State tiger trout record rescinded after investigation reveals angler caught fish without a license

MONTPELIER — When an angler notified Idaho Fish and Game this past May about a record-breaking tiger trout he said he caught the night before, a conservation officer knew something was fishy.

The Southeast Regional Office for Idaho Fish and Game issued a news release on May 30, 2023, stating that Kody King, a native of Montpelier, was due for some congratulations after catching the new “certified weight” state record for tiger trout.

“King was fishing his home waters of Montpelier Reservoir when he landed the 29-inch monster trout,” the news release said. “King decided to keep the fish, thinking he might well have a record. The fish weighed in at 8.47 pounds, easily beating the previous record of 4.8 pounds held by Gatlynn Mayes caught from Becker Pond in 2020.”

Kolby White, a senior conservation officer for Idaho Fish and Game, says that he learned of the record-breaking catch last year after receiving a voicemail from King on May 26, 2023, that stated he had caught the fish the night before.

“I forwarded the voicemail to our supervisor and he got in contact with (King) and told him that he needed to get a certified weight and get all the necessary paperwork filled out,” White said. “A couple days later I saw our news release and I looked at the picture that was submitted and it threw me off a little bit because I knew exactly where that photo was taken at the Montpelier Reservoir and it definitely wasn’t taken at nighttime.”

White said that based on his training and experience he believed the photo was taken sometime around mid-day or earlier and “that sort of piqued my interest because (King) said that he caught the fish at night.”

To investigate the matter further, White said he looked King up in the Fish and Game system and found out that he did not purchase a license beforehand and actually only purchased a one-day, non-resident fishing license around 2 p.m. the day he said he caught the fish.

Then White responded to the Montpelier Reservoir and took several photographs from the same location that King was pictured in his photo with the record-breaking fish.

“Based on all of my photographs, it was obvious that the fish was caught sometime between noon and 1 p.m.,” White said. “So, with all of that information we conducted an interview with (King) and eventually once we showed him our pictures he admitted to catching and killing the fish and then traveling into town to purchase a license after the fact.”

King was subsequently cited with misdemeanor charges of fishing without a license and unlawful possession of wildlife following the investigation.

King on Oct. 25, 2023, pleaded guilty to the two charges. He was ordered to pay fines and restitution in the amount of $983, had all hunting, fishing and trapping licenses suspended for one year and was ordered to make a public statement and apology that was printed in Montpelier’s newspaper, The News-Examiner.

“I am deeply sorry to inform you that the state record fish I caught was illegal, as I did not possess the necessary fishing license at the time,” King wrote in the public apology. “I understand the importance of following the rules and regulations that govern our community, and I am truly remorseful for my actions. I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere apologies to each and every member of our community. My actions were thoughtless and irresponsible, and I fully accept the consequences of my behavior.”

King’s record tiger trout catch was rescinded and the 4.8 pound record that was held by Mayes was restored.
Link: https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/state-tiger-trout-record-rescinded-after-investigation-reveals-angler-caught-fish-without-a-license/article_4c65be82-dda8-11ee-9227-cf1282a2c0d2.html

Guy tells a good fish story.
Fish Story that has you hooked video

Scientifically Treated Petroleum.
Today it's Science Technology Performance.

At the end of the video he said the girl was Suzanne Somers.
Thanks everyone for your replies.

What does STP stand for?
Bonus: Who is the girl in the picture?
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Answer in video.
What does STP mean

Sean Connery

Mike I found this.
Teen catches new state record tiger trout
By Chris Lawrence

BURLINGTON, W.Va. — A Mineral County teenager is the new holder of the state record for the tiger trout in West Virginia.

Nathan Smith, 16, of Burlington, W.Va. was fishing Saturday morning at New Creek Dam Site #14 when a flash in the water caught his eye.

“I seen a fish surface right by the bank and it was a pretty big fish. I reeled my second pole in and casted toward it with a Gulp minnow. I missed him on the first cast and I finally got him to bite on the third cast. The fight lasted about six minutes,” Smith told MetroNews in an interview for West Virginia Outdoors.

He lugged the big fish to the bank and while he knew he had a good one, he really didn’t know how good it was.

“I thought it was probably five or six pounds,” said Nathan. “We left Dam and stopped at New Creek and a guy there was talking about how big it was. He said it could be a state record.”

The old state record for weight was 10.65 pounds. Clearly Nathan’s ability to estimate fish weight was a tad off if that was going to be the case.

“Yeah, it was WAY off,” he laughed.

When he took the fish to the DNR in Romney to get a certified weight by the agency fish biologist, the weight turned out to be 11.98 pounds and crushed the old record for weight. The fish measured 26.75 inches, which was not enough to eclipse the standing length record at 28.7 inches. The old record for weight and length was the same fish caught Krodel Lake in Mason County by Mike Connolly in 2011.
“I took it over to the DNR and got it certified, then I brought it home and measured it for the taxidermist and then I filleted it,” said Nathan.

He plans to get a replica mount made, but the fish will be enjoyed by his entire family for several upcoming meals.
Link: https://wvmetronews.com/2024/02/26/teen-catches-new-state-record-tiger-trout/#:~:text=At%2011.98%20pounds%20the%20tiger,

Nice big ones Mike.

Angler learns why his record fish was rescinded; it’s not good
David Strege Mon, Feb 19, 2024

A Kansas fisherman who had his state-record white crappie voided and “didn’t understand why,” now knows the reason his record fish was tossed out and the old record reinstated.

After an investigation prompted by a tip, officials from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks discovered weights inside the “record” catch, as reported by KSNT.

Bobby Parkhurst submitted for state-record consideration a crappie that weighed 4.07 pounds on a certified scale. It was confirmed by John Reinke, the KDWP assistant director of Fisheries, as previously reported.

Parkhurst had caught the fish last April from Pottawatomie State Fishing Lakes No. 2, and it was reported that it topped the 59-year-old record of 4.02 pounds caught by Frank Miller of Eureka in 1964.

That was before a witness called the KDWP with a tip, saying the weight of the crappie in question was initially 3.73 pounds.

“To preserve the integrity of KDWP’s state-record program, KDWP game wardens met with the angler who voluntarily presented his fish for re-examination,” KDWP spokeswoman Nadia Marji told KSNT. “When staff used a handheld metal detector to scan the fish, the device detected the presence of metal.”

The game wardens then took the fish to the Topeka Zoo and Conservation Center where an X-ray showed two steel ball bearings in the fish’s stomach.

When the KDWP rescinded the record, it did not mention weights in the fish, only saying that the “written application form was not ‘true and correct,’” pointing to the listed weight on the form.

Parkhurst had insisted he filled out the application properly, saying, “I don’t understand why they’re doing this to me.”

“I did it the whole way they wanted me to do it,” Parkhurst told KSNT. “I went through the procedures, I wrote down what I caught it on, I did everything they wanted me to do by the book. I did everything I was supposed to do. Their biologists looked at it more than once.”

In this case, the stakes were much smaller. Katie Garceran of the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office told KSNT that after an investigation, it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the case concerning the creation of false information.

Photos courtesy of Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
Link: https://sports.yahoo.com/angler-learns-why-record-fish-170133630.html

Happy Birthday Ryno!! Enjoy the day.

I got that also from the story.
Two inches of ice is sketchy. It's not worth it for a fish. I do believe the hole was bigger than stated in the story.
Glad it turned out well.

Man takes the day off work to go fishing, then his catch shatters Rhode Island record
Julia Daye

In the winter stillness on a frozen lake, a man’s gleeful howl torpedoed the quietude.

“Whoooooo mama! Look at the size of this thing!”

He was alone, save for the massive fish in his hands. He stabilized the creature in one hand and pulled his phone out with the other, immediately hitting record.

Zachary Taylor had taken the day off work to do his favorite thing — fish. He told The Valley Breeze that he didn’t expect to catch much, he just liked the activity.

It was Jan. 18, a good day for ice fishing at Peck Pond in the Pulaski State Park and Recreation Area in Rhode Island.

Taylor cut a 6-inch hole in the ice. He used a jig stick, a smaller fishing pole, and waited. When he felt the pull, he jumped into action, he told The Valley Breeze.

The creature on the other side of the line was bigger than usual. In fact, it was so big, Taylor had to reach into the ice cutout and lift the fish by the gills, the outlet reported.

In his hands was a mammoth rainbow trout, almost too big to hold. The creature weighed 15 pounds, a full 3 pounds more than the state-record-breaking trout caught nearly four years earlier, in 2020, according to NRI Now.

“It was a very exciting moment on 2 inches of ice,” Taylor wrote on his Instagram.

The next day, the Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife certified Taylor’s catch as the official new state record.

“Congratulations Zachary on your catch!” the organization said in a statement.

The trout was 29 inches long with a girth of 21 inches.
Link: https://news.yahoo.com/man-takes-day-off-fishing-223930644.html

Texas fisherman dubbed 'Outstanding Angler' for massive blue catfish
The 'behemoth' weighed 62 pounds and measured 45.5 inches long.
By Ariana Garcia Jan 27, 2024

A skilled fisherman is being recognized by state officials for catching a record-breaking blue catfish on a Texas lake earlier this month. On Jan. 15, angler and fishing guide Ricardo Garza hooked the "behemoth" on Falcon Lake, an 84,000-acre reservoir on the Rio Grande located 40 miles southeast of Laredo, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). The massive catfish weighed 62 pounds and measured 45.5 inches long.
Garza's catch set two state records, including the Water Body Record, and Water Body Catch and Release Record, according to TPWD. Garza was also bestowed a Big Fish Award—given to anglers for catching a trophy class fish of a qualifying species—and the Outstanding Angler Award. TPWD hands out the latter for a catch that does not meet the requirements of other award categories, but still deserves recognition.

Blue catfish are the largest freshwater sportfish in Texas, according to TPWD. The species is native to major rivers of the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi River basins. Their range also extends south through Texas, Mexico, and into northern Guatemala. In the Lone Star State, blue catfish are absent from the northwestern portions of the state, including the Panhandle, but present elsewhere in larger rivers.
Link: https://www.chron.com/life/wildlife/article/texas-angler-catfish-18628184.php

Ricardo Garza caught a 62-pound blue catfish that measured 45.5 inches long from Falcon Lake earlier this month.

Thanks for posting this.
Tog are a blast hope to catch more this year.

Blackfish, Tautog, Tog.

The tautog (Tautoga onitis), also known as the blackfish, is a species of wrasse native to the western Atlantic Ocean from Nova Scotia to South Carolina.

Your welcome.