From IGFA

Hot Catches And Hopes For World Records

Here are some interesting potential world records that International Game Fish Association world records coordinator Rebecca Reynolds-Wright has selected for the month of September.  These 16 documented fish catches were made across the globe and submitted for pending world records:

South African angler Piet J. Pienaar, of Gauteng, landed a golden trevally, (Gnathanodon, speciosus) weighing 8.6 kg (18 lb 15 oz) while fishing Inhaca Island, Mozambique on July 28. Using mackerel on 10 kg (20 lb) class line it took Pienaar 25 minutes to land. The IGFA men’s line class record for the species is currently vacant.

On June 18, Mikhail Mogutov, of Moscow Russia, landed a taimen, while fishing Russia’s Uda River.  The fish weighed 17.5 kg (38 lb 9 oz) and was caught in 15 minutes using a Rapala Shad X Rap.  The current IGFA line class record is 12.7 kg (27 lbs. 15 oz), caught on the Chuluut River, in Arkhangai, Mongolia in 2005.

Using an orange streamer on 8 kg (16 lb) tippet, Village of Palmetto Bay, Fla., fly fisherman Rick Gunion, landed a tiger shark, (Galeocerdo, cuvier) weighing 127.23 kg (280 lb 8 oz) while fishing Mantinilla, Bahamas on July 31. The current IGFA mark is 196 lbs. 6 oz. caught in Flamingo, Fla., in 1999. 

Eight-year old Guilherme de Almeida, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, may establish a brand new IGFA all-tackle record for a redeye piranha, (serrasalmus, rhombeus) he landed while fishing the Thaimaçu Lodge in Brazil. Using tuvira as bait, the youngster’s July 24 catch weighed 1.30 kg (2 lb 14 oz). (Photo – redeye piranha # 07080023)

Using corn, 11-year old Luiza de Almeida, of  Sao Paulo, landed a disk tetra, (Myleus, schomburgkii) while fishing Thaimaçu Lodge, Brazil weighing 0.73 kg  (1 lb 10 oz) on July 23. She released the fish and may establish a new IGFA all-tackle record entry.

Using a Tornado Spinner on 2 kg (4 lb) class line, Brazilian angler Gilberto Fernandes, of Mao, Amazonas, landed an arawana, (Osteoglossum, bicirrhosum) while fishing the Rio Negro in Brazil on July 29. The fish weighed 3.04 kg (6 lb 11 oz) and took nine minutes to land. He’s hoping to break his own current IGFA record of  6 lb 2 oz. in 2005.

Western Province, Papua New Guinea angler Ian Middleton, landed a black Papuan snapper, (Lutjanus, goldiei) while fishing the Kwima Creek Fly River, in Papua weighing 8.16 kg (18 lb 0 oz) on 8 kg (16 lb) class line on July 21.  He used a yellow Bounty Hunter and after an eight-minute fight to land the fish and then documentation, he released it. The line class species record is currently vacant.

The woman who was honored for setting 53 IGFA records in 2006, Ms. Jodie L. Johnson, Peterborough, N. H., may capture another after landing a wahoo, (Acanthocybium, solandri) while fly-fishing Challenger Banks, Bermuda on July 27. Caught on 6 kg (12 lb) tippet using a Hair Ball fly, the fish weighed 3.40 kg (7 lb 8 oz). It took her four minutes to land.  The current record is vacant.  Johnson currently holds two other women’s records for wahoo in the 16 and 20 lb tippets classes, both caught in the Seychelles.

Corpus Christi, Texas, angler Eric Ozolins, landed a roudi escolar (Promethichthys, prometheus) for a potential all-tackle record while fishing the Colt 45 Texas coastal section of the Gulf of Mexico. He used squid and took five minutes to land the July 22 catch. The fish weighed 2.43 kg (5 lb 6 oz). The current record is 1 lb 5 oz caught in Jogashima Japan in 2003.

Nine-year-old angler Cristiano Brogna, of Catania, Italy, landed a little tunny (Euthynnus, alletteratus) July 21, while fishing Dakar, Senegal weighing 11.5kg (25 lb 6 oz) using a live "yaboy".  It took him 12 minutes to land. The current boy’s smallfry record is 23 lb, 11 oz also caught in Dakar, two years ago.

Nic Jeter, of Bainbridge, Ga., may net an IGFA All-Tackle record after landing a nurse shark, (Ginglymostoma, cirratum) while fishing Port St. Joe, Fla. The fish caught on July 21 weighed 119.63kg (263 lb 12 oz). He used cut bluefish and fought the fish for two hours. The current record for a nurse shark is 248 lb 6 oz caught in 2005 at Lighthouse Point, Fla.

Austrian fly fisherman Hans-Peter Schaar, of Flattach, landed a brown trout, (Salmo, trutta) while fishing Austria’s Obervellach Moll River weighing 16.5 kg (36 lb 6 oz). The July 2 catch took him an hour to land using 10 kg (20 lb) tippet. The current record is 28 lb 8 oz caught in 2005 on the Rio Grande Tierra del Fuego Argentina.

Using a thin 2 kg (4 lb) class line Rebecca Reynolds-Wright, Hollywood, Fla., landed a lingcod, (Ophiodon, elongatus) weighing 19.05 kg (42 lb 0 oz) She was fishing the Gulf of Alaska, on July 8 and used cut bait for the catch that took her 20 minutes to reel in. She may nearly double the current women’s record which is 21 lb, 10 oz from 1991.

Raymond Pupedis of Willimantic, Conn., landed a 3.40 kg (7 lb 8 oz) landlocked Atlantic salmon, (Salmo, salar) while fly fishing Marble Lake, Canada, on June 22.  Using an olive sculpin #2, it took him seven minutes to bring in on 10 kg (20 lb) tippet. The IGFA record is currently vacant. After documenting, Pupedis released the fish. 

Fly fishing off the coast of his hometown of Quepos, Costa Rica, Roberto Gonzalez landed a Pacific snook, (Centropomus, spp.) weighing 6.91 kg (15 lb 4 oz).  He used a homemade fly on 2 kg (4 lb) tippet for the July 10 catch which took him 35 minutes to land.  The men’s tippet record is currently vacant.

Fishing Wyoming’s Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Russ Faught of Lockeford, Calif., landed a kokanee, (Oncorhynchus, nerka) weighing 2.09 kg  (4 lb 10 oz).  Russ used 3 kg (6 lb) class line and caught the fish in 10 minutes on Aug. 3 using a purple hoochie. He’s hoping to break the current line class record of 2 lb 5 oz. in 1998.