The California Fishing Show

With Gordon McHenry

                       FISH STORIES

                                                                                                                                                                            

This Sturgeon was caught and released) on the

Willamette River just below Oregon City in the

early days of summer '99. It weighed out at over

1,000 lbs and measured out at11'1". It was 56"

around the girth and took over 6 and a half hours,

and 4 dozen beers, for the 4 guys taking turns

reeling it in. Any Sturgeon OVER five feet has

to be released unharmed and cannot be removed

from the water. They are brood / breeding stock

and probably older than most of us.

.

       

  

   

Monster 48-pound rainbow

trout caught!

It's one thing for us to say that Rapala lures catch big fish, and tell you about World Records that have fallen to the signature wounded-minnow action.

It's another thing to have new record stories to share year after year, even month after month.

Right after we told you about the new All-Tackle World Record brown trout, word came of a new All-Tackle World Record rainbow trout. Both caught on Rapalas!

These are not fish easily fooled. They have lived for a long time and got bigger than any individual specimen ever caught by anybody, before eating a Rapala, because they were fooled by it.

On Sept. 5, 2009, Sean Konrad of Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada, battled and boated a 48-pound rainbow trout, claiming the title of biggest 'bow ever caught. He was fishing at night, slowly backtrolling an X-Rap Jointed Shad (XJS13) in Bonito (BTO) color pattern.

The fish, possibly a triploid (a strain of fish genetically altered for optimum growth), is pending certification, but is significantly larger than the existing world record... 43 pounds, 10 ounces, caught in 2007 by... get this... Sean's identical twin brother, Adam Konrad.

The twins, gainfully employed as auto mechanics, are trophy trout seekers who also guide clients in their quest for the fish of a lifetime. Both world record rainbows came from Diefenbaker Lake, in Saskatchewan. These brothers live to fish, traveling to Montana and other destinations in search of good waters to ply.

We often hear people compare big fish to footballs, but Sean Konrad's 42-inch long, 32-inch girth, 48-pound rainbow trout makes us imagine that a replica stuffed with padding would make a great king-size pillow, on which we could all dream about catching a fish like that.

This just in: Three State Records, Too...
• Rob Walton caught the new Washington state record starry flounder, a beautiful 9.51-pounder that struck a 1-ounce pearl white Luhr-Jensen Crippled Herring.

• John Viglione caught the New Jersey state record northern pike on a Blue Fox Vibrax spinner.

• Mike Chupa caught the Idaho state record Walleye, at 17 lbs. 12 oz on a Storm Thunderstick and the record fish was weighed in on a Rapala scale.
 

Who's next on the record rolls?

     

               

      Giant brown caught!!

  

We all dream about catching the big one, but only a few of us catch the biggest one ever. The man smiling and holding up the biggest brown trout ever is Tom Healy, a retired contractor from Rockford, Michigan.

Healy and friend Bob Woodhouse were going after King salmon, with guide Tim Roller, on Michigan's Big Manistee River, on Sept. 9, 2009. They were casting away, hoping for a nice, quiet day on the water, said Healy. But his life changed when the king of all brown trout bit his silver number 8 Shad Rap.

For the next 15 minutes, it was touch and go, as the monster flirted with numerous log jams and other possible line-tangling obstacles. At one point, the fish tried to jump, but its sheer mass kept it in the surface film, where it thrashed around before going back down.

Roller, who has guided Healy for 15 years, slid the net around the catch when the lucky fisherman steered his prize boatside.

On a certified scale, Healy's fish weighed 41 pounds, 7.25 ounces. It had a 43-inch girth.


It has already been certified as the Michigan state record, and papers are being filed to have it certified as the new All-Tackle World Record. (The existing All-Tackle World Record brown trout was caught in 1992 from the Little Red River in Arkansas. That fish, caught by Howard Collins, weighed 40 pounds, 4 ounces.)

Healy's catch is the latest in a long string of world records taken on Rapala lures. We are proud to say that Rapala holds the world record for world records, and we know how a fish like this can add an exclamation point to a lifetime of memories.

"Anyone could have caught this fish," said Roller, "but the right man did." It feels good when the fishing gods smile down upon the right guy.

 

  
 

For Immediate Release w/photo

IGFA receives documentation, photos on pending world record largemouth bass caught in Japan

Weight matches current IGFA record held for 77 years by Georgia’s George Perry

DANIA BEACH, Fla. USA, (September 15, 2009) --- Documentation for a much talked about 22 lb 4 oz largemouth bass, caught from Japan’s largest lake in July, has arrived into the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) headquarters for world record recognition.

Late Monday, the IGFA, the 70-year old non-profit fisheries conservation, education and record-keeping body, received the application for the largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), caught July 2, by Manabu Kurita, 32, of Aichi, Japan. IGFA rules for fish caught outside the U.S. allows anglers 90 days to submit their applications from the date of their catch.

IGFA conservation director Jason Schratwieser said the World All-Tackle application is currently under review after it was received through the Japan Game Fish Association (JGFA).

Schratwieser said the application stated the bass weighed 10.12 kg (22 lbs 4 ozs) and was pulled from Lake Biwa an ancient reservoir northeast of Kyoto. Photos and video were also submitted with the written documentation.

Kurita’s fish would tie the current record held for over 77 years by George Perry caught on Georgia’s Montgomery Lake, June 2, 1932, near Jacksonville, Georgia.

In North America the largemouth bass, and especially the All-Tackle record, is considered by millions of anglers as the “holy grail” of freshwater fish because of its popularity and the longevity of Perry’s record.

Largemouth bass have also been introduced in many countries and in Japan fisheries officials consider it an invasive species. In addition, because bass are not native and are stocked in Japan, many speculated that the big bass was a sterile triploid. However when biologists in Japan examined the ova of the big female they concluded that the fish was not triploid.

IGFA World Records Coordinator Becky Wright reported Kurita’s fish measured 27.20 inches in length and an almost equal girth of 26.77 inches. She said Kurita was using a blue gill as live bait trolling through a canal.

A decision by the IGFA of whether Kurita’s fish will tie Perry’s record may take up to a month.

“We have a formal relationship with our sister organization, the Japan Game Fish Association where they first collect and review record applications for fish caught in Japan,” said Schratwieser. “It works out well because they not only translate applications but can also contact the angler if more documentation is needed.

“We still have a number of questions to ask them and Kurita regarding local laws and the area he caught it in while he was trolling through a canal on the lake,” said Schratwieser.

“We hope to make an announcement in three to four weeks.”

 

 

         Giant catch for schoolgirl angler

Jessica Wanstall lying next to the huge catfish
It took Jessica 20 minutes to pull the fish from the water

A schoolgirl believes she could hold the junior world record for catching the largest freshwater fish.

Jessica Wanstall, 11, of Sittingbourne, Kent, was nearly dragged into the water when the catfish, weighing 193lbs (87kg), took her bait in Spain.

The fish, at nearly 9ft (2.7m) long, was almost twice her height.

"Afterwards, when I put the rod down, I couldn't feel my arms properly... I didn't realise it was going to be that big at all," Jessica said.

The youngster spent 20 minutes trying to pull the monster fish out of the water, and in the end had to have help from her father and his friends.

'Face was picture'

Her father, Mark, recalled: "She was having quite a hard time reeling it in.

"Then when we started pulling it out of the water... it just kept coming, and that's when her face was a picture."

She hooked the fish during a trip to Spain's River Ebro.

After it was weighed, the fish was released back into the water.

The family is waiting to hear officially if Jessica has netted a world record.