OCR Text |
Show Record Fish May Land In the Pan Some Utahns may be catching and eating record fish without knowing it. Fish which could qualify as a state record are often never weighed and reported to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. This is particularly particu-larly true for less popular species, caught year-round in many areas. A few current state records re-cords include black crappie, 2 lb 5 oz; mountain white-fish, white-fish, 3 lb 14 oz; walleye, 1 1 lb 12 oz; smallmouth bass, 2 lb 15 oz; largemouth bass, 10 lb 2 oz; white bass, 4 lb 1 oz; and bluegill, 2 lb 2 oz. Several species have never been entered for state fish records, so no records have been established. These include the yellow perch, the Bonneville whitefish in Bear Lake, the Bear Lake white-fish, white-fish, black bullhead and green sunfish. The Division of Wildlife has recently set new rules for entering a fish in the state fish records. The fish must be weighed on an inspected, certified scale (most grocery scales qualify). The species and weight of a fish should be documented and certified in writing by Division personnel per-sonnel whenever possible. If a Division employee is not available, the weigh-in must be witnessed by at least two persons over 18 who are not members of the angler's family or fishing party. These witnesses must provide pro-vide their names and addresses addres-ses and a signed statement attesting to the accuracy of the weigh in. The angler must also present to the Divison a close-up sideview color photo of the fish lying on a suitable, legible measuring mea-suring stick. Upon verification a fish is7 a state record, the angler will be presented a certificate ; from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Utah holds the world's record for a brown trout, a 33 lb 10 oz fish caught in Flaming Gorge in 1977. Other state fish records' are cutthroat trout, 26 lb 12 oz; lake trout, 37 lb 0 oz; Kokanee salmon, 4 lb 0 oz; brook trout, 7 ob 8 oz;. grayling, 1 lb V2 oz; northern pike, 15 lb 14 oz; golden ., trout, l3'2 oz; channel catfish, 32 lb 5 oz; and rainbow trout, 26 lb 2 oz. , |