Rumor has it that Mark Raveling caught a 8lb 15oz laregmouth recently ona buzzbait. I also heard that the fish was either weighed at or still might be at Cabin Fever Sports in Victoria. I also heard there will be a news clip on WCCO channel 4 tonight. This is all 2nd hand info, from 2 sources. I hope it is true!!! What a pig if it is!!!
Where at? 
i hope we can get some pictures, that is a true hawg! 
Thanks,
Aaron
Its True What a fish
Wow…what an Awesome Looking fish…..She’d be closed to 10lbs in Spring 
Look at the filets on that fish! 
Just kidding! Wow, what a hog!
Why is everyone so excited about a big green carp?
Its just an ugly bottom feeder. 
Its soooooo Stubby. If it were longer like a REAL fish it might go 10-12 lbs. 
Nice fish, congrats to the angler.
Isnt it illegal to transport live fish????? Hmmmmmm……
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Isnt it illegal to transport live fish????? Hmmmmmm……
Only if you’re taking it somewhere else to be released….
He did nothing illegal.
Hater 
jk
What an awesome specimen!
We all knew it was a matter of time before this record was busted. Beautiful Fish!
Page 18 of the MN DNR Fishing Regs:
All fish must be killed before transportation. This does not apply to minnows.
and
It is illegal for anglers to transport live fish, including live wells of trailered boats……
It also says on page 90:
If you catch a fish that you think could be a record, follow these steps:
• Weigh the fish on a state-certified scale (found at most bait shops and butcher shops), witnessed by two observ-ers.
• Take the fish to a DNR fisheries office for positive iden-tification and a state record fish application.
• Complete the application and send it along with a clear, full-length photo of your fish to the address listed on the form.
To do this, you must transport the fish…It doesn’t mention having to kill a potential record fish either.
This, like every other law, seems to be up for interpretation…. 
DaveB is 100% correct. He is breaking the law. You also need a permit to keep a fish for an aquariam. I’m surprised the DNR didn’t keep the fish and do more specific testing to make sure it was indeed a Minnesota strain Largemouth.
Here is the text of the Strib article. (Since it requires registration to view)
Outdoors: No whoppers to land this lunker
Dennis Anderson, Star Tribune
October 4, 2005 BASS1004
No fish has been the subject of more cock-and-bull than the largemouth bass in Minnesota.
At one time, the biggest bass caught in the state was actually caught in Florida (it was transported here and fraudulently represented as a Minnesota record).
Another Minnesotan years ago claimed to have caught the state’s biggest bucketmouth, submitting as evidence not a bulbous bass but a photo of a bulbous bass.
His dog, he said, ate the fish itself.
Still another angler once boated what he claimed to be a state record largemouth.
Except, upon review, the season wasn’t open for bass when the fish was caught.
Perhaps, as the outdoor writer Ed Zern once observed, “All fishermen are born honest. But they get over it.”
Enter now Mark Raveling, 54, of suburban Spring Park, casting a buzz bait on tiny Auburn Lake (261 acres) near Victoria, at about 10:30 a.m. Monday.
Mark Raveling’s record largemouth.Bruce BispingStar TribuneA tournament bass angler for more than 20 years, Raveling, with fishing partner Jay Carlson of Prior Lake, was targeting lunkers.
“On Saturday, Jay and I caught some nice 6- and 7-pounders in Auburn,” Raveling said. “So we went back.”
Raveling’s first bass Monday whacked a Blue Fox Double Spin Buzzer, a top-water bait. “The bass hit the bait so hard its tail came all the way around,” Raveling said.
Employing 40-pound-test line, Raveling winched the potbellied largemouth to boatside and weighed it, preliminarily, at 8 pounds, 15 ounces — a mark that topped the current record, set in 1994, of 8 pounds, 12.75 ounces. That bass, also landed in October, was caught in Tetonka Lake in LeSueur County.
En route to likely verification as a state record, the weight of Raveling’s bass was verified on a scale at Cabin Fever Sporting Goods in Victoria and the fish was formally identified by a Department of Natural Resources biologist.
Next stop for the record-to-be?
Monday afternoon, the burly bass was still in Raveling’s livewell, as he and Carlson continued to sling baits onto Lake Auburn.
Said Raveling: “I might get the fish into the aquarium at the new Cabela’s store in Rogers.”
Dennis Anderson is at [email protected].
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DaveB is 100% correct. He is breaking the law.
I disagree….somebody call the MN DNR and get their stance on it…
Go ahead!
651-296-6157
or
888-646-6367
I agree it a silly law, but it’s in place to prevent the spread of millfoil and zeebs. There are no exceptions. Rarely enforced however….
-J.
Another point, in different states, both World record Blue Cats that were caught this past year were transported to Show Aquariums with the aid of the DNR….
Those were in different states.
I think the DNR is right to look the other way and not ticket someone in this case. I was just pointing out that he was, technically, breaking the law.
The state record fish instructions dont say to keep the fish alive.
I just wanted to point this out. Many people arent aware that if they trailer their boat w/ live fish in the live well and take them home for cleaning, they are breaking the law.
I have also heard people recommending to keep river fish in a tank for a day or two before cleaning because they taste better-this is also illegal.
If you arent dumping fish in your backyard pond, I dont think it is big deal. It is important that people know the law, if they chose to break it in certain cases and want to assume the risk, that is up to them.
Congrats to Mr. Raveling!!
If I catch a state record fish it will be transported live and I will pay the fine if need be. As they say, some laws are meant to be broken.
I just called the MN DNR, they are having an agent call shortly, but they could tell me he obtained a permit to transfer the fish to the Cabela’s store….
I will to talk to the DNR guy about the initial transportation though, and get his stance on it..
What the heck you guys…he broke the state record…..can’t we just be happy for him??
Why bring up past incidents where people tried to cheat by bringing bass in from elsewhere….or chastize him for breaking the law….he was probably so excited the only thought in his head was getting to an official weigh station. Had the fish not beaten the record, I’m guessing here, but he probably would have thrown it back which I think is illegal as well but I wouldn’t hold it against him in this case to keep a trophy fish like that in the system.
Technically it was illegal but why waste a fish like that, it is the fish of a life time. I wouldn’t want to kill a fish like that either.
John
Agree.
However, Like DaveB said – It’s important to know the law and decide for yourself if you want to risk the fine.
Here are a copule of links the the Mn DNR website for your reading pleasure…..
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ecological_services/invasives/laws.html
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/aboutdnr/laws_treaties/emergency_rules/milfoil_lakes2002.pdf
Invasive Species Program
Jay Rendall, Coordinator
[email protected]
500 Lafayette Rd, Box 25
St Paul, MN 55155-4025
te. (651) 297-1464
My intent wasnt to chastize him. I just find it amusing when people admit to breaking the law in newspaper stories. It seems to happen a lot.
I am very happy for him. A new state record bass is quite an accomplishment. It also says a lot for CPR. More pressure on fisheries than ever, and still lots of giants out there.
BTW-what is more impressive, catching a LM pushing 9lbs, or catching several the day before from 6-7 pounds! MAN!
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My intent wasnt to chastize him. I just find it amusing when people admit to breaking the law in newspaper stories. It seems to happen a lot.
Like that lady shown holding a 20″ smallie caught from Mille Lacs. Nice bass. Too bad she was standing on shore with the thing. 
Here’s your ticket… and ‘yur sign.
Just talked to the MN DNR Guy….
While many of us may disagree, the DNR advised what he did was illegal in transporting the fish.
NO citation was issued however, and he did get a permit from that point to transport it on.
I asked if it was expected to kill record fish in order to get it certified, and while he didn’t come out and say YES, he did say that’s really the only true way to verify it. I also asked if DNA testing was going to be done, and he said no.
I also asked about transporting fish from landings to weigh-ins, and that is legal b/c of the tournament permits that go along with them….
I also agree, nobody was trying to bring him down for catching the fish….it’s truly the catch of a lifetime….and I guess I would Willingly break the law, just as he did.
Everyone speeds too, that’s against the law!!
Its a much better thing that he transported the fish alive to verify that it was a state record than to transport that fish dead and find out it was an ounce short of the record! That would be a terrible waste.
DNR law is written with obtuse vagueness so that crimes can be punished simply based on intent. Transport of a live fish for purposes of validating a state record, or even better for putting on display, alive, the states biggest bass to date for all to see, is worth bending any game law intended to protect our water. It would seem that this gentleman’s intentions are 100% honorable, therefore here’s a huge 
for your awesome catch.
That is a great fish, and it was only a matter of time that someone soon caught the new record. I have been saying for a long time that another lake in Carver Co would do it, but oh well, I had the Co. right.
Congrats to Mark and his awesome BASS. maybe he is a member here and will post a cool story on what it feels like to land a fish like that on a buss bait. 
And who really cares if the fish was transported in a livewell or not. I know if the official weight was not a record FISH, He would have driven back to the same lake, but the boat back in the water, and put the BASS back right where he caught it. If it was killed and not a record, then it would be just another big fish story with a MOUNT.
Jack…
Just curious – Does anyone know the length of this fish?
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