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Will these World Record Fish ever be broken?

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There are a bunch of world record fish that likely will never be broken.

In some cases records will remain safe due to new regulations. Take for example, Joey “Sturgeon King” Pallotta’s 468-pound white sturgeon that he caught out of Benicia, CA back in July of 1983. Since then, fishing regulations governing sturgeon up and down the West Coast include maximum size limits to ensure the big spawner females don’t get taken out of the gene pool.

In other cases, habitat degradation, development, pollution and over-harvest have all but wiped out the ability of some species to reach record class sizes anymore.

From monster great white sharks to Tuna the size of small cars and brook trout as long as your leg, here’s Field & Stream’s list of 15 (most likely) Unbreakable World Records.

The Ones that Got Away!

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Fish on, fish gone...

Fish on, fish gone…

They haunt your dreams and gnaw at your soul. They keep you awake in the wee hours and make your chest hurt when you think too much about them. You’ll remember them – like it was yesterday – as long as you live.

I am, of course, talking about the ones that got away.

It sounds kinda crazy, but it’s those encounters with massive fish that spat the hook or busted off that you think about even more than the ones you landed. I guess you could say that it is “better to have loved and lost than never loved at all,” but I’m not totally sure. Some of ‘em still hurt really, really badly…

The say misery loves company, so here are a few stories to make you feel not so alone in your grieving of the ones that got away…

A monster lurks

The one that still sticks in my craw took place a couple years ago on my home stream, the American River near Sacramento. It was a couple days before Christmas and buddy Tim Reilly and I got a kitchen pass from holiday chores, so we decided to wet a line for steelies.

With only a couple hours to spare, we left the boat at home and opted instead for wading a couple productive riffles where my clients had been catching good numbers of small fall-run steelhead in the 3- to 5-pound class on recent guide trips. Armed with light spinning gear, slinkies and small egg clusters, we worked the upper spot without incident and then decided to move downstream.
Click here to read more…

Greg’s Sturgeon (March 2011 Hawg of the Month Contest entry)

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So what happens when the water gets too cold and muddy and you can’t chase your favorite fish (striped bass)? You go sturgeon fishing, of course, and that’s exactly what young fishin’ machine Greg McElroy here did recently in San Pablo Bay.

Soaking shrimp, Greg ended up with this nice diamondback and is now entered into our February Hawg of the Month Contest in which he has a chance to win some cool new headgear from the Pautzke Bait Co. If he advances, he will get to compete in the Hawg Bowl Playoffs at the end of the year and maybe, just maybe win a trip with Bill Swann of Swanny’s Guided Fishing. Click to ENTER

The (not so) Secret Sturgeon Bait

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Kinda like using crawdad tail meat on your sardine-wrapped Kwikfish is a non-secret “secret” these days, the use of salmon roe for sturgeon is also one of those “things that nobody really talks about but everyone kinda knows about.

Still, it is worth mentioning that diamondbacks do seem to really have a taste for the orange caviar in certain situations. Capt. Jay Lopes of Right Hook Sportfishing in San Francisco Bay tells you what you need to know…Click here to read more…

Her First Sturgeon (Jan. 2011 Hawg of the Month Contest entry)

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There are just so many things I love about this photo that don’t know where to begin. So, instead I’ll let reader Thomas Carroll, who submitted the shot, tell the tale of Caris Zajac’s first-ever sturgeon:

“She caught the sturgeon, which measured 70 inches, in San Francisco Bay off Alviso near Channel Marker 20 on the outgoing tide,” says Carroll. “She hooked it on a grass/ghost shrimp combo around 1:30 PM, about 5 minutes after the DFG left us. It took over 20 minutes to land on a 7-foot Ugly Stick and a Shimano reel spooled with 50-pound braid.”

After a quick photo session, the big diamondback was swimming again in the South Bay. For her efforts, Caris is entered into our Jan. Hawg of the Month Contest. Monthly winners will earn some Pautzke’s headgear and will vie for a chance to win a guided fishing trip with top-notch Pacific Northwest skipper Bill Swanny Swann. To enter your big fish, click HERE