IGFA HOT NEWS – December 2004

NEW PENDING RECORDS
Brother and sister team, Caid (9) and Jordan McCullough (15) enjoyed some productive fishing in Quepos, Costa Rica on July 31, 2004. Caid landed a hefty 61 lb 0 oz (27.66 kg) amberjack for a pending M-Smallfry record, while Jordan caught a 8 lb 0 oz (3.62 kg) Amarillo snapper pending approval as a new All-Tackle record.

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Saverio Bersanetti was fishing around Albarell Island near Rosolina Rigo, Italy on September 11, 2004 when he caught a 24 lb 4 oz (11 kg) little tunny. His catch is pending approval for a men’s 8 lb line class record.		Neil Schultz of Lowood, Australia is an Australian bass aficionado. On July 24, 2004 while fishing in Lake Wivenhoe in Queensland, he caught a 6 lb 2 oz Australian Bass that is pending approval for a 16 lb line class record.

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Ted Ellenbecker scored a very impressive catch when he landed a 19 lb 8 oz (8.84 kg) muskellunge on 2 lb line. Ted caught the fish on Wigwam Lake in Ontario, Canada and his catch is pending approval for the 2 lb line class category.		Los Angeles, California native, George Bogen, enjoyed some great fishing in Alaska in August. During his trip George caught several pending records for lingcod and rockfish including this beautiful 5 lb 0 oz tiger rockfish that is pending approval for a new All-Tackle record.

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Snook are tough customers on light tackle, both in the Atlantic and in the Pacific. Ecuador native, Guillermo Cuesta Franco, bested an 11 lb 4 oz (5.10 kg) Pacific snook while fishing in the Rio Daule on August 28, 2004. His catch is pending approval for a men’s 6 lb line class record. On the Atlantic side, Mrs. Jing Torn was fly fishing in Jupiter, FL when she caught a 13 lb 8 oz common snook. The fight lasted 15 minutes and her catch is pending approval for the women’s 16 lb tippet category.

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Bernadette Nicolson has been doing a job on the giant African threadfins while fishing in Angola. Her latest catch is 28 lb 3 oz (12.80 kg) fish that is pending approval for a women’s 16 lb line class record.		Daphne Hill was fly fishing off of San Diego, California on July 19, 2004 when she caught this 9 lb 6 oz (4.25 kg) California Yellowtail. If approved, her catch will hold the women’s 20 lb tippet category for this species.

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IGFA INTERNATIONAL NEWS

With all of IGFA’s 110 qualifying events completed in 2004 for the Rolex/IGFA Offshore Championship work is now proceeding in the championship event itself. Scheduled for May 15-20, 2005 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, close to 50 international teams had already committed to attend the event from countries around the world. More teams are expected.

To qualify for an invitation to fish the championship, teams must have won, or be placed second in one of the qualifying events. Past winning teams from previous championships are also invited back each year. The Rolex/IGFA Offshore Championship is a 100% billfish release event and only circle hooks are allowed with live or dead bait. The championship is fished exclusively with Momoi 30 lb IGFA class line. In the May 2004 event, 299 billfish were released by 67 teams.

IGFA Ambassador at Large, Mike Leech, recently traveled to Portland, Oregon to attend a board meeting of the Marine Fish Conservation Network (MFCN) on which he serves. MFCN is a network of over 150 fishing, conservation, environmental and commercial organizations working together for better fishery management. The group discussed pending and proposed legislation to enact some of the recommendations of two recent major ocean studies.

IGFA President, Rob Kramer, recently returned from France where he met with several IGFA representatives and other leaders of Europe’s recreational fishing community. While there, Kramer also attended a meeting of the Big Game Fishing Club of France where former IGFA trustee and French flying ace of World War II, Pierre Closterman was honored.

IGFA’s recently revised website now has several new talk forums. Of interest to the public is the “General Forum” where anyone can post questions or comments on fishing related items. There is also a forum for IGFA’s 325 representatives in almost 100 countries plus a forum for junior anglers called “Ask Finny”. IGFA Certified Observers also have their own forum on the website. WWW.IGFA.ORG.