Several long-standing IGFA records may have toppled and lead off the IGFA Hot Catches report for July. International Game Fish Association World Records Coordinator Jack Vitek updates us with these 10 recent recreational fish catches that are now before the world records committee of potential new records from Australia, Japan, the Dominican Republic, Bimini, Costa Rica and across the U.S.
A kokanee caught in the Northwest region of the U.S. has fishing writers talking for a record that has stood for 22 years. Ronald A. Campbell of Pendleton, Oregon, USA, landed the potential all-tackle kokanee (Oncorhynchus nerka) on June 13, while fishing Wallowa Lake, Oregon, USA. Campbell’s beautiful catch weighed in at 4.39 kg (9 lb 10 oz), and was landed in five minutes after the fish took Campbell’s Shasta Peewee Hoochie. The current IGFA record is 4.27 kg (9 lb 6 oz) from Okanagan Lake in Bristis Columbia, Canada.
A dead flying fish was the bait New Zealand angler Rikki Williams of Mt. Albert in Auckland used to catch a 50.6 kg (111 lb 8 oz) southern yellowtail (Seriola lalandi), on March 13 while fishing Ranfurly Banks, Australia. This potential men’s 37 kg (80 lb) line class record took Williams 15 minutes to bring in and may beat a 48-year old IGFA record. The current IGFA record is 48.98 kg (108 lb 0 oz) caught off Cape Brett, NZ in January 1962.
Japanese angler Masamitsu Okayama of Iwanai-Gun, Hokkaido, landed a kitsune-mebaru (Sebastes vulpes) on May 22, while fishing Shiribetsu, Japan. This potential all-tackle record fish which weighed in at 2.8 kg (6 lb 2 oz) was landed in four minutes after it hit Okayama’s soft plastic bait. The current IGFA record is 2.7 kg (5 lb 15 oz) caught in May 2006 in nearby Setana Hokkaido, Japan.
A beautiful example of a silver redhorse (Moxostoma anisurum) was landed by Michael Romano of Hudson, Ohio, USA, on May 30 while he was fishing Michigan’s Muskegon River. Romano’s catch qualifies as a potential men’s 2 kg (4 lb) line class record on a weight of 3.74 kg (8 lb 4 oz). Romano was using crayfish for bait. The current IGFA record is 3.27 kg (7 lb 3 oz) caught in Sept. 1987 from Rainy River, Loman, Minnesota, USA.
