Should Private Pond/Lake Fish Qualify as a Record?

[chaunc]

Why could it not be 2 standards of records-public lakes(1) private ponds/lakes (2) That would not be difficult for game dept. to keep up with! I mean they keep up with how many deer are Killed in each county..Not as many record fish caught as deer killed, shouldn't be a problem..Some one start a petition in Virginia, I'm in... Later, Russ!

Then fishing would eventually be like boxing.... . A champ for ponds, a champ for lakes, a champ for rivers, a champ for creeks, a champ for streams. You get what i mean? Let's have just one champ for each fish.

[wrwest]

chaunc, You just made a good point...

[bowdenja]

OK........ first off records are for Sportsmen............ anybody that singles out and purposely grows a fish just for a record IS NOT A SPORTSMAN and it should not count. PERIOD!

If it is a private pond/lake that has limited access SO WHAT!

Someone used deer as an example, most people down here in MS anyway, lease land to hunt and limit who can and can not hunt. If they kill a boone and crocket world records buck should it be dis-qualified just because it was on a private lease land and they put out special food and minerals and made food plots and increased the habitat to "help" grow bigger deer.
I think you would have a riot on your hands. AND rightly so!

As long as a fish is caught in a sporting manner from a real pond or lake, not a swimmin pool or aquarium, then it don't matter if it was private or public. He still had to get it to hit, hook it, fight it, land it, and then get the dang thing weighed and certified.

Shoot...... just because he was lucky and got permission to fish a private lake don't make his achievement any less! AND I for one will make a trip to BPS in Spingfield MO just to see it! I hope he is there for me to congratulate him in person.

He was lucky to have a fish that big hit his hook, granted, it still took some skill to land it!

john

[fish.on]

I would never want to keep someone from having bragging rights to a huge fish. That's what makes it such a complicated subject. I think the record book shows that the fish is either caught in a private pond or in a lake. I think it does. If not then I suppose it should. That way we all would know who caught the biggest fish, where it was caught, and I suppose the line weight and type bait should come into play. I don't know if it specifies private lakes or not. Keep them all on the same page but maybe become a little more specific. There are good arguments for both sides. So what about a little compromise on the issue? It seems like that should be easy. In hunting it specifies what type of equipment, the county, private land or not the state, etc... This way John Doe could argue with Jane well I caught mine in a strip pit on Uncle Georges lower forty. That guy caught his where everyone catches big fish out in whatchagot lake. You know the records specify......

[CrappieHound]

I fish both types of water...private and public. I also consistently catch bigger fish in public lakes and streams as opposed to private. Most everyone on this board agrees that crappie don't do well in small lakes and ponds. The odds are against you hookin a 5 lb. crappie in one of these small bodies of water. You are much more likely to catch the "big" fish in some public body of water than in a 20 acre lake. I have a private lake that I go to every once and a while and if you don't throw the right bait you aren't going to even know a fish exists in the pond.

This guy just lucked out. Right time, right place. He succesfully caught, landed, and had the fish certified.Your chances are better for hitting the power ball than catching a world record fish.

This guy deserves the record and I say congrats.

The record books are for guys like us who love to chase the fish as stated in the above post. We all would love to catch that world record fish but for me I'll be satisfied with knowing that if I hone my skills and do everytthing right, I just may have a "chance".

[EDDY CREEK BANDIT]

Yeah if it was a legal catch, I don't fish any smaller lakes but if I did and I caught it fair and square I would want the record for myself.

[heycods]

Ok what about the "managed deer herds"?????? not allowed in Boone and Crocket or Pope and Young???? A quality animal or fish is still a quality animal or fish.
Or how about we disqualify all fish caught behind a hydroelectric plant, they have unfair advantage because they grow in warm water with more to feed on???
Then we would have to disqualify all deer, elk and such that was lucky enough to have a corn field or alfalfa patch to feed on.
Opens up a whole new kettle of fish dont it?????????????

[hogpaw]

OK, I feel like as long as it doesn't get like the deer hunters in Texas that hunt deer under a high fence....wait....that take and pen the does and take semen off ultra high quality bucks and hand place that into does just to get the biggest bucks they can. It has become, in many cases, that the man with the most money has the biggest deer. I hear of deer that are worth 6 figures.

I went on a quail hunt on one of these ranches a couple of years back and they had a high rack truck and were bragging about how quick they could put their hunters on a particular buck. They could pull the trigger from the high rack. That was on a 25,000 acre ranch. My opinion is that is killing and not hunting. The owner and both of his sons each had breeding pens on separate ranches and they would produce large deer, sedate and release them on the ranch for a "canned" hunt. This crosses the ethical line for a record, in my opinion.

I would think that as long as it doesn't become commercialized like that I would support either method, private or public, pond or lake.

[Castoff]

If farm ponds are not regulated by the state/federal agency that regulates public waters and thus not controlled by fishing regulations applicable to everyone else, why should the state or federal record books ever refer to catches from private stock? It is fine and well to offer tremendous congratulations for a huge fish, which I certainly do and remain green with envy, but entirely another to enter a fish hand fed with growth hormones which can easily occur out of the public eye. I am not accusing, but acknowledging what can and does occur. Public records should stay as public records, of public events of member of the public. The operative word here is public . I vote no.

[Castoff]

Hogpaw....you must have seen the show I saw [getting to be many shows now...kinda disgusting to just kill the animal]. I don't consider it hunting either; I think you nailed it. And if I wanted to throw away the spare cash I would not participate in it. Seems though when the kill is made, the hunter immediately starts counting and wants to know how it will score for the records. That is not what hunting or fishing is to me, and I pity them. I switch channels so I hope the folks who want to sell their stuff to me advertise on different shows.

And it seems that some of the pros fish only on private ponds; look for other boats on the shows and you quickly see it is a set up. But the guy [don't want to mention names] in Wisconsin who fishes for walleye or smallies....obvious he is in public waters. I really like that show and buy brands advertised on it.

Forums...the place for my opinion, even if it's maybe wrong :D .