Hoosier fish stories 2002

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Hoosier fish stories 2002 Indiana's 2002 fish basket was stuffed with half-a-dozen new state records, some super-sized Lake Michigan walleye, a slew of Kosciusko County catches, and some notable weird records. Each year, the Department of Natural Resources' Record Fish Program tracks the largest fish of 48 species caught with hook and line in the state. This January, the DNR recognized 28 outstanding fish caught in 2002. An amazing six catches were certified as state records. Notable catches spanned the state, from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River, and from Sullivan County in the west to Hancock County in eastern Indiana. Fish testifies for kid ------------------------ "I've worked 40 years in a bait shop, and fished all my life, and I've never seen anything like it," says Bill Fish of Minners Bait in Linton. "There was a little kid pounding on my door about sundown yelling 'Lookit my fish. Lookit my fish!'" Little Jocob Cody of Linton was hauling around a redear sunfish longer than his shoulders were wide. Last July, the youngster tricked a 13.5 inch-long, dinner-plate-shaped, sunfish into biting a nightcrawler on a hook. Fish is having Cody's Greene County redear mounted, and he hopes to have it on display during weekends at this February's Indianapolis Boat Sport and Travel Show's Linton/Greene County booth. Big water, bigger fish --------------------------- Lake Michigan again led the state in big arm-busting fish catches, providing the biggest brown and steelhead trout, chinook and coho salmon, and some super-sized walleye. Indiana's two most exciting walleye catches came from inside Lake Michigan's Burns International Harbor, commonly known as the Port of Indiana. The state size record for walleye had apparently been broken last December when an Illinois angler reeled a 14.5-pound walleye from port waters, but the DNR could not recognize the catch because the angler was fishing from a boat in an area the Indiana Port Commision has closed to recreational boating. The port does allow shore fishing at a DNR public access site, which is where Andy Lloyd of Michigan City caught the second-biggest walleye reported to the DNR last year. Under a dusky February sky, Lloyd was throwing a spinner for coho when he hooked and landed a 31-inch-long, 13-pound, fish-of-the-year walleye. Jacob Logan from Elkhart boated a Lake Michigan brown trout in June that had fish lips located 30 inches away from its tail. Bill Takacs from Hammond earned 2002 fish-of-the-year honors with a steelhead trout measuring 33 inches in length, while the pride of Dyer, Tom Berg, took fish-of-the-year honors for both his 35-inch chinook and 26-inch coho salmon. Berg also holds the record for most appearances in the state's record fish program. Berg has twelve fish-of-the-year awards since 1994. Berg can also strut proudly about his boat knowing he holds the lightest official world record -- a one-pound grass pickerel plucked from Dewart Lake in Kosciusko County. Kosciusko County Bounty, Again ------------------------------- Kosciusko County again led all counties in Indiana fish of the year winners. The biggest bullhead catfish reported to the DNR last year was a 19.5-inch yellow belly pulled from Dewart Lake by Mark Phillabaum of Syracuse. Dewart Lake has also produced the state's biggest rock bass for two years in a row. This year's 11-inch Dewart goggle eye went for a nightcrawler presented by Elkhart's Deloris Scott. Jack Richter from Tipton claimed fish-of-the-year honors for his 17.5-inch-long crappie finagled from Webster Lake, where crappie have to be big to avoid being eaten by fish like the 51-inch-long monster muskie Zionsville's Todd Vannatta wrestled from the lake. Vannatta's fish measured one inch longer than the new state record 42.5-pound muskie caught from nearby James Lake on April Fools Day by Darrin Conley of Winona Lake. A pan-filling, 14.5 inch-long, Carr Lake yellow perch was entered by Deborah Daniels of Cicero. Garlan and Garland catch big fish ---------------------------------- The 2002 fish-of-the-year hybrid striped bass was landed by Garlan Gascho of Delphi. The white bass/striped bass hybrid, commonly called a wiper, stretched more than 30 inches long, and was caught last April below Lake Freeman's Oakdale Dam. The new state record 19.2-pound wiper was caught below the same dam in July. The wiper record is Indiana's most often broken record. The record has been broken more than 20 times since Jamey Spinks of Shelbyville set the first record in 1985 with a 3.25-pound Monroe Lake fish. Garland Fellers, now deceased, from Loogootee has Indiana's longest held record. Garland entered a 30-pound White River freshwater drum during the program's first year in 1963. A steelhead trout state record once stood for only 45 minutes. On June 11, 1981, Morton Kaplan of Michigan City ran into the DNR Lake Michigan office with a steelie weighing nearly 21 pounds, which beat the previous record set nine years before by 3 ounces. Kaplan then sprinted off to the Michigan City newspaper for photos. A few minutes later, Michigan City angler Henry May strolled in with a 22-pound steelie. Indiana's 2-pound, 15-ounce yellow bass record, caught from Morse Reservoir near Cicero, still stands as a world record. A 2-pound, 9-ounce Morse Reservoir yellow bass caught last June by Wayne Casey of Cicero was almost as big. Indiana's largest record fish is a 106-pound, 4-ounce paddlefish. The lightest record is a 3.5-ounce flier. Fliers are tiny sunfish found in a few southern Indiana rivers and swamps. Flier record holder Harold Ott of Greenwood boasts,"It's not the biggest, but it's the smallest." The rest of the best ------------------------- Other fish-of-the-year winners: - A 25.5-inch-long largemouth bass caught by Crawfordsville's Dennis Melvin. - A 22-pound, 8-ounce northern pike Bob Ecenbarger of Fort Wayne squeezed through a Steuben County ice-fishing hole drilled in Snow Lake - A 25-inch-long saugeye hauled from Huntingburg Lake by Joshua Gansman of Boonville. - A 49.5-inch-long flathead catfish man-handled from the White River near Waverly by Danville's Greg Schwipps. - A 55-pound, Ohio River bighead carp caught by Carl Ester from Clarksville. - A 19-inch-long smallmouth bass caught by Jon Million of Morgantown. Million also caught the 17.5-inch 2002 fish-of-the-year white bass. -A Lake Gage 17.1-inch-long cisco boated by Norm Ramsey from Fort Wayne. - A longear sunfish measuring 5.75 inches long caught by young Stephen Wood of New Palestine. - A 28-pound channel catfish caught by Brazil's Jeff Thompson. State fish size records set in 2002 ------------------------------------- - 42.5-pound muskie caught by Darrin Conley from Winona Lake - 1.4-pound warmouth caught by Jack Tolbert from Sullivan - 19.2-pound hybrid striped bass caught by Sam Tracey of Peru - 53.9-pound buffalo caught by Kenneth Houchin of Winslow - 65.2-pound grass carp landed by David Hughs from Brownsburg - 11-pound longnose gar caught by Timothy Ries of Scottsburg Photos and additional information on Indiana fish records are available at: http://www.IN.gov/dnr/fishwild/recordfish/record_fish_main.htm ----------------------- Media contact: John Maxwell, 317-232-5648 ----------------------- ================================================ Wild Bulletin provides information about Indiana's natural resources and recreation. 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