State Record Fish Procedure

[Band]

Just curious, if a potential state record fish were caught how exactly would a person go about getting it validated/registered?

[Timberstalker]

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/records/

Band, read this.

[JDHasty]

Just curious, if a potential state record fish were caught how exactly would a person go about getting it validated/registered?

My buddy Bill Jackson and I used to catch easily a fifty to a hundred-fifty rockbass/day on Lake Steilacoom.  We used to fish practically every day when in high school and had it down to a science.  When someone pointed out that some of the ones we were catching and eating were probably State Records we got one certified as State Record.  It still stands.  From what I hear Lake Steilacoom isn't the rockbass producer it once was.   

[Woodchuck]

Let's see the fish.

[X-Force]

Let's see the fish.

That's my thought at well! 

[JDHasty]

I will see if I can get hold of Bill and get a photo.  I am pretty sure my mother still has photos of us with it as well. 

Rockbass on light tackle are a fighting machine.  We took them on everything from bait casting outfits to fly rods using homemade deer hair frogs in the evening.   

[Rainier10]

Wow that record has held for a long time.  I would love to see a photo of that.  You guys were making your own jigs or was your dad making them?

[Band]

Let's see the fish.

Unfortunately, the fish in question boils down to nothing more than a "fish story".  Let's just say that I want to be prepared next time if I happen to catch a certain large mouth bass on a lake that I will not mention by knowing how to deal with the state record situation and more importantly, by bringing a different (larger) net that it will fit in.

Thanks for the link, Timberstalker.  I see that you have to list where the fish was caught (be as specific as possible) - I wonder if "the State of Washington" is specific enough, or perhaps just the name of the county.  I would not list the body of water.

[JDHasty]

Wow that record has held for a long time.  I would love to see a photo of that.  You guys were making your own jigs or was your dad making them?

Both.   My neighbor was the President of Evergreen Bass Club and he used to give us a lot of baits that he got to field test.  We used weighted Tail Spinners (Little George) that we made.  That was a good bait for bigger ones and there was an Al Foss bait called a Shimmy Wiggler No 5 that I liked, but no one else ever had much use for, that was good for me for big ones.   We used a lot of safety pins too.  Bill and I caught thousands and thousands of rockbass over the years, especially when we were in high/school and were fishing every day.  Quite a few that were quite a bit larger than the one we finally took in to get certified State record.  We would have been in our twenties and were racing cars/motorcycles and stuff like that by then so we weren't fishing nearly as much as we had in the past.  There is a cat name Stan who did national demonstrations back then, he lived on Silver Lake in Cowlitz County and he turned me onto the Shimmy Wiggler w/pork rind.

From what I hear the rockbass fishery in Lake Steilacoom is almost nonexistent these days and the ones you do catch there are about four inches max.   Lake Louise used to be good and American Lake, but Steilacoom was where the big ones lived.         

[Blacktail135]

 Band, if it works out for you and you catch it just say it came from a farm pond from whatever county you caught it.

[Band]

Band, if it works out for you and you catch it just say it came from a farm pond from whatever county you caught it.

Or a roadside ditch.  Good idea.

[Alchase]

Let's see the fish.

Unfortunately, the fish in question boils down to nothing more than a "fish story".  Let's just say that I want to be prepared next time if I happen to catch a certain large mouth bass on a lake that I will not mention by knowing how to deal with the state record situation and more importantly, by bringing a different (larger) net that it will fit in.

Thanks for the link, Timberstalker.  I see that you have to list where the fish was caught (be as specific as possible) - I wonder if "the State of Washington" is specific enough, or perhaps just the name of the county.  I would not list the body of water.

Band, don't feel bad, the first Walleye "almost caught" in my boat, was an accident while trout fishing the Kettle river.
My Son hooked this monster, that was taking line like crazy.
I have caught big fish (salmon, trout, halibut, Lings) all my life, I was not expecting a Walleye way over 10 lbs. the size of a large silver.
We had this thing to the boat twice, on the last time I tried to net it with my trout net.
It literally bent and broke through the net.
I tried to grab it twice by the lip, Ya I know now that is very stupid.
My thumb was cut wide open as it slowly swam away.
We caught a couple average size keepers after that. Funny part is I had to use my youngest Son's Fruit-by-the-yard wrapper to measure over seventeen inches. 

Now go catch that fish story!

[Alpine Mojo]

Let's see the fish.

Yup, pictures or it never happened.

[Band]

I just read over the requirements again.  They sure don't make it easy but I suppose that helps keep cheaters at bay.  Let me ask this, if you can't get your fish to a region office within a day or two what is the prognosis for keeping the fish edible for 3-4 days?  Apparently freezing the fish is cause for automatic disqualification so I'm wondering whether keeping it in an ice bath will make it last for a few days?