most catchable state record fish….

well……sense this winter stuff is gettin REAL OLD, REAL FAST, i’ve been doin a lot of thinkin lately (no cheap shots please ). comanchero’s posts in the cat forum about the state record cats really got me thinking (dreaming)………what are my chances of ever catching a new state record cat??? although i’m sure i’ve bounced my jig off the heads of many-a 70# flats in my day, for some reason i’m doubting my abilities to pull a 71#er off the bottom of the river any time soon. another one that seems to be a bit “un-touchable” is that 17-8# mark for them walleye thingy’s…….or how about the 8-0# smallie………just a little to far out of reach for little ol me.

……..but as i read through the state record page of the new 2004 MN fishing regulations (in stores now ), i did find a few record fish that seem to a bit more “in-reach”. granted, some may not be the most coveted records out there…….but how about that 4-0# white bass, or 3-15# carpsucker, or even the #10-15 doggie ???…………hey, a record’s a record, right?? ……..or is it??

so what is your opinion on this? which state records are breakable? which just aren’t concievably possible? would you want to hold the state record for biggest Northern Hogsucker?

here’s the list of MN state record fish off the DNR site. look it over and let me know which species i should be chasin next summer……….

Sounds like the most attainable state record in the short-term will be for the silver or bighead carp. The first one caught on hook and line in MN will set a “new” record…. unfortunately. If I wanted to hold a state record and it didn’t matter which one it was for, I’d go after one of those bad boys once they get established. Or should I think positively and say “if they get established?”

I released a whitebass, actually Steve Vick did it for me, that was well longer than the length listed for the state record. I just did not know or think about it at the time. I knew I had one beast of a white and that’s about it.

I also tangled with a buffalo carp a couple years back that likely would have been in the area of a state record. Didn’t weigh it. Just pitched it back and looked for some place to wash my hands (slimey devils).

My guess is this / these scenarios are repeated for many of the less glamorous species over and over again all across the state. An educated angler with some time on their hands and the drive to do so could likely catch a few new state records for some of these little targeted species over the course of a few years.

Jake, you thinking about becoming the next GREAT quillback hunter or is something along the lines of the hognosed shiner more to your liking?!

James whats the biggest saugar you have ever caught??

I wonder how many the DNR has shocked over 6.2??

One day that record will be mine!!! Dreaming

A little over 5 1/2 Lbs. This is another record that could be broken tomorrow and I wouldn’t be surprised one bit.

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most catchable state record fish….

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Rock Bass! Currently set at 2 pounds even.

Jon J.

I had what I thought was the state record Rock bass caught on Mille Lacs a few years back……..well I had acouple of Michilobs toooooomany, it was just a big smallmouth!
Hook……do ya remember that time?

seriously here: I do plan to catch the next Minnesota state record smallmouth bass right here in Mille Lacs Lake……we had a pig break off just along side of the boat last June. And I know that fish went 24++++!

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Jake, you thinking about becoming the next GREAT quillback hunter or is something along the lines of the hognosed shiner more to your liking?!

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you never no what’s gonna happen……..but i’ve got this quaint little river around that there town of roch that has some beastly roughies in it. quillbacks up the ying-yang……..maybe this summer instead of shootin them all, i’ll try my luck with a worm and hook…….. (i can’t believe i just said that )

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which just aren’t concievably possible?

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The record for Black Crappie at 5.0 pounds seems untouchable!

J.

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I do plan to catch the next Minnesota state record smallmouth bass right here in Mille Lacs Lake.

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Bob, I would not be surprised to see the next SMB state record go down in 2004 on Mille Lacs!

J.

Jim Holst has the right idea – but don’t plan on holding the record for long. Here in Missouri, the bighead record was broken several times the same year. For some strange reason that I do not understand, there is no silver carp record on the books yet, and they have been here in numbers for four years now. Sure they are tough to catch on hook and line, but Missouri keeps records for any method fishing, so surely some bowhunter could have put in an application by now. I did catch a small one on a plug once, but that would have been embarrassing submitting a 4 pound silver as as state record, especially on a day when we had four over ten pounds just jump in the boat.

I hope your are right about the “if”. There is a significant chance that these fish will not take hold in large numbers up there, but I would not count on it. I think the best case scenario, at least for the medium term, is that the fish become established at very low densities. But again, I would not go to Vegas on that bet.

I’d have to say both the Black Crappie, and the American Eel. If I caught a 6lb 10oz eel, I would probably faint, and or cut the line. No one would ever know that I caught something that big.
Steve

Anyting is possible I had two times when i was younger (14 now 20)where i was 2 ounces off the recored. They were in the same week with a 1 lb 14 oz rock bass and a 15oz pumpkinseed (the record was broke a week earlier otherwise i would have tied the pumkinseed one) got a 4 pound 9 oz sauger in red wing last year thats the closest I ve been to a bigger more popular fish record.

I’d agree that the SMB record will come out of Mille Lacs. Buuuutttt… theres also Green Lake up by Willmar that has some hogs in there as well (and doggies too).

I’d doubt the black crappie record will ever be broken… WHITE crappie, on the other hand, might possible be. And I’m guessing that one will come from a backwater area of the good ‘ole Miss.

Green Lake is a great candidate for a record smallmouth in a year or two. I caught 20 very nice smallmouth last year during a WALLEYE tournament. The lake is not that big, but there is tons of structure and the new record could be hiding anywhere.
I want my name next to a record eelpout. I caught a 10-12lber. two years ago on Winnie. Was she ever pretty.

I believe Adam Adler caught and released a state record Rockbass from the Whitefish Chain 3 years ago. I was well over 2 pounds, we didn’t know what the state record was.

I also believe I C&R the state record flathead on Pool 4. If it is still at 70 pounds. The one I caught last year walleye fishing bottomed out two 65 lb scales and was about the size of me. We have pictures of that one. It didn’t fit in the livewell so we had to set it on the deck of my Ranger and drive to get it weighed. It actually seemed to enjoy the ride. No one had a scale big enough at the tournament weigh in so we took pictures and released it.

Scott,
Could you post the pics of the huge flathead, love to see it!!!

yeah… I’d love to see a pic of that beast as well!

What about muskie? I think we are VERY close to having that record broken. Mille Lacs will be the lake she comes out of. There has been one caught (Terry McQuoids) that may have been the one. Never did get an official weight on that fish… he released it! There was also another later that fall (I think) that was huge… but quite a bit of controversy over that fish from what I’ve heard.
The girth that those fish have in that lake is incredible.

SILVER BASS. No doubt about it.

See it this works, posting pictures is not my specialty. That is not a smile on my face, that is my dieing trying to hold that fish up.

Holy Cow!!!!! Cool fish.

What a beautiful fish, I hope you kissed her before you let her go.

I looked prehistoric. The story is interesting. I caught it during a walleye tournament on Pool 4. I fought the fish for 20 minutes with 6 lb line and my little 6ft jigging rod. After the netting struggle Adam and I got it onto the deck of the boat and stuggled to weigh it, that wasn’t easy and it bottomed out the 65 lb scale. Then it rode on the deck of my Ranger into the weigh station. I kept and eye on it as I was cruising in and it appeared to be smiiling at us the whole time.

After bringing the fish in to weigh and the scale not being big enough, lots of people took pictures and we released her. We went to back to the spot and in the first 20 feet of drifting Adam and I each got doubles, 4 walleye, each were 22-23 inches. We netted both my fish then Adams fish together, untangled the mess and went to weigh in for the day. We had two in the box from the drift before I got the bi g catfish. So, here we are back at the weight station at 8:50 AM after just leaving at 8:30 except this time we have our limit of 21-23 inch fish. We wieghed in and waited all day until the rest of the field to come in at 3:00 PM. We ended up second place and cashed a nice check. Memorable day to say the least!!

What a pig…the southern boys that go noodling for those huge cats must be crazy. That fish actually fit in a net??
Sounds like a good day all around.

LOL, I have a huge Beckman, my trolling net and we got the head in and then both of us lifted, barely got it in the boat.

Scott
You caught that one at the MTT tourney last April didn’t ya? I remember that fish.

Gator Hunter

Scott! Why have you been keeping that picture from us? My hands are still shakkkkking!

Gator, pass me a beer.

Get that puppie in the photo gallery!

Holy $@#^$! Now THAT is a catfish. Only took 20min to land on that light of line? Amazing.

There is a secret to getting them in, we were losing valuable tournament time so as it would get into shallow water, shallow enough to extend the net down about 6 ft we would scoop for it. One time it came to about 4 ft from the surface and Adam made a big scoop, got the head!!

Holey Schmoley what a fish…can’t believe the width of the head on that pig. To bad the circimstances dictated that you couldn’t get it to a bigger scale.

So there really is a Catfish Hunter!! Yeesh, that thing is ugly. I find it interesting that the state record black crappie is listed at an even five pounds, but the world record is less than that. They must not acknowledge it for some reason or another. I don’t think that one will be broken myself, but the white crappie record has been broken several times recently, starting in 1997. I saw pictures of a couple of those fish, and I swear they were black crappies. The DNR has a funky way of categorizing the two species….it has to do with the number of dorsal spines instead of the more classical markings. And the new record could very well come from the Mississippi backwaters. Somebody caught one near Red Wing this past spring, I believe, that was over three pounds and close to the record. I caught a white bass on pool 2 a few years ago, let it go, then after it wouldn’t revive, decided to net it in case it might be a record, not having any idea what the record was. Well, he did revive as soon as I got the net near him and I stopped at a bait shop on the way home and found the record was an even four pounds. I had put it on my digital before the release and it read 3.2 lbs. That’s probably the closest I’ve come to a record. As far as the roughies go, I’m guessing the records get broken more often than we know, but people have no clue and don’t really care anyway. I sure wouldn’t haul a 56 lb. carp to a bait shop or wherever to get it certified.