How To Verify A Record And Keep It Alive?

[carpflyguy]

In MA, you cannot transfer live fish. If you catch a fish, you can weigh it if your scale has been certified by the department of weights and measures, and submit it fr the Sportfishing Awards Program - a program that gives awards for the biggest fish caught each year. But if you catch a state record in MA, YOU MUST KILL IT in order for it to be official, since it has to be "recognized" by a DFG worker. I'd never kill a bass that big to get a record.

 

Good question FishWitWiz... I've heard the record bass in MA killed the guy who caught it. Instead of fishing anymore, he just stayed in bars all day talking and getting drunk. I suppose he figured, no point in fishing anymore after catching the biggest bass in Mass. 

 

  

You are both wrong. That a hybrid can produce viable offspring does NOT mean that they are the same species. In our lifetime, you will see a reclassification and renaming/descriptions of Centrarchids (i.e. Sunfishes) that will include a separate species designation for the Florida subspecies.

 

Did I say anything about hybrids?

[J Francho]

Did I say anything about hybrids?

 

No, I must have clicked the wrong button.  I'll fix it.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I'm not killing a state record fish if I can help it. I'll get it on a scale, take pics like I normally do and then release it.

 

I'd rather keep my spot low key than simply have my name in a book. Those who know me and what I do will recognize and appreciate the fish, that's what would count to me.

[Dwight Hottle]

I'm not killing a state record fish if I can help it. I'll get it on a scale, take pics like I normally do and then release it.

 

I'd rather keep my spot low key than simply have my name in a book. Those who know me and what I do will recognize and appreciate the fish, that's what would count to me.

Yea but how do we know your scale isn't broken?

[fishballer06]

Yea but how do we know your scale isn't broken?

 

Zing!

[a1712]

I'm not killing a state record fish if I can help it. I'll get it on a scale, take pics like I normally do and then release it.

 

I'd rather keep my spot low key than simply have my name in a book. Those who know me and what I do will recognize and appreciate the fish, that's what would count to me.

I won't tell.......but it's gonna run ya about $20. Brian.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Yea but how do we know your scale isn't broken?

 

LOL, you'll know.

[Catch and Grease]

If I catch a state record, it's going on ice.

Same here, records are meant to be broken... Besides if the bass is over the state record then chances are if you release it then it won't be getting much, if any, bigger and the bass had already spawned lots of times for the people who believe genetics are everything...

[Dwight Hottle]

Funny thing I can remember talking to a biologist that my buddy had hired to assess & shock three ponds down in south Georgia. We were talking about catch & release fishing as it related to pond fishing & fishing in general. He made the comment if we catch a double digit out of those ponds it would not hurt to keep it for a trophy mount. He further stated that the chances of catching that same fish again if released were practically nil. So his comment was don't release a trophy with the idea that it will be caught again because it probably will not happen. Keep in mind these were two to five acre farm ponds.

[J Francho]

The three big fish that we caught and put in my neighbor's pond were uncatchable with hook and line. You could hand feed them live frogs, though.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I don't know that I'd release it for anything other than the personal satisfaction of doing so.

 

I figure a Northern LMB that has grown to 10+lbs deserves to live out the rest of her days where she started. She was kind enough to let me take her pic, I'd feel bad killing it.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Also, I agree that the likelihood of catching that fish again is very slim.

 

I GUARANTEE that the chance of catching it again is ZERO if you kil it. I'd rather have some odds than none.

[roadwarrior]

Funny thing I can remember talking to a biologist that my buddy had hired to assess & shock three ponds down in south Georgia. We were talking about catch & release fishing as it related to pond fishing & fishing in general. He made the comment if we catch a double digit out of those ponds it would not hurt to keep it for a trophy mount. He further stated that the chances of catching that same fish again if released were practically nil. So his comment was don't release a trophy with the idea that it will be caught again because it probably will not happen. Keep in mind these were two to five acre farm ponds.

 

I caught what I believe is the biggest bass in a local pond five times last summer and fall. I expect to catch her again this

spring and perhaps weigh her. We think this is the same fish that another Memphis Pond Jumper caught post spawn late

in the spring. Although she "officially weighed in at just under 10 lbs (9.98), I think she fattened up a bit by fall. We'll see if

she's in the mood to play in a couple of months.

 

 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

I caught what I believe is the biggest bass in a local pond five times last summer and fall. I expect to catch her again this

spring and perhaps weigh her. We think this is the same fish that another Memphis Pond Jumper caught post spawn late

in the spring. Although she "officially weighed in at just under 10 lbs (9.98), I think she fattened up a bit by fall. We'll see if

she's in the mood to play in a couple of months.

 

 

 

 

 

You might bump your avatar PB up to 9-10 from 8-9lbs unless that reflects smallmouth only

[EvanT123]

Funny thing I can remember talking to a biologist that my buddy had hired to assess & shock three ponds down in south Georgia. We were talking about catch & release fishing as it related to pond fishing & fishing in general. He made the comment if we catch a double digit out of those ponds it would not hurt to keep it for a trophy mount. He further stated that the chances of catching that same fish again if released were practically nil. So his comment was don't release a trophy with the idea that it will be caught again because it probably will not happen. Keep in mind these were two to five acre farm ponds.

The last sentence intrigues me here. Would a trophy bass in a larger body of water such as a Great Lake , Or large River system ? Be easier to catch if caught before and why ?

[Dwight Hottle]

I was only trying to convey that the biologist was talking about ponds which was his specialty. The general consensus was that catch & release works well for larger waters but not for smaller waters & ponds. Most smaller waters & ponds suffer from too many fish and not enough forage resulting in stunted fish populations.

[WRB]

The CA largemouth bass record is 21lbs 12 oz caught in 1991. The reason the record isn't 25.1 or 22.01 attest to how difficult it is to validate a record catch without killing the bass.

Mentioned the fact that it's illegal to transport live fish in CA, including bass.

The 21 lb 12 oz state record bass was caught in lake Castaic and so was the 22.01 lber., where I often fished.

My 19.3 lb bass was caught at Castaic in 1993. I didn't have a certified scale and the lake marina doesn't have a certified scale, so the bass gets put into livewell, the boat loaded on the trailer and driven about 2 miles to the Mini Mart for certifed weighing. This is illegal, most anglers do it anyway who want to weigh their bass.

Most bass are release their bass into the Castaic lagoon after being weighed because it's close to the Mini Mart.

I didn't have a camera and a bystander took a picture and mailed it to me. Today we have cell phones with good a camera, easy to take pictures and my scale is certified. Still need a DFW person to validate the fish and a witness. Castiac doesn't have a certified scale to this day or a giant bass population anymore. Catching a state record bass is extremely difficult.

Tom

[Dwight Hottle]

Catching a state record bass is extremely difficult. And getting the record certified by the state can be even more difficult.

[WRB]

The last sentence intrigues me here. Would a trophy bass in a larger body of water such as a Great Lake , Or large River system ? Be easier to catch if caught before and why ?

Dottie is the poster child for catch and release success. We know for a fact Dottie was caught 3 times as a giant bass. If Dotties was caught as someone's trophy and killed earlier we wouldn't know her potential.

None of fingerlings that were hatched with Dottie reached giant status, Very few bass caught from Dixon lake have grown to exceed 15 lbs. The only way we know how big a bass can grow is to let it live to reach it's potential.

Tom

[J Francho]

Well, if you don't fish, you'll never have a chance at catching a record, and you'd never know the potential anyway.

I say fish. You aren't going to catch a record. If you do, you broke it. Go ahead and prove it, alive or dead - whatever the rules dictate. You may or may not kill the fish just by fishing for it. Potential, what could have been, yada yada… if I worried about that stuff, I wouldn't get out of bed.

[RoLo]

Catching a state record bass is extremely difficult. And getting the record certified by the state can be even more difficult.

 

You said a mouthful.

Florida has no less than 14 documented bass on record that are heavier than the state record (one over 20 lb)

Despite being weighed on certified scales, the main reason for non-recognition>  'Not identified by a Florida biologist'.

Could've been a bowfin

 

Roger

[J Francho]

Here's a link to one method for shipping live fish great distances... Just remember, bass have spiny dorsal and anal fins that can poke through a plastic bag.  We generally would triple and quadruple bag fish like this, e.g. large cichlids, sunfish, and catfish.

 

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Dragonfish_Canada_Shipping_Asian_Arowana.html