Monster Shellcraker

[SamtheMan]

I just saw this on the Arizona board about a monster redear caught last year. I have not collaborated the facts about the catch yet but was curious if anyone has heard of this fish? I copied the post here for the Arizona board posted last year.


Robert Lawler, of Lake Havasu, Arizona, landed a huge 5-pound, 8.8-ounce, 16.75-inch redear sunfish on Lake Havasu. Lawler used a Texas-rigged 7-inch Power Worm to land the Texas-sized fish that featured a 19-inch girth.
Right now, it’s the semi-official new Arizona state record for the Colorado River, according to the Arizona Game & Fish Department. The previous state-record redear was caught in February of 2010 at Lake Havasu by a California angler. That fish was more than a pound lighter than Lawler’s catch, weighing 4 pounds, 2.24 ounces, and stretching 15.5 inches long.
There’s no doubt Lawler’s fish is a contender for a world record. The current all-tackle world record is 5 pounds, 7 ounces, according to the International Game Fish Association. Amos Gay caught the current record fish in a South Carolina diversion canal in 1998

[Ditch Basser]

Same fish and photo is in the 2012 Panfish Guide from In-Fisherman. I'd sure like to hook a shellcracker that size in my kayak!!!

[Angler53]

I'd sure like to hook a shellcracker that size in my kayak!!!

No Kayak for my big butt but I sure would like to fight that guy with my B'n'M pole. I caught an 8 lb 3 oz Striped Bass on my B'n'M Jig Pole with a Pflueger 4410 microspin using 6 lb test mono last Saturday night. YaaaHooo what a ride. Most fun I ever had with a fish on.

[Ditch Basser]

I got a 20 pound Blue Cat on my 10 foot jig rod tonight with 6 pound test line. Yes, in a kayak. Keeped dragging me all over the place, lots of fun though!!

[Z-MAN]

I've got a pond in my front yard - just over 1/4 acre. I stocked it with bream and catfish only ...the bream were SUPPOSED to be Georgia Giants, which they claimed to go 5 lbs in less than 4 years. It's been 8 or 9 years and I've never caught one over a lb and a half. I do have at least a dozen of the original 75 cats that I put in there and they are all at least 8 to 10 lbs. They are a special breed of channel cats that feed on the surface - when you throw out the pellets, they cruise the surface with their mouths open and scoop up the food...quite a sight to see. But the bream (Georgia Giants my butt) overpopulated quickly and next thing I knew I had about a zillion 2" bream. SO - I started throwing in a few large mouth bass. That has CERTAINLY helped. I still have a lot of smaller bream, but there are plenty of good sized ones in there too....but NOTHING the size of that one from AZ.

Z

[Ditch Basser]

Z-man,

Sounds crazy, but keep or toss up on the bank everyone you catch. You may need to help the Bass thin them out. You can always kill the little ones and toss them back in to feed the catfish!

[GitDaGrease]

That is super pig!!!!!! WOW!!!!