Biggest fish / species

[monkeyboy]

STEFAN did he get one of those dreaded WILLY FISH?

I think thats what theyre called!

[Vagabond]

Biggest - 195 lb Striped Marlin

Next Biggest 193 lb Common Skate

 

Most Unusual - 4 lb Orange-throat Notothen from the Antipodes Islands (one of the sub-antarctic islands that lie between New Zealand and Antarctica)

 

Most Bizarre - 2 lb Cornetfish on fly (Baja California)- like an enormous pipe-fish.

 

Talking about bizarre, on my recent trip to Tasmania, in a week's fishing in the Tamar Estuary, my 8-year-old nephew caught a small Port Jackson Shark, I had an Eagle Ray of 45lb, and my brother-in-law had an Elephant fish (just under 10 lb) Three unusual fish in one week - but thats Tasmania for you.

 

Elephant fish - a cartilaginous fish , but unlike sharks and rays, has only one gill opening. - for the biologists out there, it is a Chimaerid

 

Biggest fish hooked and lost - Black-blotched Stingray - at Exmouth Jetty, N W Australia. Made my 193 lb skate look puny. Norma and I spotted it from the jetty and I ran back to the campervan for the heaviest gear I could muster (not heavy enough as it turned out) Cast out a whole pilchard. Saw the ray pounce on the bait in about 12' of very clear water. The size of a dinner table (seating eight) Chevin has hooked and lost them there also - he reckons they go to over 700lb. This fish took line steadily against heavy pressure for fifty yards , then realised it was hooked, and accelerated out to the reef 150 yards offshore and bust me.

 

[ 17. March 2003, 04:59 AM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]

[Stefan]

WHOA!!!! can i come on your next trip?!?!

 

And yes monkey boy, a willy fish!

OOOO! not nice!

[Vagabond]

Stefan:

 

How big does the sturgeon grow?

According to Maitland (2000 - Hamlyn's guide to freshwater fish of Europe) the Beluga reaches a length of 4.24 m and a weight of 1220 kg (thats nearly 14 feet and 2684 lbs in real money) and is frequently caught commercially over 1000 kg

 

However, you could argue its not a true freshwater fish, as like salmon its anadromous (visits rivers to breed, but spends most of adult life in the sea

 

The IGFA rod caught record is "only" 224 lb 13 oz, so wannabe record holders have plenty of lee-way

[monkeyboy]

I believe a sturgeon is not a Beluga! I think a beluga is a white whale!

[Vagabond]

monkeyboy:

I believe a sturgeon is not a Beluga! I think a beluga is a white whale!

Both names are right!

 

There are several species of sturgeon of which the Beluga is one. (Acipenser huso, aka Huso huso)

 

The name Beluga is also used for a species of whale (Delphinapterus leucas) found in arctic seas.

 

 

Similar confusion exists with the name "Dolphin" - a name used for a group of mammals, and the same name - Dolphin - often used for the Dorado or Mahimahi, a gamefish common in tropical oceans.

 

[ 18. March 2003, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]

[RUDD]

I was watching the end of a fishless match.

I heard a bloke I know shout im in.

He was playing a good sized fish and thought he would win the match as no one else had caught.

We all ****** ourselves when he landed a Terrapin!!!!!!

 

I have caught snappers. groupers, angel fish and god knows what else from Mauritius and the Med.

I hooked a game fish for about one minute, we think it was a dorado.

I have caught John Dorey fish from the uk and they look weird!

Biggest 41lb conger from cornwall when I was 17.

[monkeyboy]

Thanks VAGA i stand corrected

I never knew there were types of sturgeon which are know as beluga.

I hope to catch a sturgeon if i got to france this year.

What baits do they use????

[WickerDave]

My strangest looking fish was a (small) long nosed gar from Lake Travis, Austin, Texas. They are a prehistoric garfish with a long snout with ridges across them a bit like pinking shears. Not quite as grotesque as the alligator gar that was posted on here a while back, but weird enough.

 

Because they have a bony snout that doesn't give much chance of a hook hold, there are some odd ways of catching them. One is to shred a length of nylon washing line so that it gives a mass of fibres and attach this to a lure, they get their snout/ridges caught in the fibres when attacking the lure. Another is to suspend a livebait in the middle of a vertically suspended lasso and then tighten the lasso around the gar when it attacks the fish. I expect this has been shown on the satellite TV angling shows, but I haven't got satellite .

[payara]

gars, are very hard to hook and hold,but it can be done on even the smallest gars.most people that fish for them let the fish swallow the hook slightly for a better hold.there is also a no hook

lure that is used.it is just a length of unravled

rope that the fish gets his teeth caught in when it strikes the lure.speeking of big fish the aligator gar attains a huge size also.

 

beluga sturgeons have been known to reach lengths

of over 21ft.but since there was that problem with

the caspian seas water levels awhile back alot of

the larger fish died.they are reported to be netted at over 18ft quite often,or so i read.

the second runner up for largest FW fish,that is not

of the sturgeon family,would have to be the arapaima.there are many species of fish that have

had freaks that have gotten extremly large

but only a few rarely seen.i have a book that

says that a 16ft wels cat was once reported.

the giant mekong catfish is another one to consider for the largest FW fish.