HOT News from the IGFA - May 2008

May Hot Catches from the IGFA World Records Department

From across the globe the International Game Fish Association's world records department receives nearly a hundred submissions each month. Here are highlights of selected documented fish catches from IGFA world records coordinator Rebecca Wright who provided the following information on these 10 recent submissions now before the world records review committee:

Two years ago Dr. Martin Arostegui of Coral Gables, Fla., USA, set a new record off Key West, Fla., by catching and releasing a lemon shark, the heaviest fish documented on a fly rod. That heaviest-fish-on-fly-record might be broken by Rick Gunion, Village of Palmetto Bay, Fla., USA, who also landed a shark, a tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), on March 28, weighing 222.26 kg (490 lb 0 oz) on 8 kg (16 lb) tippet. Gunion was guided by Brett Dudas while fishing Mantinilla Shoal, Bahamas. He used an orange streamer for bait and took 40 minutes to bring the shark under control. Gunion, like Arostegui, has numerous world records for various shark species on fly. If his documentation is approved, it would also break the men's tippet record for a 196 lb 6 oz, tiger caught near Flamingo, Fla., by Pat Ford in March 1999. (Photo: tiger shark – 08040008)

Judith E. White, of Grand Haven, Mich., USA, guided by Capt. Chris Morrison, landed a blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) on March 30, weighing 3.18 kg (7 lb 0 oz) using cut bait on 6 kg (12 lb) class line. Taking four minutes to land she made the catch while fishing Marathon, Florida, USA, and now may be among the first to fill the women's line class record section for the recently added new species to the IGFA World Record Game Fishes book. (Photo: blacktip shark – 08040009)

Another new species added this year to the World Record Game Fishes book is the hickory shad (Alosa mediocris) and young angler John William Winstead, of Kill Devil Hills, N.C. USA is one of the first to catch one for a pending IGFA record. His catch was made on March 28 using a Nungesser shad spoon for bait, while fishing the Roanoke River in N.C., The fish weighed .62 kg (1 lb 6 oz) and the young man is waiting to hear if he's the first to make his mark for a new male junior class record. (Photo: hickory shad – 08040023)

A new all-tackle species for the IGFA record book was caught by Ayaka Kosuge, of Miura-Shi, Kanagawa, Japan, who guided by Katsu Yonamine, landed a coastal trevally, (Carangoides caetuleopinnatus) on March 5, weighing 1.05 kg (2 lb 5 oz). Fishing off Ginanzaki, Japan, Kosuge used a VR speed jig for bait taking just five minutes to bring the fish in. (Photo: coastal trevally – 08040028)

Fishing the Rio Negro, in Colombia, Medellin angler Alejandro Linares, landed a sardinata (Brycon whitei) on March 22, weighing 4.08 kg (9 lb 0 oz) for a pending IGFA All-Tackle class record. It took him 15 minutes to land the fish using an in-line spinner for bait. The old record caught in Venezuela last year is 4 lb 4 oz in. (Photo: sardinata – 08040030)

George Bogen of Los Angeles, Calif., USA, guided by Modesto Miranda, landed a gulf coney (Epinephalus acanthistius) on March 15 while fishing Mexico's San Jose Del Cabo. The fish, a member of the grouper family, weighed 5.78 kg (12 lb 12 oz) and was submitted for an IGFA All-Tackle class record. Bogen was using frozen squid for bait and it took him six minutes to land. The current record is 11 lb 12 oz caught two years ago in the same waters of Mexico. (Photo: gulf coney - 08040036)

Escaping the still frigid weather of her home in Bozeman, Mont. USA, fly angler Dotty Ballantyne, chose Andros Island, Bahamas to chase her next potential IGFA world record. Guided by Steven Adderly, she landed a whaler shark (Carcharhinidae family) on April 4, weighing 11.11 kg (24 lb 8 oz) on 4 kg (8 lb) class tippet. She used a red/white baitfish fly to entice the fish which followed with a 20 minute fight. The current women's record for the species is 16 lb 8 oz caught off Strangers Cay, Bahamas last June. (Photo: whaler shark – 08040043)

Junior angler Heather Michell Harkavy, Coral Springs, Fla., USA fishing off Flamingo, Fla., and using cut bait, landed a cobia (Rachycentron canadum) weighing 29.94 kg (66 lb 0 oz). Guided by Capt. Jay Wright Jr., she's hoping the April 20 catch breaks the current female junior class record of 65 lb 4 oz, caught on Chesapeake Bay, Va., USA in 2002. (Photo: cobia -08040053).

A new IGFA All-Tackle species submission was made by Mauro Sergio Preuss, Curitiba-Pr, Brazil, who landed a chicote surubim (Sorubimichthys) August 20, 2007. The fish weighed 6.28 kg (13 lb 13 oz) and was caught while Preuss was fishing the Araguia River, Brazil. (Photo: chicote surubim – 08040051)

Fly-fishing Uraima Falls in Venezuela, Miami, Florida USA's Eduardo Aristeguieta, guided by Guerrero Marino, landed a payara (Hydrolicus scomberoides) on April 19, weighing 7.71 kg (17 lb 0 oz). He was using a FPF blue mackerel fly on 10 kg (20 lb) class tippet and took 15 minutes to reel the payara in. He's hoping to beat the old record of 14 lb 0 oz, recorded Feb. 2001 also at the same falls. (Photo: payara – 08040072)