Eating a record fish ?

[beerfilter]

Just curious , anybody here ever catch a big 1 , release it , or , eat it , only later to realize that you had caught a potential state or world record ?

I have done this several times , oh well... :redface:

 

[lifeisfun]

Re: Eating a record fish ?

Did you eat it or release it ? If you release the fish there is NOTHING to be sorry about - It's the right thing to do with large fish Keep the average size ...

 

[beerfilter]

Re: Eating a record fish ?

I've done both , with several species .

I grew up on a small creek , that held everything from catfish to rainbow trout .
8 pound holdovers were common .
It is also prime habitat for "rock bass" , and they are there in great abundance and size .
Over the years , I have caught and released dozens in excess of 3 pounds , and , kept and eaten several that were hooked to badly to release(exactly why I no longer fish with live crayfish..) .
A few of these fish approached 5 lbs , easy .

The state record is 2lbs8ozs , world record is 3lbs even .

I personally saw a rainbow caught that would have been a state record , or , very close to it , at the time .
It was released , thankfully , unharmed .

There were also the odd pickeral , chain and grass , which I occasionally caught .
The chain pickeral were decent size , nothing close to record class.
I do recall several grass pickeral that were in excess of 2 lbs , however .

The sunfish family was well represented in this fishery .
Bluegill , pumpkinseeds , longears , green sunfish , warmouths , redears , etc ...
I suspect I have released or eaten several potential records from a few of these species , as well .

Trout are no longer stocked in this fishery , due to the lack of public access .
You can still catch them , however , 7 years+ after the last stocking .
6"+ rainbows are common , up to 2 lbs .
The larger 'holdovers are getting rare , however .
Looks they went native , despite the opinions of our fine fishery biologists .

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Eating a record fish ?

I am pretty sure I caught and released the Pa state record chain pickerel. I was fishing a blue jointed shad rap that dove to about 12 feet. I was trolling along bumping the bottom along a large weedy flat when this thing hit. When I first caught site of it I thought it was a musky. It wasn't till I had it up out of the water that I realized it was a pickerel. The record is 8 pounds 8 ounces. This one here was pushing close to ten in my estimation.

 

[rolmops]

Re: Eating a record fish ?

I have caught the biggest blanket ever, a red one no less,while fishing for lake trout at a 100 feet down.I fought it for 15 minutes to the point where I was circling with my boat in order to gain on this monster.When I finally pulled it into the boat,I was the butt of many a joke for the rest of the day.I did release the blanket,so it could fight another day.
But seriously,while fishing lake Ontario, we often catch steelhead (rainbow on steroids) that would be double the state record in other states.With the arrival of gobies,the browns are getting larger every year.Still, anybody of sound mind releases the big ones, because coming from the Great lakes ,close to where Kodak used to dump its spoils , anything over 2 pounds will probably shine in the dark.

 

[ebry710]

Re: Eating a record fish ?

I have not thought about whether or not a fish is a record fish. Sturgeon in California have minimum and maximum lengths, so I will monitor their lengths (not that I've caught one large enough to worry). When I catch a fish I am most likely thinking whether I want to clean it, fillet it or just let it go. It could be possible (not likely) that I might catch a record fish and only to think that I might get 3 meals out of it. Ignorance is bliss and fried fish is divine.

 

[mpsyamaha]

Re: Eating a record fish ?

i have definitely released a couple florida state records. i even have the pictures to prove it. about 10 years ago i caught a 50-60lb channel catfish and let it go, at the time the record was 40 something lbs. around that same time period i caught an oscar that was just a hair over 3lbs... it was huge 18 inches long. i was unaware that they were keeping records on exotics, so i let it go. only to find that the front cover of the florida freshwater regulations that year had a picture of the 1.79lbs record oscar on the front cover!

 

[ebry710]

Re: Eating a record fish ?

I have to admit. If I catch an exotic fish I don't think I would keep it. A good scale and a good picture would be enough for me. I still don't know how interested I am on tracking records. Many because I have never catch a record fish, let it go and found out.