CapMel.com - Some Remarkable World Catches

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Some Remarkable World Catches
From the IGFA

We Floridians all enjoy the opportunity of catching everything from small trout to giant tarpon, sharks, cobia and other sub-tropical species when hooked it's always a banner day. Those same feelings of elation are also triggered when anglers around the world hook their native species -- especially the ones that can be adjudged as possible world records. World records coordinator Rebecca Wright of the International Game Fish Association provides here highlights of selected documented fish catches made across the globe recently submitted for IGFA world records. Here are some recent submissions now before the world records committee:

Above see the young Toronto, Ontario, Canada angler Landon Watchorn, who got a thrill and possibly her first world record when she landed a lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) while fishing Wellesley Lake, Canada on July 29. It took her five minutes to reel up as the sizable fish weighed in at 10.43 kg (23 lb 0 oz). She's submitted documentation in the female smallfry division hoping to beat the current IGFA record of 20 lb 10 oz (9.35 kg), recorded three years ago in Lake Superior, Michigan.

Fishing her hometown's Kenai River, in Alaska, USA, Ms. Jackie L. Johnson, of Kenai wrestled to shore a Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) on July 31, weighing in at 32.74 kg (72 lb 3 oz). She used a Spin-N-Glow lure on 60 kg (130 lb) class line taking 25 minutes to land the fish. The current IGFA record is 71 lb 1 oz (32.66 kg), caught on July 2, 2004, also from the Kenai River near Soldotna

United Kingdom junior angler Andrew Paul, of Kings Lynn, Norfolk, landed a Nile perch, (Lates niloticus) on August 4 while fishing Lake Turkana, Kenya, a catch that may more than double the current IGFA junior mark. Using a double jointed Shadrap the youngster fought the fish for two hours and 15 minutes before landing it and weighing it in at 48.53 kg (107 lb 0 oz). The current IGFA male junior record is 50 lb 0 oz (22.68 kg), caught just a month earlier on July 5, from Egypt's Lake Nasser the same location where several other records are held including the IGFA All-Tackle record of 230 lbs.

Another young United Kingdom angler Peter Brumbly, also from Kings Lynn, Norfolk, landed a European bass, (Dicentrarchus labrax) on August 23, near his Norfolk home. Using a lugworm for bait the junior fisherman took seven minutes to bring in the fish which weighed in at 2.27 kg (5 lb 0 oz). The current IGFA male junior record is vacant.

As she was fishing Barra do Kwanza, Angola on September 14, Theresa Sakko of Cape Town, South Africa, guided by C.E. Sakko, landed a giant African threadfin (Polydactylus quadrifilis). She was using 4 kg (8 lb) class line while casting a Rapala Xrap Magnum for the fish that weighed in at 17.6 kg (38lb 12oz). She's hoping her 45 minute fight to land the fish will get her in the currently vacant women'e line class record in the IGFA World Record Game Fishes book.