had that recognition withdrawn.

A Connecticut angler credited with shattering the state’s white catfish record last month has had that recognition withdrawn.

Ben Tomkunas caught the 21.3-pound catfish Aug. 20 at Coventry Lake. Days later, the Bureau of Natural Resources declared Tomkunas the new record holder.

“This was a tough one to verify as Channel Cats and White Cats, especially when so large, look very similar,” the agency stated. “[But] with multiple sets of expert eyes, we confirm the new state record.”

Apparently, debate continued as to whether the fish, which was released, might have been improperly identified. On Monday, the Bureau of Natural Resources announced that the decision had been reversed by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The state record, therefore, still stands at 12.75 pounds.

“Due to questions raised both internally at DEEP and by outside sources, DEEP is recalling its initial declaration of a new state record white catfish caught in Coventry Lake on August 20th,” the Bureau of Natural Resources announced via Facebook. “Without the ability to examine the actual fish, identification is left to still images and videos, which have proven to be ambiguous and inconclusive to definitively identify the species of catfish in this case.

“To maintain the integrity of the state record dataset, we are reversing the initial announcement that this 21.3 pound fish was the new state record White Catfish. We apologize for this error.”

Tomkunas, who was fishing for carp when the catfish struck, said it “ran like a 30-inch striped bass.”

If the fish was, in fact, a white catfish, it was of world-record size. The current all-tackle world record, set in Oakdale, Ca., in 2005, stands at 19 pounds, 5 ounces.

Fisherman goes deep to catch record fish

Angler George Hanakis reeled up a record gray tilefish in New Jersey that could also qualify as a world record.

Fishing far off the New Jersey coast in waters up to 1,000-feet deep, George Hanakis reeled up a 23-pound, 8-ounce gray tilefish that beat the state record by a mere four ounces, but it could also qualify as a world record. It’s all in the name.

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife announced last week it had certified the gray tilefish as a state record.

The gray tilefish measured 34 inches in length with a 25-inch girth.

Hanakis used 100-pound test of braided line to catch the bottomfish from Wilmington Canyon, located some 70 nautical miles off southern New Jersey. He was fishing aboard the 125-foot charter boat Jamaica, which strongly suggests using braided line since they fish in very deep water, up to 1,000 feet.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler’s unusual catches include a bizarre, world-record fish

Interestingly, New Jersey recognizes only two species of tilefish for records: the gray and golden, according to Outdoor Life.

Outdoor Life explains how Hanakis’ fish could be a world record:

The gray tilefish is recognized as the blueline tilefish by the International Game Fish Association, and by other states such as Maryland. Both monikers for tilefish are for the same species, identified by scientists as Caulolatilus microps.

This name difference and proper species identification may prove significant for Hanakis’ N.J. state record, since IGFA currently recognizes the all-tackle record for the blueline tilefish species as 23 pounds 4 ounces. The current world-record tilefish was caught off New Jersey by Mark Milici in May 2015.

Outdoor Life reports that if Hanakis submits paperwork of his state-record catch to the IGFA as a blueline tilefish, his fish “likely could be a new all-tackle IGFA record for the species.”

Angler fishing for carp lands pending world-record catfish

A Connecticut angler has shattered the state record for white catfish and Ben Tomkunas’ catch also is a pending world record.

A Connecticut angler has shattered the state record for white catfish and Ben Tomkunas’ catch also is a pending world record.

“This was a tough one to verify as Channel Cats and White Cats, especially when so large, look very similar,” Connecticut Fish and Wildlife stated last week on Facebook. “With multiple sets of expert eyes, we confirm the new state record.”

Tomkunas, 25, was night fishing for carp earlier this month at Coventry Lake when the 21.3-pound white catfish ingested a boilie bait and ran “like a 30-inch striper,” Tomkunas told Field & Stream.

https://www.facebook.com/CTFishAndWildlife/posts/4180167865353603

“It was the craziest fight. When we got it on the shore, we said ‘Holy moly!’ ”

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Watch as Yellowstone wolf bites grizzly bear on the butt

The previous state-record white catfish weighed 12.75 pounds. The current all-tackle world record, set in Oakdale, Ca., in 2005, stands at 19 pounds, 5 ounces.

The International Game Fish Assn., which keeps world records for most species, typically waits weeks or months before announcing a new record.

–Images courtesy of Connecticut Fish and Wildlife