Record Setting Fishing

WEBVTT
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This is Matt Lambert and this is the Fort Worth
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Fly Fishers Podcast. Fort Worth Fly Fishers is
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a fly fishing club in Fort Worth, Texas dedicated
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to the sport of fly fishing and open to anyone
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interested in fly fishing activities. Fort Worth
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Fly Fishers sponsors fishing experiences in the
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Dallas -Fort Worth region, education about fly
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fishing, and conservation activities to help
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ensure fly fishing activities and locations are
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available to the members and the community. Welcome
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to today's podcast with Barry Osborne to talk
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about fishing records and awards. Barry is a
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wildlife and fisheries biologist and the author
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of The Art of Fishing for Records. He has documented
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over 500 fishing records and awards for over
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70 species of fish, including over 140 world
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records from multiple organizations. He has accumulated
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more Texas state records than anyone in history.
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Barry was the leading IGFA all tackle length
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fly angler in 2021 and 2023. Recently, Barry
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became the fourth angler in history to document
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an IGFA Royal Basque slam with a fly rod. Welcome
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Barry. Thanks, Matt. It's good to be here today.
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Barry, we met a few years ago when you came to
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my garage sale. Looking for some fishing equipment
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unfortunately we didn't have any there but we
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struck up a conversation about your interest
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in fishing for records and so far i've had a
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chance to look at your book and it's a great
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book talking about going about fishing for records
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the number of records you've caught and. The
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interesting part of your book is that a lot of
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this is just because you wanted to. That's correct.
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I really wrote the book, not to make any money
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or anything, just so there'd be information out
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there on catching records. I was very surprised
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that there wasn't a book already written on the
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subject, but there's really not much out there.
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So it was kind of fun writing it. Tell us a little
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bit about your background. So I grew up in Arlington,
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Texas. I stayed in Texas most of my life. I moved
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out to Arizona to go to Arizona State. I got
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my bachelor's in wildlife biology there. Then
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I really am a Texan. So I moved back to Texas.
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I went to Texas A &M University and got my master's
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in wildlife and fishery science. And I've been
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very fortunate in my work career. I've worked
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both in the private and public sector in wildlife
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my whole career. What are some of the interesting
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things you've done as part of your work? As far
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as work goes, I started out working on a big
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ranch. I was a wildlife biologist for the ranch.
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It was a hunting and fishing operation by an
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oil company. From there, I actually worked for
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the U .S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a little
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while. I worked for a private wildlife firm and
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then I worked with U .S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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That's quite an extensive background. So what
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got you started fishing for records? Well, I
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was actually fishing in Port Mansfield, and I
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hooked a big jack -of -all. I was pulling the
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fish in. We were actually floating into the jetties.
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I had some motor problems, and I needed to get
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the kicker motor out. So I caught the fish very
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quickly, but when we pulled it on board, it was
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the biggest jack -of -all any of us have ever
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seen. I got a measuring tape out, measured the
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fish. It was 54 inches long, and it maxed out
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my 50 -pound scale. But we were worried about
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the jetties. I just threw the fish back, got
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the motor running, got in. And that night I thought
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that was really a big fish. So I looked up the
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state record. The 1976 Texas state record is
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52 .25 inches and 50 .25 pounds. So then I pulled
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out the IGFA record and looked it up and the
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fish would not have beat the all tackle record,
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but it wouldn't be the line class record for
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that fish. So i basically released a world record
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and state record fish and didn't have enough
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documentation to get it recorded. You talk about
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the line record or the other aspects of the record
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what makes the differences in records so there
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are there are quite a few differences in records.
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There's differences between the organization,
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so there are records basically for rod and reel.
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You can get records for fly rods, you can get
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records for bows and arrows, or you can get unrestricted
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records like pole and line. You can even get
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spearfishing records and things like that. What
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was your first state record? So my first state
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record was actually a catch and release little
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toony that I call on a fly rod. So that's a part
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that Parks and Wildlife has for catch and release.
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It's based on length. My IGFA world first world
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record was a 13 pound seven ounce smallmouth
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buffalo that I caught in Lake Granbury. All right.
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So we do have some world records here in Lake
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Granbury. We actually have quite a few world
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records now in Lake Granbury. What a surprise.
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So what is the biggest fish you've ever caught?
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So the biggest fish I've ever caught is probably
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a shark. It probably weighed around 300 pounds.
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Was that a record? It was not a record. That
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was a fish I just caught and released, so it
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wasn't officially weighed. But that would be
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the biggest one I've caught. The biggest record
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I've caught, I actually caught a shark fishing
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without a reel. And it was 102 pounds. So that
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was a pretty big fish I caught without a reel.
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It must have been quite a fight without a reel.
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It was a fun fight without a reel. Tell me about
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some of the state records you have. OK, I've
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got quite a few state records. Many of those
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are offshore. One of the things I enjoy doing
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is fishing offshore. So I've caught king mackerel
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on a fly rod that's a state record. I've caught
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a million snapper state records, cobia. One of
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the interesting state records that I caught was
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trying to catch red snapper. So I have figured
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out how to deep. fish with a fly. I used fast
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sinking fly line and I caught a state record
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red snapper but then I decided I wanted to catch
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a world record red snapper also. The hard part
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about that is the IGFA only allows you to use
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20 pound tippet and that can be a big problem
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when you're fishing deep because either you have
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to set the drag so light that the fish gets back
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in the rocks Or you tighten the drag too much
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and it's going to break off. So that day, I literally
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probably hooked 30 fish before I got one in and
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got the all tackle length flying world record
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on the red snapper. What was the length of the
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fish and the weight on it? The weight I didn't
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get because it was a link. So I was letting it
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go. And to be honest with you, I don't even know
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right now what the what the centimeters were.
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It's based on centimeters. It has actually been
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beat since then. But if you look up the length,
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it was only about two centimeters less than what's
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on there now. And when was that? That would have
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been probably two years ago. So very recent.
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Yes, so just a couple of years ago. What are
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the biggest records you have for fly rod? So
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on a fly rod, I caught the kingfish on a fly
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rod as a state record. It was a fairly big fish.
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I would have to look up what the actual weight
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is in that fish, but it was a really big, about
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a 50 -inch king mackerel. Which do you prefer,
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fresh water or salt water? like both. I do a
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lot of fishing in freshwater. One interesting
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thing is I kind of got to the point in fishing
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for freshwater that I wasn't as interested in
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that type of fishing and the records actually
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changed things so I could become more excited
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about going out and just catching smaller and
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different kind of fish in freshwater. I really
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enjoy fishing in saltwater. I like the blue water
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offshore. So I like fishing in both. What's the
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most unusual record that you have? So probably
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the most unusual record I have. In Lake Granbury,
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I caught a fish that we originally thought was
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going to be a Midas cichlid. I got it tested,
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and it turned out to be a three -spot cichlid
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hybrid. I brought the fish home. I kept it for
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a couple of years before I could get it DNA tested.
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But once I got the fish tested, we actually sent
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it off to the USGS. And the information that
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they used on that fish actually changed the scientific
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and genus name for the three -spot cichlid hybrid.
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So there had been a big controversy about that.
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And the DNA from that particular fish changed
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that. One of the things the fish got so big I
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did couldn't keep an aquarium and I donated that
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fish to the Dallas Children's Aquarium so his
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name is Cheeto and he is still over there if
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you want to go take a look at it. Okay. I'm gonna
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have to get my grandkids and go over there. I
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know that your wife has been your fishing companion
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for many many years and she also has a bunch
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of records tell me about her records. So she
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does have a lot of records. She's caught world
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records. She caught the cod world record in Alaska
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that she had for a little while, a line class
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record. She's caught several records on different
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fish in Texas. She was actually the first woman
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to become the Texas freshwater and saltwater
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elite angler. She's got some really big fish.
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She's caught tarpon, probably one of the biggest
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fish she caught. She caught the biggest black
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tip shark I've ever seen. It was huge. It was
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just under eight feet long. It was pregnant,
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and it would have really exceeded the existing
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state record. But since it was pregnant, she
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decided just to let it go, so she didn't get
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it. The other thing interesting about Karen is
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I took her down to the lake one day and we were
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fly fishing and she caught seven carp between
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10 and 15 pounds. The last one that she got in,
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she walked over and said, I really don't like
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fly fishing as much as I do fishing with my Zebka.
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She's not really big on fly fishing. The important
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thing about that to me is if you have someone
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that's not interested in fly fishing, let them
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fish with what they want to, especially if they're
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young anglers. They may become interested in
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fly fishing later, but you can still go out and
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have a good time without making that person do
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something that they're really not interested
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in. The important thing is fishing is fishing,
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no matter what tackle you use. I agree. The difference
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between women's records and men's records. What
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are the availability of records for women these
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days? Okay, so there are different organizations
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that that give out records and and I will say
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at this point the the Most important thing I'm
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going to say today is what a record is Basically
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a record is not the heaviest or longest fish
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ever caught It's the heaviest or longest fish
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ever caught under the guidelines of a specific
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organization. So the first thing that you need
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to do is look at the organization and see what
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their guidelines are and what categories they
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have. So to answer your question about women
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in Texas and with the Freshwater Fishing Hall
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of Fame, which is an organization that does world
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records, there is no difference. But with the
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IGFA, they actually split men and women between
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line class and typical class. So if you're a
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woman, you have a much better chance of setting
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a world record just from the fact that there's
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less women that are out there fishing, especially
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fly fishing. So a lot of those categories are
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open or they're smaller fish than you'll find
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with men. I know my wife is now going to be wanting
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to fish for records all she always tells me that
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she always catches bigger fish than I do so I
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just have to accept that I never measure them
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I always accept her statements as truth well
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my wife wife catches a lot better fish than I
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do a lot of the time so I wouldn't argue that
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point that's right if someone wants to catch
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a record fish what's the first thing to do So
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really, the first thing to do is kind of what
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I said, you need to look at the guidelines of
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the organization that has the records. So I could
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really, the problem is that's a difficult question
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because I could do a week long seminar to answer
00:13:23.289 --> 00:13:26.669
that. But, you know, you mentioned my book earlier.
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If you're really into the tricks and details
00:13:28.990 --> 00:13:30.809
and things like that, I do recommend getting
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the book. It does have all the details with the
00:13:33.830 --> 00:13:35.950
Art of Fishing for Records. And that's why I
00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:38.220
wrote that. But I'll try to give you the best
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summary I can. Once you realize that a fish is
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based on the guidelines, then you need to look
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at the organization. We are really blessed here
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in Texas because we have a really good record
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program compared to a lot of the other states.
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There's several different categories. And one
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of the things we have is water body records.
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And the water body records allow you to get a
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record for basically every named water body in
00:14:02.769 --> 00:14:06.090
the state. So there's over 3 ,000 lakes and rivers
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in Texas, and many of those don't have records
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at all. So you could go out and catch a fish
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of a half a pound, and you can actually get a
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record and get your name in the record books.
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If you want to go to some of the other organizations,
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the most well -known is the IGFA, the International
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Game Fish Association. That's normally what people
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think of when they think of world records. The
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IGFA has records for both freshwater and saltwater
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all over the world, but they are a rod and reel
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and fly fishing record organization. They don't
00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:40.019
have any records for any other types of fishing
00:14:40.019 --> 00:14:44.100
methods. One of the organizations I do like to
00:14:44.100 --> 00:14:47.200
use is called the Freshwater Fishing Hall of
00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:50.759
Fame. They're out of Wisconsin, and they are
00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:53.399
freshwater world records, and they have several
00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:55.600
different categories. So they have rod and reel,
00:14:55.769 --> 00:14:58.929
They have fly rod, they have pole and line, but
00:14:58.929 --> 00:15:02.269
they also have ice fishing. So there's some other
00:15:02.269 --> 00:15:05.450
categories that you can get world records or
00:15:05.450 --> 00:15:07.730
other organizations exist for world records.
00:15:07.870 --> 00:15:09.990
There is an organization that has bow fishing
00:15:09.990 --> 00:15:12.629
world records, for example, and there are some
00:15:12.629 --> 00:15:14.730
other organizations that will post records that
00:15:14.730 --> 00:15:17.350
are out there. So the main thing to do is to
00:15:17.350 --> 00:15:20.169
make sure that your equipment fits within the
00:15:20.169 --> 00:15:22.669
guidelines of the organization that you're trying
00:15:22.669 --> 00:15:28.220
to get the record with. In terms of documenting
00:15:28.220 --> 00:15:30.820
records, what do you need to do to document a
00:15:30.820 --> 00:15:33.379
record if you think your fish is record worthy?
00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:36.759
So each organization has their own form that
00:15:36.759 --> 00:15:41.240
you have to fill out. Photography equipment is
00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:44.480
needed in all cases because all the organizations
00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:46.899
require you to take pictures. You want to get
00:15:46.899 --> 00:15:49.220
a picture of you holding the fish. It's a good
00:15:49.220 --> 00:15:51.340
idea if you can hold the rod and reel, you call
00:15:51.340 --> 00:15:53.899
it on if possible. That's more important if you're
00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:56.720
fly fishing. You want to try to get the fly rod
00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.200
in the picture with you. You want to get a picture
00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:01.740
of the fish on a scale if you're measuring it
00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:04.580
where you can read the weight of the fish. You
00:16:04.580 --> 00:16:06.799
want to put the fish on a measuring board if
00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:08.899
it's a length record and make sure you can see
00:16:08.899 --> 00:16:11.360
the head of the fish and the tail so you can
00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:14.440
see how long that fish is. When you're doing
00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:16.480
that, make sure you don't have reflections or
00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.440
things so you can't read the weight. Make sure
00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:21.070
it's a good picture. Take several pictures. and
00:16:21.070 --> 00:16:22.850
then throughout the ones that you don't need.
00:16:23.629 --> 00:16:26.850
You'll also need witnesses. Almost all the organizations
00:16:26.850 --> 00:16:29.629
require witnesses. That can either be witnesses
00:16:29.629 --> 00:16:32.549
to the catch, witnesses to the release alive,
00:16:32.929 --> 00:16:36.269
or it can be witnesses to the actual wang. So
00:16:36.269 --> 00:16:38.309
witnesses are a good thing. And that's another
00:16:38.309 --> 00:16:40.289
thing. It's a good idea to fish with somebody
00:16:40.289 --> 00:16:42.870
if you're fishing for records. If you're by yourself,
00:16:42.870 --> 00:16:44.889
it's hard to get witnesses and some of those
00:16:44.889 --> 00:16:47.629
things. So that's something to keep in mind also.
00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:51.659
records are based on two different types. There's
00:16:51.659 --> 00:16:54.120
weight records and then there's length records.
00:16:54.620 --> 00:16:56.299
Of course weight records you need to be able
00:16:56.299 --> 00:16:58.720
to weigh the fish. Most of the organizations
00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:01.860
require for that to be on a certified scale and
00:17:01.860 --> 00:17:04.359
they may even some states for example tell you
00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:07.480
that a a state official has to be present during
00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:10.660
the lane. Again we're really lucky in Texas because
00:17:10.660 --> 00:17:14.140
anything any scale that is certified by a legitimate
00:17:14.140 --> 00:17:17.920
organization they will accept. I personally carry
00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:21.440
two scales myself. I carry a 10 pound scale and
00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:24.759
a 330 pound scale that are both certified on
00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:29.039
an annual basis. As far as measuring goes, if
00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:31.740
it's a length record, you need a tape that you
00:17:31.740 --> 00:17:34.779
can use. Measuring boards are great because you
00:17:34.779 --> 00:17:36.940
can push the head of the fish up to the end of
00:17:36.940 --> 00:17:38.940
the board and you get a really accurate measurement.
00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:41.559
The thing you don't want to do is have a soft
00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:44.160
tape and measure along the contour of the body.
00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:46.859
That's called contour length, and it's actually
00:17:46.859 --> 00:17:49.839
longer than a normal total length where your
00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:52.640
tape's on the ground. So be careful about that,
00:17:52.660 --> 00:17:54.720
because that can remove your record if you measure
00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:57.220
the fish that way. And also, you need to know
00:17:57.220 --> 00:17:59.960
what measuring technique that each organization
00:17:59.960 --> 00:18:03.279
uses. So Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Freshwater
00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:06.099
Fishing Hall of Fame. They actually use total
00:18:06.099 --> 00:18:08.339
length. So you put the fish on the measuring
00:18:08.339 --> 00:18:11.259
board, and you can actually manipulate the tail
00:18:11.259 --> 00:18:14.779
to get the longest measurement. The IGFA, though,
00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:18.940
they use fork length. And if you use length measurements
00:18:18.940 --> 00:18:21.160
for world records with them, you actually have
00:18:21.160 --> 00:18:23.660
to buy their measuring device. They will not
00:18:23.660 --> 00:18:28.059
accept links on any other device except for theirs.
00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:31.920
And it's measured in centimeters for fork length.
00:18:33.539 --> 00:18:35.940
So in other words, they're not going to accept
00:18:35.940 --> 00:18:38.920
that you didn't see the fish that got away. That
00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:47.619
is correct. Okay. How has the recent scandals
00:18:47.619 --> 00:18:51.740
with bass fishing tournaments and the scandals
00:18:51.740 --> 00:18:54.920
about putting lead weights in fish and everything
00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:58.559
affected the measurements of everything for records?
00:19:01.259 --> 00:19:04.319
Basically, the record system is pretty much an
00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:07.660
honor system. The fact that you have to have
00:19:07.660 --> 00:19:11.359
pictures and witnesses and certified scales and
00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:14.039
you have to have notarization of the applications,
00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:16.359
all of those things help from people cheating.
00:19:16.980 --> 00:19:19.640
But the reality is, if you want to cheat, there's
00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:22.299
ways to cheat. I do know people that have posted
00:19:22.299 --> 00:19:25.619
records that were not caused in the guidelines
00:19:25.619 --> 00:19:27.319
and shouldn't have been on there, and that's
00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:31.250
unfortunate. Besides that, there's sometimes
00:19:31.250 --> 00:19:34.470
just mistakes. I mean, I know a couple of cases
00:19:34.470 --> 00:19:37.190
where the biologists, the records are old, and
00:19:37.190 --> 00:19:40.509
a biologist mistake a hybrid striped bass for
00:19:40.509 --> 00:19:43.710
a white bass. So they posted this huge record
00:19:43.710 --> 00:19:45.849
that you're never going to catch a white bass
00:19:45.849 --> 00:19:48.910
bigger than that. So there can be cheating. There
00:19:48.910 --> 00:19:51.670
can be mistakes. One thing is if you're caught
00:19:51.670 --> 00:19:54.690
cheating, the organizations will remove all your
00:19:54.690 --> 00:19:56.769
records, and they won't let you submit any records
00:19:56.769 --> 00:20:00.319
in the future. It's better just to try to stay
00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:02.279
within the guidelines and make sure your records
00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:04.099
are all good. I mean, who would want a record
00:20:04.099 --> 00:20:08.220
that they know they really didn't get? I know
00:20:08.220 --> 00:20:10.359
that you I wouldn't want that, but I'm sure there
00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:13.519
are people who will. Fortunately, I'm sure they're.
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:18.339
What about fishing in in fly fishing tournaments
00:20:18.339 --> 00:20:22.220
or contests? How does that affect catching records?
00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:26.200
So. You don't have to be in a contest to catch
00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:28.339
records. That's one really nice thing. If you
00:20:28.339 --> 00:20:30.720
are in a tournament or contest, some of the tournaments
00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:33.000
do allow for records to be caught during their
00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:35.180
tournament. One nice thing is there's usually
00:20:35.180 --> 00:20:37.779
witnesses available. They have certified scales
00:20:37.779 --> 00:20:40.460
that they're using. So it's actually pretty easy
00:20:40.460 --> 00:20:43.180
to document a record if you're in a tournament.
00:20:45.289 --> 00:20:47.829
Especially like in Texas, you don't have to be
00:20:47.829 --> 00:20:50.369
a member of an organization or do anything. Anyone
00:20:50.369 --> 00:20:53.210
can go out and catch a record at any given time.
00:20:53.289 --> 00:20:55.450
That's one really nice thing about records in
00:20:55.450 --> 00:20:59.509
Texas. Just need to be lucky. Need to be lucky
00:20:59.509 --> 00:21:04.910
or fish a lot. Exactly. Well, both really. Both.
00:21:06.170 --> 00:21:08.769
So what about any special considerations you
00:21:08.769 --> 00:21:11.029
need to be aware of when you fish for records?
00:21:11.769 --> 00:21:14.630
So really, diversity is the key when you're fishing
00:21:14.630 --> 00:21:17.049
for records. If you're a bass angler and you
00:21:17.049 --> 00:21:20.750
want to go out and set the new all tackle IGFA
00:21:20.750 --> 00:21:24.410
world record, you can do that. It's probably
00:21:24.410 --> 00:21:27.009
going to take you a little while to beat a fish
00:21:27.009 --> 00:21:30.730
that weighs 22 pounds and four ounces. That's
00:21:30.730 --> 00:21:34.509
a pretty big largemouth bass. So if you're after
00:21:34.509 --> 00:21:37.569
a largemouth bass all tackle world record, you're
00:21:37.569 --> 00:21:39.470
going to have a lot of work to do. On the other
00:21:39.470 --> 00:21:41.710
hand, you can go over to Fort Worth to Greenbower
00:21:41.710 --> 00:21:44.990
Park and if you catch a fish that weighs half
00:21:44.990 --> 00:21:47.930
a pound, a largemouth bass, that will be the
00:21:47.930 --> 00:21:50.349
new water body record because that record is
00:21:50.349 --> 00:21:53.509
vacant. So there's a lot of vacant records, there's
00:21:53.509 --> 00:21:56.650
a lot of different record opportunities, and
00:21:56.650 --> 00:21:58.630
the main thing to do if you really want to catch
00:21:58.630 --> 00:22:01.589
records is try to decide what fish are available
00:22:01.589 --> 00:22:04.430
that you can go after to catch that record and
00:22:04.430 --> 00:22:06.930
be flexible. I think that's really important.
00:22:07.210 --> 00:22:10.890
We just had a podcast where we had a Dr. Cynthia
00:22:10.890 --> 00:22:14.529
Fox Holt from Fish and Wildlife here in Texas,
00:22:15.109 --> 00:22:18.490
who talked about she manages over 250 bodies
00:22:18.490 --> 00:22:21.849
of water in the Dallas, Tarrant and Denton County
00:22:21.849 --> 00:22:24.930
areas. So obviously, there's some records to
00:22:24.930 --> 00:22:28.710
be had locally. Oh, absolutely. I think that's
00:22:28.710 --> 00:22:34.480
great. What about juniors or other populations.
00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:38.460
I know I would like if there was a senior class.
00:22:39.980 --> 00:22:42.819
As far as I know, there are no senior classes.
00:22:43.140 --> 00:22:45.400
They could they could probably set that up. But
00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:47.440
but there are differences. I mean, I've already
00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:50.200
mentioned for for Texas and the Freshwater Fishing
00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:52.920
Hall of Fame. There was no differences between
00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:55.950
men and women, but the idea of a They do have
00:22:55.950 --> 00:22:58.410
differences between line class and typical class
00:22:58.410 --> 00:23:02.710
for men and women. For junior anglers, Texas
00:23:02.710 --> 00:23:06.130
and the IGFA both have separate categories for
00:23:06.130 --> 00:23:09.230
junior anglers. One interesting thing is that
00:23:09.230 --> 00:23:13.569
IGFA just recently added a junior class for all
00:23:13.569 --> 00:23:16.650
of their line class and typical class. So that's
00:23:16.650 --> 00:23:19.589
relatively new and most of those are still open.
00:23:19.869 --> 00:23:23.410
So it's probably the best time ever for a junior
00:23:23.410 --> 00:23:25.490
angler to catch a world record right now. There
00:23:25.490 --> 00:23:29.009
are tons of records available. Also in Texas,
00:23:29.109 --> 00:23:32.150
there's a lot of junior angler records, many
00:23:32.150 --> 00:23:34.369
more than the adult records. Most of the lakes
00:23:34.369 --> 00:23:37.329
and water bodies do not have junior records that
00:23:37.329 --> 00:23:40.430
have documented the fish yet. So a junior angler
00:23:40.430 --> 00:23:44.160
can go out and actually catch a fish. on almost
00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:47.619
any water body in Texas and get a record. Another
00:23:47.619 --> 00:23:49.839
interesting thing is adults, the fish has to
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:52.779
be at least half a pound in Texas, but for junior
00:23:52.779 --> 00:23:56.319
anglers, it only has to be two ounces. So you
00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:59.680
can take your grandchild out to a lake, catch
00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:02.160
a little bitty bluegill, and if there's no record
00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:04.220
already there, you can turn that in and get a
00:24:04.220 --> 00:24:07.079
water body record for that junior angler. How
00:24:07.079 --> 00:24:10.500
do they define junior angler so it's for texas
00:24:10.500 --> 00:24:13.980
it's under sixteen the idea actually has different
00:24:13.980 --> 00:24:18.400
classes. So they have some small fry records
00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:20.599
and you'll just have to go in and look at the
00:24:20.599 --> 00:24:23.900
eight classes for those but typically it's seventeen.
00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:29.720
Well i have to take my grandkids out again and
00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:31.880
document everything so we can get some records
00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:36.630
on the books for them. I know you've been involved
00:24:36.630 --> 00:24:41.329
recently with a new type of record, the Royal
00:24:41.329 --> 00:24:45.369
Bass, the Royal Slam, the Royal Slam. Tell me
00:24:45.369 --> 00:24:50.910
about that. Okay, so the ITFA has the recognition
00:24:50.910 --> 00:24:53.769
that you can get for slams and there's basically
00:24:53.769 --> 00:24:56.869
two types of slams. There's this kind of slam
00:24:56.869 --> 00:24:59.089
that you get most people know about called the
00:24:59.089 --> 00:25:01.609
Grand Slam where you catch three fish in a single
00:25:01.609 --> 00:25:05.630
day. Actually the Grand Slam, you can catch three,
00:25:05.630 --> 00:25:08.829
four, or five fish. So there's Grand Slams, Super
00:25:08.829 --> 00:25:11.730
Slams, and Fantasy Slams. And those are all fish
00:25:11.730 --> 00:25:15.029
caught in a single day. But the IGFA also has
00:25:15.029 --> 00:25:18.069
what they call Royal Slams. And Royal Slams are
00:25:18.069 --> 00:25:22.069
a group of fish. So like bass, for example, they
00:25:22.069 --> 00:25:25.190
have eight bass on the list. And if you catch
00:25:25.190 --> 00:25:30.240
all eight bass, you can get a Royal Slam. That's
00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:31.680
something that I've actually been interested
00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:35.460
in lately. The Royal Slam for bass, all of the
00:25:35.460 --> 00:25:39.759
bass are located in Texas except one. One of
00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:42.059
the bass, the rock bass, is in Texas. It's a
00:25:42.059 --> 00:25:44.220
little hard to find, but the one that's not in
00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:47.779
Texas is called the shoal bass. So my wife and
00:25:47.779 --> 00:25:51.359
I actually drove to Georgia to fish the Flint
00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:54.359
River to try to catch specifically shoal bass.
00:25:54.440 --> 00:25:57.509
We fished the first day. Neither one of us caught
00:25:57.509 --> 00:25:59.910
one. But the second day, both of us caught one
00:25:59.910 --> 00:26:03.450
on a rod and reel. And so that completed our
00:26:03.450 --> 00:26:05.710
royal slam. We caught all eight fish that are
00:26:05.710 --> 00:26:08.809
on their list, all eight mass. And that completed
00:26:08.809 --> 00:26:11.470
the slam. But I also wanted to do it with a fly
00:26:11.470 --> 00:26:15.190
rod. There were only three people listed for
00:26:15.190 --> 00:26:17.549
doing that with a fly rod, catching a royal slam
00:26:17.549 --> 00:26:20.390
with a fly. So I really wanted to catch one that
00:26:20.390 --> 00:26:22.910
day. The fishing had been pretty tough. I pulled
00:26:22.910 --> 00:26:28.109
out the fly rod. I made one cast and hooked a
00:26:28.109 --> 00:26:31.670
shell bass on the first cast. And so I got the
00:26:31.670 --> 00:26:35.109
fish in and got my shell bass on a fly rod. I
00:26:35.109 --> 00:26:37.250
didn't complete my slam that day. I had to come
00:26:37.250 --> 00:26:40.829
back and catch a spotted bass on a fly. So I
00:26:40.829 --> 00:26:44.029
did that a few weeks later and completed my royal
00:26:44.029 --> 00:26:47.200
slam. But that's what those are. So that's a
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:52.099
new a new category for the i g f a right so the
00:26:52.099 --> 00:26:55.920
slams around for a while the new category is
00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:00.299
actually called the master angler, category and
00:27:00.299 --> 00:27:04.259
what that is is it is a combination of multiple
00:27:04.259 --> 00:27:08.460
either slams or. different types of records they
00:27:08.460 --> 00:27:10.740
have. So when you say all tackle, what does that
00:27:10.740 --> 00:27:14.380
mean? So all tackle is originally the all tackle
00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:19.220
mint. That was the only one. It was the biggest
00:27:19.220 --> 00:27:22.160
fish ever caught on a rod and reel or a fly rod
00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:26.359
with the IGFA. Several years ago, they actually
00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:29.299
split out fly fishing, which was nice. So so
00:27:29.299 --> 00:27:31.799
that you could actually get now you can get an
00:27:31.799 --> 00:27:36.279
all tackle conventional fish record, world record,
00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:39.700
or you can get a fly all tackle world record.
00:27:39.900 --> 00:27:42.759
And they do have weight records and they do have
00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:45.440
length records. So you can get an all tackle
00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.799
length world record, or you can get an all tackle
00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:52.519
weight record. Well, when I get home today, I'm
00:27:52.519 --> 00:27:54.619
going to talk to my wife about getting slammed.
00:27:56.099 --> 00:27:57.920
That's a really fun thing to do, by the way.
00:27:58.539 --> 00:28:02.759
That's great. So let's shift gear a little bit
00:28:02.759 --> 00:28:06.210
now. Again going back to how we met being at
00:28:06.210 --> 00:28:09.410
my garage sale and you were looking for that,
00:28:09.710 --> 00:28:12.210
some fishing equipment as well as other things.
00:28:12.609 --> 00:28:14.789
Unfortunately you didn't buy anything from me
00:28:14.789 --> 00:28:17.329
but we did get rid of most of the stuff we were
00:28:17.329 --> 00:28:18.869
trying to get rid of at the garage sale. Well
00:28:18.869 --> 00:28:22.130
that's important. That's important. You have
00:28:22.130 --> 00:28:25.769
told me in the past that you don't buy new equipment.
00:28:27.610 --> 00:28:30.529
Well, that's mostly true. Most of the time I
00:28:30.529 --> 00:28:34.730
get my equipment either from secondhand organizations
00:28:34.730 --> 00:28:39.150
like eBay or I buy a lot of equipment at garage
00:28:39.150 --> 00:28:42.089
sales and things like that. I started fly fishing
00:28:42.089 --> 00:28:45.769
when I was moving and at that time I didn't have
00:28:45.769 --> 00:28:48.750
any money. I actually bought my first fly tying
00:28:48.750 --> 00:28:52.900
kit off the back of a comic book. And so I bought
00:28:52.900 --> 00:28:55.660
that when I was nine years old and got it home.
00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:57.839
And I used most of that material pretty fast.
00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:02.000
It was pretty cheap stuff. And I found that I
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:05.079
could go into my mom's sewing kit and pull out
00:29:05.079 --> 00:29:07.940
some thread. And that worked just as good as
00:29:07.940 --> 00:29:10.980
the thread I had in the kit. So I would grab
00:29:10.980 --> 00:29:13.660
feathers from ducks or whatever I could. And
00:29:13.660 --> 00:29:16.440
I would tie flies. And the thing I found over
00:29:16.440 --> 00:29:21.440
the years is ugly flies catch fifth. If you don't
00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:24.119
have to have a beautiful fly tied in a certain
00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:28.779
pattern to go catch a fish, so I would go out
00:29:28.779 --> 00:29:33.440
and buy inexpensive equipment and tie inexpensive
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:36.480
flies and I would catch fish. I mean one thing
00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:39.859
that's kind of funny is right now most of my
00:29:39.859 --> 00:29:42.799
world and state records in freshwater have been
00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:45.660
set with a freedom fly reel I bought on eBay
00:29:45.660 --> 00:29:49.690
for a dollar. And they're on a rod, a Browning
00:29:49.690 --> 00:29:52.509
or a right McGill rod that I bought for about
00:29:52.509 --> 00:29:56.789
twenty dollars. So I have about twenty one dollars
00:29:56.789 --> 00:29:59.869
invested in my my freshwater fly fishing gear.
00:30:01.990 --> 00:30:06.470
If only we all could write. So how do you how
00:30:06.470 --> 00:30:08.490
do you determine if what you're looking at at
00:30:08.490 --> 00:30:12.369
a garage sale or on eBay or or any of the other
00:30:12.369 --> 00:30:14.369
places you might find used equipment, how do
00:30:14.369 --> 00:30:17.950
you determine if it's any good? So you do need
00:30:17.950 --> 00:30:19.990
to pay a little bit of attention if you're buying
00:30:19.990 --> 00:30:25.390
stuff online. I personally like graphite for
00:30:25.390 --> 00:30:28.509
freshwater, so I buy graphite fly rods if I'm
00:30:28.509 --> 00:30:31.150
fishing in freshwater. For saltwater, I fish
00:30:31.150 --> 00:30:33.990
a fiberglass ugly stick most of the time. Really
00:30:33.990 --> 00:30:39.369
like those rods. You can buy, you can find good
00:30:39.369 --> 00:30:42.849
equipment out there on several different sources.
00:30:42.950 --> 00:30:44.990
I mean, I don't have any problem of going buying
00:30:44.990 --> 00:30:49.609
stuff. from a retail store. If you have the money
00:30:49.609 --> 00:30:51.490
and you want to go out and spend thousands of
00:30:51.490 --> 00:30:54.589
dollars on rods and reels, go for it. I mean,
00:30:54.589 --> 00:30:56.809
there are some beautiful pieces of equipment
00:30:56.809 --> 00:31:00.470
out there. It's just for me, I buy a lot of equipment
00:31:00.470 --> 00:31:02.869
at garage sales. I redo it. I give it to kids
00:31:02.869 --> 00:31:05.609
and do things like that. So that's kind of the
00:31:05.609 --> 00:31:09.269
reason that I use those. The one thing I will
00:31:09.269 --> 00:31:13.930
say is on fly reels, I really only like centered
00:31:13.930 --> 00:31:17.359
drag reels. I've torn up other reels quite a
00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:20.359
bit, and so I really go with those. My offshore
00:31:20.359 --> 00:31:24.819
fly reel, I fish in a Kuma SLB. It's an 1112.
00:31:25.880 --> 00:31:28.259
The coating on the outside of the reel is almost
00:31:28.259 --> 00:31:31.440
gone. It's totally corroded, but the center drag
00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:34.859
is sealed and it still fishes beautifully. So
00:31:34.859 --> 00:31:36.859
if you want to be pretty, you can go out there
00:31:36.859 --> 00:31:38.519
and do that. If you want to just get something
00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:43.160
to fish with, you can also do that. What's the
00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:47.829
best find you've ever come across? Oh, boy. That's
00:31:47.829 --> 00:31:50.210
a question I kind of hate because when I tell
00:31:50.210 --> 00:31:53.269
you what I find, people will always tell me,
00:31:53.329 --> 00:31:55.430
well, I never find those kind of deals. But what
00:31:55.430 --> 00:31:58.109
you have to realize is my wife and I love going
00:31:58.109 --> 00:32:01.809
to garage and stay single. So I go through hundreds
00:32:01.809 --> 00:32:06.650
of piles of old clothes and trash and junk to
00:32:06.650 --> 00:32:09.680
find a good say. But to give you an example,
00:32:09.720 --> 00:32:12.220
I was in a garage sale the other day. I saw a
00:32:12.220 --> 00:32:14.480
fly vest sticking out of a pile of clothes. So
00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:16.980
I went over and picked up the vest and it was
00:32:16.980 --> 00:32:19.400
full. I looked a little bit more and there was
00:32:19.400 --> 00:32:21.960
another vest. So I held two vests up and said,
00:32:22.039 --> 00:32:24.359
how much do you want for these? And the lady
00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:27.960
said $20 each and I'll throw in that box of feathers.
00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:30.960
So I looked over to the side and there was a
00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.099
box there. I opened it up and it was full of
00:32:33.099 --> 00:32:37.000
fly tying stuff. So I just threw the two vests
00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:39.000
in on top of the box, didn't even look at them
00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:42.299
anymore, closed it up, gave it $40. That night
00:32:42.299 --> 00:32:44.619
when I got home, I started sorting things out.
00:32:45.059 --> 00:32:48.660
There were nine fly boxes inside the vest, and
00:32:48.660 --> 00:32:51.579
they were completely full of quality flies. There
00:32:51.579 --> 00:32:59.059
was over 350 fly. The box had some vices in it.
00:32:59.059 --> 00:33:02.809
It had It's like tying equipment, scissors. It
00:33:02.809 --> 00:33:06.769
had feathers. It had tons of stuff in it. And
00:33:06.769 --> 00:33:11.069
in the vest in the back was a Kuma Helios fly
00:33:11.069 --> 00:33:14.230
reel that had never been used. It was full with
00:33:14.230 --> 00:33:17.589
fly line backing and new fly line. So I kind
00:33:17.589 --> 00:33:19.430
of roughly added everything up, and it would
00:33:19.430 --> 00:33:23.329
have been over $1 ,000 to buy at retail. Wow.
00:33:24.130 --> 00:33:28.430
Wow. I'm going to go garage selling with you.
00:33:31.109 --> 00:33:33.930
So, obviously, you're still fishing for records.
00:33:34.930 --> 00:33:37.470
What records are you still looking for? So, I
00:33:37.470 --> 00:33:40.769
am still fishing for records. This April, I set
00:33:40.769 --> 00:33:44.589
a freshwater fishing Hall of Fame Tipit Class
00:33:44.589 --> 00:33:48.190
World Record for Long Nose Gar while they were
00:33:48.190 --> 00:33:51.029
all there responding this year. Last year, I
00:33:51.029 --> 00:33:56.769
set 10 state records, including I set the Bermuda
00:33:56.769 --> 00:34:00.079
Chubb state record on a fly, which is a fish
00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:02.680
I've been after for about five years. So I was
00:34:02.680 --> 00:34:05.559
really excited about that. I am concentrating
00:34:05.559 --> 00:34:11.179
on the slams, both the royal slams and the grand
00:34:11.179 --> 00:34:15.300
slams. I would like to get some, knock the slams
00:34:15.300 --> 00:34:17.599
up to where I'm getting into that master angler
00:34:17.599 --> 00:34:21.260
program with multiple catches of the slams. Another
00:34:21.260 --> 00:34:24.460
thing that I'm doing is I actually planore fish,
00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:26.699
which is a technique I developed a couple of
00:34:26.699 --> 00:34:28.519
decades ago, which is where you fish without
00:34:28.519 --> 00:34:31.739
a reel. So you just take a spool of line, you
00:34:31.739 --> 00:34:34.380
run the line through the rod, and you can do
00:34:34.380 --> 00:34:36.599
that with either conventional tackle or I do
00:34:36.599 --> 00:34:39.820
it fly fishing. So I basically just take the
00:34:39.820 --> 00:34:42.079
spool, throw it in a bucket, strip line it around,
00:34:42.260 --> 00:34:44.969
start fly fishing. and you just never have a
00:34:44.969 --> 00:34:47.949
reel. So you strip line to pull the fish back
00:34:47.949 --> 00:34:51.949
in, and you get the fish in that way without
00:34:51.949 --> 00:34:54.590
ever getting it onto the reel. The nice thing
00:34:54.590 --> 00:34:57.150
is the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, that's
00:34:57.150 --> 00:34:59.469
a different category for them. It's called pole
00:34:59.469 --> 00:35:03.150
and line. So I've set several world records of
00:35:03.150 --> 00:35:07.230
fly fishing without a reel. So you don't do canoodling?
00:35:08.070 --> 00:35:14.239
I haven't tried canoodling. I'm pretty much willing
00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:18.400
to do anything. I enjoy fishing in different
00:35:18.400 --> 00:35:20.880
methods and trying to figure things out. I mean,
00:35:20.900 --> 00:35:22.860
if you want to see the tonor fishing, I do have
00:35:22.860 --> 00:35:24.980
a YouTube channel. You can search on it. It's
00:35:24.980 --> 00:35:31.059
PLNOR. And if you look that up, I caught a stingray
00:35:31.059 --> 00:35:33.820
that way. And there's a video of that on there
00:35:33.820 --> 00:35:36.480
that's kind of interesting. It was a pretty nice
00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:39.889
stingray. Parks and Wildlife actually used to
00:35:39.889 --> 00:35:42.809
have that as a separate category. They've now
00:35:42.809 --> 00:35:45.550
made it an all tackle category. So those records
00:35:45.550 --> 00:35:49.429
kind of got a sword, but it's a lot of fun. So
00:35:49.429 --> 00:35:54.750
what's the one fish on the bucket list? Oh, wow.
00:36:00.570 --> 00:36:04.170
That is an interesting, interesting question.
00:36:05.670 --> 00:36:09.329
I would like to catch a big mouth buffalo on
00:36:09.329 --> 00:36:11.909
a fly rod. I've done that once, and I would like
00:36:11.909 --> 00:36:21.610
to do that again. I've held the all tackle lengths
00:36:21.610 --> 00:36:24.789
record with IGFA, and I actually got beat this
00:36:24.789 --> 00:36:27.769
year. So I'll probably go back and try to do
00:36:27.769 --> 00:36:29.429
that. That's one of the things about records
00:36:29.429 --> 00:36:33.530
is people will beat your records. You have a
00:36:33.530 --> 00:36:35.550
choice of either going back and trying to get
00:36:35.550 --> 00:36:38.210
them back or just go after different fish. So
00:36:38.210 --> 00:36:41.570
that's kind of where I'm at with that. What's
00:36:41.570 --> 00:36:46.269
your favorite fish? If it's just fun, I really
00:36:46.269 --> 00:36:50.039
do like fishing for carp. Carp are probably the
00:36:50.039 --> 00:36:52.900
most underrated freshwater fish in the United
00:36:52.900 --> 00:36:55.940
States. They fight really hard. They're readily
00:36:55.940 --> 00:36:58.539
available. You can catch them on a fly rod. You
00:36:58.539 --> 00:37:01.000
can catch them on conventional tackle. So that's
00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:03.460
one of the fish that I really do enjoy catching.
00:37:03.960 --> 00:37:08.059
But then I do enjoy catching unique fish. There's
00:37:08.059 --> 00:37:11.860
a fish on the Guadalupe River that I went down
00:37:11.860 --> 00:37:13.679
fishing there and somebody said they were catching
00:37:13.679 --> 00:37:17.210
Guadalupe carp. I'm like, I'm not familiar with
00:37:17.210 --> 00:37:19.670
the Guadalupe carp. And I figured out it was
00:37:19.670 --> 00:37:22.190
actually a fish called a gray red horse, which
00:37:22.190 --> 00:37:26.349
is a fairly unique fish in Texas. I went down
00:37:26.349 --> 00:37:28.710
and set several world records on there, and I
00:37:28.710 --> 00:37:30.550
actually did even catch one with the fly rod.
00:37:30.829 --> 00:37:33.590
So that's the kind of fish that I do like to
00:37:33.590 --> 00:37:38.190
pursue. Where do you like to fish in Texas? Oh,
00:37:38.269 --> 00:37:41.940
wow. There are so many wonderful places to fish
00:37:41.940 --> 00:37:45.719
in Texas. I guess with lakes, I fish Texoma,
00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:51.000
I fish Whitney, Tewakene, Granbury, rivers and
00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:53.380
streams. The Guadalupe is a wonderful place to
00:37:53.380 --> 00:37:56.900
fish, especially fly fishing. The Red River is
00:37:56.900 --> 00:37:59.579
a really fun place to fly fish. I enjoy fishing
00:37:59.579 --> 00:38:02.300
there. Texas Parks and Wildlife, again, they
00:38:02.300 --> 00:38:04.699
have a great stocking program of trout in the
00:38:04.699 --> 00:38:07.559
wintertime. So you can look that up in almost
00:38:07.559 --> 00:38:10.539
all the places they stock trout or fund fish.
00:38:10.739 --> 00:38:14.039
That's great places in Texas. One of the things
00:38:14.039 --> 00:38:16.559
that people normally don't think about is residential
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:19.820
ponds. There's some really good fishing in residential
00:38:19.820 --> 00:38:22.300
ponds in Texas, if they're ponds that are open
00:38:22.300 --> 00:38:25.079
to the public where you can legally fish in some
00:38:25.079 --> 00:38:28.880
of the parks. I like fishing the saltwater bays.
00:38:29.079 --> 00:38:32.059
Redfish Bay is fun. Lower Groomer Madre is fun.
00:38:33.719 --> 00:38:35.539
And then, of course, I like fishing offshore.
00:38:35.739 --> 00:38:38.719
I usually go out of Port Mansfield or Port Aransas.
00:38:39.380 --> 00:38:41.800
But there are just anywhere in the state that
00:38:41.800 --> 00:38:44.039
you live, you can find a good place to fish in
00:38:44.039 --> 00:38:47.179
Texas. That is one of the great things of Texas,
00:38:48.280 --> 00:38:50.519
is just the availability of fishing and hunting
00:38:50.519 --> 00:38:54.320
activities all over the state. It really is.
00:38:55.409 --> 00:38:57.670
Well barry we've had a really good conversation
00:38:57.670 --> 00:39:00.769
to really appreciate your time and all the information
00:39:00.769 --> 00:39:03.050
that you provided anything else you think you'd
00:39:03.050 --> 00:39:05.769
want our listeners to know the one program i
00:39:05.769 --> 00:39:08.170
would like to promote is called the lead angler
00:39:08.170 --> 00:39:11.070
program it's a texas parks and wildlife program
00:39:11.070 --> 00:39:14.309
is based on the length of the fish so basically
00:39:14.309 --> 00:39:16.809
what it is if you go to the parks and wildlife
00:39:16.809 --> 00:39:19.530
website and search on the lead will come up and
00:39:19.530 --> 00:39:21.530
you can search on the guidelines for the big
00:39:21.530 --> 00:39:24.900
fish award. What you do is split between saltwater
00:39:24.900 --> 00:39:27.960
and freshwater, and every fish you catch of a
00:39:27.960 --> 00:39:30.800
certain length is posted on their site, you get
00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:33.920
a big fish award. If you get five big fish awards
00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:36.599
in either freshwater or saltwater, you become
00:39:36.599 --> 00:39:39.679
a Texas Elite Angler. And the nice thing about
00:39:39.679 --> 00:39:42.280
that is it's a permanent award. It's not like
00:39:42.280 --> 00:39:44.199
records where they can get replaced. Once you're
00:39:44.199 --> 00:39:46.519
on the list, you'll be a permanent Texas Elite
00:39:46.519 --> 00:39:49.780
Angler. It's a really fun thing to do because
00:39:49.780 --> 00:39:52.239
what it does is every time you're fishing, you
00:39:52.239 --> 00:39:54.760
have a chance to get one of these awards and
00:39:54.760 --> 00:39:57.260
anybody can do it. I mean, for example, the white
00:39:57.260 --> 00:40:00.900
bass, it only has to be 15 inches long. You don't
00:40:00.900 --> 00:40:02.920
have to have certified scales. You just need
00:40:02.920 --> 00:40:04.960
a measuring device. You take a picture of you
00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:07.619
with the fish, a picture of a fish on the measuring
00:40:07.619 --> 00:40:09.960
tape. You fill out the Texas Parks and Wildlife
00:40:09.960 --> 00:40:12.880
form and send it in. You get your big fish award,
00:40:12.900 --> 00:40:15.440
do it five times in freshwater or saltwater,
00:40:15.480 --> 00:40:17.780
and then you get to be a Texas elite angler.
00:40:18.619 --> 00:40:21.340
I've enjoyed it so much. I've actually done the
00:40:21.340 --> 00:40:24.599
freshwater twice. So I've caught 10 fish instead
00:40:24.599 --> 00:40:26.760
of five, and on the saltwater side, I've done
00:40:26.760 --> 00:40:30.480
15 fish. So I've done it three times. But that's
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:32.760
a really, really fun program to look into. I
00:40:32.760 --> 00:40:35.159
think everybody should do that. And you find
00:40:35.159 --> 00:40:37.539
that by looking on Texas Parks and Wildlife's
00:40:37.539 --> 00:40:39.940
website. Yes, you go to their website, just in
00:40:39.940 --> 00:40:43.019
the search box, put elite and it'll come up with
00:40:43.019 --> 00:40:46.320
the elite angler program. It shows you the lead
00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:48.219
anglers. And then there's a little section that
00:40:48.219 --> 00:40:50.860
says the guidelines and it'll tell you exactly
00:40:50.860 --> 00:40:54.019
what you need to do to get that. Right. Well,
00:40:54.219 --> 00:40:57.559
something for all of us to look into. Well, again,
00:40:57.679 --> 00:41:00.159
Barry, thank you for your time today. Anything
00:41:00.159 --> 00:41:03.099
else that we should talk about? I think that's
00:41:03.099 --> 00:41:05.539
it. I mean, the main thing is a lot of people
00:41:05.539 --> 00:41:08.719
think that there's no records available. The
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:12.519
IGFA just this year, they had over 600 new world
00:41:12.519 --> 00:41:15.659
records. So there are a lot of records out there
00:41:15.659 --> 00:41:18.619
and anyone can get a record. It takes a little
00:41:18.619 --> 00:41:21.639
bit of time and energy. I know there's some anglers
00:41:21.639 --> 00:41:23.179
that aren't interested in records at all and
00:41:23.179 --> 00:41:25.579
that's fine. But if you are, don't feel like
00:41:25.579 --> 00:41:28.139
you can't get one. It really is readily available
00:41:28.139 --> 00:41:30.559
to anyone. And you don't have to travel all over
00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:32.639
the world to get one. You don't have to travel
00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:37.949
all over the world to get one. I set 11 In one
00:41:37.949 --> 00:41:41.309
year, I set 11 world records, most of them in
00:41:41.309 --> 00:41:46.590
Granbury. Again, wow. I'm going fishing in Granbury.
00:41:47.789 --> 00:41:52.030
That's the key. So, well, Barry, thanks for your
00:41:52.030 --> 00:41:54.710
joining us today. And thanks to everyone for
00:41:54.710 --> 00:41:59.090
listening to the podcast today. If you are interested
00:41:59.090 --> 00:42:01.369
and you like the podcast, be sure to subscribe.
00:42:01.690 --> 00:42:04.489
If you're interested in joining our club or any
00:42:04.489 --> 00:42:07.809
of our club activities, check us out at fortworthflyfishers
00:42:07.809 --> 00:42:11.269
.org. Again, that's one word, fortworthflyfishers
00:42:11.269 --> 00:42:14.769
.org or come to one of our meetings. We meet
00:42:14.769 --> 00:42:16.869
the first Tuesday of each month at the University
00:42:16.869 --> 00:42:18.909
of North Texas Health Sciences Center in Fort
00:42:18.909 --> 00:42:21.650
Worth and on the first Tuesday at seven o 'clock
00:42:21.650 --> 00:42:24.349
in the evening. And if you're wanting to find
00:42:24.349 --> 00:42:26.789
directions to our meeting location, just go on
00:42:26.789 --> 00:42:30.099
our website and it's all located there. Stay
00:42:30.099 --> 00:42:32.619
tuned for our next podcast. Remember, Fort Worth
00:42:32.619 --> 00:42:35.940
Fly Fishers is a 501c3 organization responsible
00:42:35.940 --> 00:42:39.599
for all content provided. Keep fishing and remember,
00:42:39.820 --> 00:42:41.820
fly fishing happens in beautiful places.