Exclusive Photos: New World Record Striped Bass! In September of 1982, Albert McReynolds weighed a 78.8-pound striped bass at a tackle shop near Atlantic City, New Jersey. He caught the fish the night prior, standing on the wave-pounded Ventnor Avenue jetty casting a Rebel plug. The catch, which claimed the spot of all-tackle world record, immediately turned McReynolds' world upside down, earning him nationwide attention, tackle company endorsements, and lots of money. Of course, with such a catch come accusations. Though everything from lead-stuffing to finding the fish dead on the sand was rumored in an effort to disqualify the catch, it remained in place for nearly 30 years. But that record fell in August, 2011. Angler Greg Myerson brought in a bass that pinned the needle of a Westbrook, CT, tackle shop scale at 81.8-pounds, and was later certified by the IGFA as the new world record striped bass. We tracked down Myerson less than 24 hours after he boated his bass to get the real story and exclusive photos. Click here for the full story and photos.
Cat Woman: How Alexa Turness Landed A 215-Pound World Record Wels Catfish Eight years after she took up fishing to spend more time with her boyfriend, British angler Alexa Turness caught a Wels catfish in Spain that topped anything he ever caught--and set what is believed to be a new women's world record for the massive European species. Field & Stream got the U.S. exclusive on Turness' 215-pound, record-setting catch. Click here for the full story and photos.
Lone Angler Lands 987 lb. Bermuda-Record Bluefin, Despite The Sharks A lone angler, far offshore. A giant fish, bigger than anything he'd ever hooked. And sharks. No, this isn't the setting for "The Old Man and the Sea." It's the all-too-real situation 61-year-old Andrew Card found himself in earlier this month when, fishing alone some 30 miles off the coast of Bermuda, Card hooked an incredible 1,000 pound bluefin tuna, only to see his catch ravaged by sharks before he could boat it. When Card managed to finally get the giant fish in the boat, it still weighed a scale-bottoming 987 pounds. The massive fish beat the old Bermuda record of 782 lbs., which happened to be caught by...Andrew Card. Click here for the full story and photos.
Record Marlin Causes Chaos in Cabo On Saturday, September 24, 2011, Richard Biehl (in the sweat-soaked orange shirt) hooked what's being considered by locals as the largest blue marlin ever landed in Mexico's Cabo San Lucas, while chartering aboard the "Go Deep." After a marathon 27-½ hour battle on 60-pound-test line, the fish was in the marina and attempts to weigh the behemoth began. But the 176-inch (137 inches not counting the tail and bill, with a girth of 75 inches) had to be given an estimated weight of 1,213 pounds after it was found to be too lengthy for the scale. While the fish spurred both curiosity and commemoration amongst locals after news of the catch circulated, it also gave Biehl's wife quite a scare. Because the group was out of communication for so long, she was mere minutes away from filing a missing person report with the local Mexican government before finding out her husband wasn't truly missing, but fighting the fish of a lifetime. However, the anglers and crew did begin running out of food and water. Click here for the full story and photos.
Teen's First Striper: A 66 lb NC State-Record Monster Bass Seventeen-year-old Tyler Shields of Murphy, North Carolina, thought he was fishing for largemouth bass when he visited Hiwassee Lake on March 31. What he boated instead was a 66-pound striped bass that shattered the state's freshwater record--and topped by 2 pounds the North Carolina saltwater striper record as well. Click here for the full story and photos.
Potential African Record Black Marlin Eaten By Sharks They're called "granders" in saltwater lingo, blue or black marlin that break the thousand-pound mark, and they are the ultimate goal for big-game anglers. One South African angler recently broke that barrier in spectacular fashion with a monstrous black marlin that - despite being attacked and partially eaten by sharks - almost broke the all-tackle African record. Here is the tragic story of how they caught this fish. Click here for the full story and photos.
1,000-Pound Mako is California's Pending State Record Sean Gizatullin could not have asked for a more thrilling introduction to shark fishing: During his long-awaited first attempt at the sport on July 24, the 27-year-old Newbury Park man hooked this 1,098-pound Shortfin Mako off the Southern California coast in a tournament sponsored by the Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club of Channel Islands Harbor. Find out why the fish thought to be the largest ever caught in California did not win the tournament. Click here for the full story and photos.
Photos: New Rhode Island Record Swordfish When you're a charter captain 148 miles offshore in the wee hours of the morning and your clients are sleeping on deck, what do you do when your deep bait gets hit? Naturally, you wake up the paying customers and hand off the rod. That's what Captain Louis J. DeFusco did on August 12, 2011, but his groggy clients passed on rod duty. Instead, DeFusco took on the fight himself and ended up landing a broadbill swordfish that turned out to be the largest sword ever taken on rod and reel in Rhode Island. Click here for the full story and photos.
The Arkansas State-Record Largemouth That Never Was We originally posted this story on March 7, 2012. Soon after, new information surfaced indicating the angler in question, Paul Crowder, was not in possession of a valid fishing license when he caught what would have been the state-record largemouth bass. He did not disclose this fact to Field & Stream or to the numerous other media outlets that reported on his catch. In light of this information, state officials wiped his catch from the record books and Crowder has been brought up on charges. Steven Hill contacted Crowder and the state Fish and Wildlife Commission on Monday, March 12. Click here for the full update. Even if the fish didn't end up being an official record, it's a beautiful catch and a reminder to always do it by the books. Click here for photos and the original story.
The Biggest Tuna Ever Caught (From a Kayak) Matt Shepard of Virginia Beach, Virginia, landed this 166-pound bluefin tuna while fishing from a kayak about 40 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The fish sets a new record for the largest tuna ever caught from a kayak. Shepard is part of a small but growing band of kayak anglers who practice mothershipping--using a charter boat to get to deep offshore water that is normally out of kayaking range--in pursuit of big-water gamefish. Click here for the full story and photos.
New All-Tackle World Record Burbot Sean Konrad pulled a 25.2 pound burbot from the waters of Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan, Canada. Pending certification, the fish, a freshwater cod (Lota lota), will be recognized by both the International Game Fish Association and the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame as the new all-tackle world record for the species.
** Click here for the full story and photos.**
Holy Mackerel: 2nd-Grader Hooks 68 lb. King Fish Andrew Quinn, a spirited Michigan second-grader who wrestles in the 77-pound weight class at his school, is no stranger to grappling with heavyweight foes. But even Andrew--one of the biggest kids in his class, according to his father, Dave Quinn--almost met his match when he hooked this 5-foot king mackerel during a deep sea fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico in late March. At the end of a 30-minute fight, Andrew had just enough strength left to boat the giant king, which weighed 68 pounds, 3 ounces--a touch lighter than Andrew but 4 ounces heavier than the current Alabama state record. Click here for the full story and photos.
Huge Rhode Island Striper Misses World Record by One Pound For the second time in three years, striper fisherman Peter Vican has set a new Rhode Island state record for striped bass--and this time he missed the world record by only a pound. Fishing in the Atlantic Ocean off Block Island, Vican, of East Greenwich, hooked the 77.4 pound striper at 3:30 a.m. June 19, besting by a half-pound the state record he set himself in 2008. Click here for the full story and photos.
Wisconsin Angler Lands World-Record Brown in Lake Michigan Roger Hellen set a new world record when he hauled this 41-pound, 8-ounce brown trout from Lake Michigan Friday July, 16, during the 35th annual Salmon-A-Rama Sportfishing Tournament in Racine, Wisconsin. Hellen (right, with fishing partner Joe Miller) boated the big brown while trolling off Wind Point, north of Racine. The record was confirmed by the IGFA four months after the catch. Hellen shares the all-tackle record for brown trout with Tom Healy, who caught a 41.7-pound brown trout Sept. 9, 2009 at Manistee River, MI. Hellen's fish was a full ounce larger, but didn't meat IGFA requirements to claim sole possession of the record. Click here for the full story and photos.
Monster Northern Pike From Idaho's Lower Twin Lake Should Be New State Record On Friday, August 6, 2010, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho resident Kim Fleming landed the state's largest northern pike ever recorded. The giant weighed 40 pounds, 2 ounces, beating the previous record by five ounces. Fleming was fishing for rainbow and cutthroat trout on Lower Twin Lake when the behemoth ate his offering, instead. Fleming's pike was later confirmed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game as the new state record. Click here for the full story and photos.
Texas Bass Breaks Caddo Lake Record Keith Burns of Linden boated this 16-pound largemouth bass on March 20 at Texas' Caddo Lake. The fish set a record for Caddo and put Burns in the top spot for Angler of the Year honors, which the Texas Wildlife and Parks Department awards annually to the state resident who catches the biggest bass between October and April. Click here for the full story and photos.
