New world-record award for live-release anglers

Posted On January 18, 2011
Record-chasing anglers should be jazzed about the International Game Fish Association’s first new awards category in 14 years--the All-Tackle Length World Record. Yes, that’s right: for the first time in the 72-year-old association’s history, it now has a record recognizing length of fish, not weight. The strictly catch-and-release-only category came into effect on January 1.

Not that IGFA rules state a fish must be killed for the traditional weight record categories, but this new category does reward anglers intent on the live-release of their trophy catches. The key here, of course, is that the fish do not need to be brought to scales on land to qualify, as they must with IGFA’s weight categories. Instead, they must be released immediately after the appropriate measurements can be taken. Only fish returned to the water alive and unharmed qualify.

Unlike the weight categories, however, not every fish species is eligible for the new All-Tackle Length World Record. Instead, IGFA has drawn up a list of 60 freshwater and 67 saltwater species it says can withstand the rigours of being caught, measured, photographed and released. For us Canadian anglers, the list includes practically every one of our favourite fish, including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, muskellunge, northern pike, Pacific salmon, Atlantic salmon, Arctic grayling, Brook trout, brown trout, lake trout, rainbow trout and walleye.

For a complete list of eligible species, as well as the rules and application forms, click here to visit IGFA’s Web site.

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About

Patrick Walsh (Twitter: @OutdoorWalsh)
Patrick Walsh (Twitter: @OutdoorWalsh)

Joined November 18, 2010

///// FOLLOW ON TWITTER: @OutdoorWalsh ///// Outdoor Canada Editor Patrick Walsh grew up fishing and hunting in Bracebridge, Ontario, where he began his magazine career in 1983 as assistant editor of Muskoka Life. Since then, he has worked for a variety of media, both in Canada and abroad, earning numerous writing and editing awards. In both 2011 and 2005, the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors named him Editor of the Year, while Outdoor Canada was honoured as Magazine of the Year. Learn more: www.outdoorcanada.ca.

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