NEW CHANNEL CATFISH RECORD ON THE HORIZON
Gordon Kauffeldt’s Channel Catfish entry to the OFAH’s Ontario Record Fish Registry is the potential new record in 2016 “assuming a larger Channel Catfish is not caught this year and submitted by February 14, 2016,” said federation representative David Ryrie. Kauffeldt, age 67, was fishing for walleye near the hamlet of Griffith, on the Madawaska River. “It was around 7 o’clock p.m. when I caught something very big on bottom that just wouldn’t move.” Kauffeldt thought he had a big turtle on the line. It took him half an hour to land what his scale said weighed 39 pounds. A google search from his boat indicated the present record was 29 pounds. With help from Brian Sutcliffe, President of the Griffith & Matawatchan Fish & Game Club, they finally officially weighed it in at the Pembroke MNRF. “It lost over 4 pounds in the process,” said Sutcliffe. Kirby Punt, MNRF Management Biologist, said the fish had been kept alive in a holding pen where it expelled anything in its stomach. Then it was frozen. Punt said the catfish “looked ancient” and hopes to obtain a spine from the pectoral fin or an otolith to get a definitive age. Sutcliffe learned that a fish loses less weight if packed on ice and not frozen. And, if you think you have a record you have 45 days to register your entry with the OFAH. In summation Kauffeldt said the Channel Catfish officially weighed-in at 33.23 lbs. Its total length is 39.25 inches; girth 27.5 in. and it was caught May 12, 2015 with a minnow and jig on 12 lb. line strength.
We should know if this is a new record by March 2016.
Photo credit – Gordon Kauffeldt – by Larrisa Luloff.
RECORD SMALLMOUTH FOR ONTARIO
On November 3, 2022 Greg Gallagher of Fremont, Ohio, fishing Ontario’s provincial waters in western Lake Erie with his son caught a 10.15 pound smallmouth bass. Turns out that this record fish is the only known 10 pound ‘smallie’ ever caught in a Great Lakes province or state. The previous Ontario record was caught in 1954 at Birchbark Lake near Kinmount. It weighed 9.84 pounds. Ohio’s current smallmouth bass record is 9.5 pounds. This Ontario Record Fish Registry record was confirmed on November 14. Usually such confirmation takes as long as one year to take place. The accompanying X-ray confirmed that there were no foreign objects in the fish. (See photo.)
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife research station at Sandusky Ohio validated that this fish measured 23 3/4 inches in length with a girth of 19 3/8 inches. By analyzing the otoliths, inner-ear structures that develop annuli – much like rings on a tree – researchers determined that the fish was hatched in 2006. Apparently it is rare for a small mouth to exceed 14 years. This female hadn’t any eggs within her and her stomach was empty. Which may explain why she hit Gallagher’s drop-shot rig as it descended.
“I thought it was a big Sheepshead at first. Once Grant and I saw the bass there was plenty of yelling and screaming,” said Gallagher.
The international record smallmouth weighed 11 pounds 15 ounces. It was caught at Dale Hollow Lake which is located on the Tennessee/Kentucky border. The Alabama state record from the Wheeler Dam weighed 10 pounds, 8 ounces. Next in line is Gallagher’s fish.