2009.04.10
Digging a little deeper into trophy fish data
Anyone who carefully examines data compiled for the Virginia Trophy Angler recognition program will notice inconsistencies.
For example, the smallmouth bass Angler of the Year had a 6-pound, 8-ounce fish. Yet in the general listings there’s a 7-pound, 2-ounce smallmouth listed. What’s up with that.
And what about the year’s largest yellow perch, which is an ounce heavier than the existing state record? Why isn’t it a new state record?
Same goes for that 15-pound brown trout, another fish that exceeds the state record.
Then there are those confusing length measurements, some of which clearly don’t collate to the fish’s weight.
The inconsistencies stem from the basic structure of the program, for which the application process is, shall we say, flexible.
An angler can take a trophy fish to a tackle shop or other location with a certified scale, and have an objective witness verify the weight and measurements. But an angler also can print off an application from the Internet, have a buddy sign as a witness and also be awarded a citation.
Having to process more than 6,000 of those applications per year, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries simply can’t verify inconsistent or confusing information. As long as the $4 fee is included with the application, the catch will go in the database.
But there are certain standards.
That weight of that 7-pound, 2-ounce smallmouth bass may very well be accurate. But it wasn’t a certified weight, so the fisherman isn’t eligble for an Angler of the Year award.
The yellow perch weight apparently was certified — although the fish’s listed length of 14 inches is strangely short. But angler Spencer Musick of Speedwell, whom I could not reach for comment regarding the catch, didn’t pursue the necessary steps to apply for a state record, a process that requires, among other things, that a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist personally verify the fish. Does that mean Musick simply didn't realize the fish was a state record? (And that has happened.) Or was that weight not accurate? (And that has happened, too.)
The answer is simpler for Will Helmick’s 15-pound brown trout.
The fish, like 126 other trout Helmick has registered for citation awards over the past three years, came from a fee fishery. And while the DGIF will happily send an angler a certificate for a big fish caught at a commercial operation, those fish are not eligible for record consideration.
What it comes down to is that while the awards go on a public list, a citation is really just a piece of paper. The true measure of the trophy is something the angler knows best.
This reminds me of a little wooden sign that hung in my father's shop that read:
“All fishermen are lairs except you & I, and I am not so darn sure about you.”
Comment by Kevin — April 13, 2009 @ 7:30 am
This blog reminded me of the potential Virginia record brown that I caught several years ago on the South Holston near Chilhowie. I returned the 32” male to the river after a brief fight and Harry Steeves had measured the beast. At that moment Harry commented that we’d just released a state record. The catch always seemed a bit tainted. First, because I thought it was huge rainbow while casting to it. Second, because I had drifted an egg fly in the mouth of the stud. And third, I needed the help of Harry, beating his aluminum wading staff on the substrate, to keep the fish out of a log jam after hooked. Any angler worth his or her salt should be able to recognize a brown, even in moderately high flows. I never considered an egg fly a true fly. And no way should an angler need the help of an old f*rt to land any fish.
Comment by Stephen — April 15, 2009 @ 10:40 am