International Game Fish Association: Fill & Download for Free

Ted Williams: He is not only a member of the MLB Hall of Fame but also International Game Fish Association Hall of FameCal Hubbard: Member of both the Pro Football and MLB Hall of FameJim Brown: Member of the Pro Football and Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame

Indeed. I caught a nice big fish, had no clue what it was, cleaned it and ate it with my family.When I was in my early twenties (mid ‘80s), I got the chance to fly to Hawaii. My cousin and her fiancé decided to get married at some fancy hotel on Kaanapali, Maui. Being true to myself, I didn’t hesitate to bring a rod & reel with me (Fenwick PS270 with a Penn 500 reel - my “goto” rig back in the day). One night, I got to get away from the family, wedding party, and friends. I found a local grocery store and bought some mackerel for cut bait. And off to the beach I went!Now, the 270 isn’t really a surf rod and the Penn 500 isn’t really a surf reel. I knew nothing about Hawaiian surf fishing except that their holy grail was an Ulua (Giant Trevally). I was bound to catch one, though I knew nothing about them (no instant access to information back in those days). I knew my rod & reel were beefy enough to land an Ulua, but I was bound to blindly cast my rig into black, unknown waters.Full of confidence, I launched that bait a country mile from where I was standing. Casting a hot-rodded Penn 500 was one of my favorite things to do! It’s an art-form that many have birdnested to never attempt again. I digress. It took about 15 seconds for that bait to settle. As I placed the rod into my sand spike with the clicker engaged and the reel in freespool, I was graced with a short run! I set the hook on what felt like seaweed. Dismayed at the missed opportunity, I reeled in my rig to find a yellow-looking eel wrapped around my leader. Ewe!!! - Never caught one of them before! I carefully unhooked the ugly bugger and flicked it back into the foaming waters of the beach. Unfortunately, this lackluster event repeated itself several more times.So went the minutes into hours. My cut bait was nearly gone and it was getting really late. For what might have been one last cast, I punched my bait out as far as I could muster and returned my rod to its perch. After what seemed to be a long time, I finally got a big strike! The long run audible from the screaming clicker resounded like the strike of a shark or ray.Could this had been the one? Did I actually get me an Ulua?As I slid my reel into gear, I immediately felt positive pressure on my rod. I had set my hook hard, reeled down, and set again…Oh frickin’ yeah…. Fish on!The fish was barely big enough to pull only little bit of drag, so I knew it wasn’t a GIANT trevally. However, it was strong enough to put a bend in my rod, so I was pretty ecstatic about that. Maybe it was a big ol’ Parrot Fish, or some other exotic fish…. All I knew, it wasn’t an eel! YaY for me!The fight lasted less than a five minutes. As I saw its forked tail break through the surface of the water, I could tell that the fish wasn’t a shark, ray, or other weird fish. As I beached it, I could tell it was a bony fish built for speed. The fish was close to two and a half feet long, silvery, big eyes, big mouth, and big scales… I had no idea of species of fish, but it looked like a giant anchovy! Proud of my catch, I had decided to honor my Filipino heritage, clean that fish, and prepare it for the next day’s family dinner.The following night, I baked it. I had to cut it in half, perpendicular to its lateral line in order to fit onto the baking sheet and oven. Being Filipino and all, my family really enjoyed “fishy” flavored fish. Garnished with fresh cut tomatoes, onion, par-boiled spinach from Costco in soy sauce, and of course, a side dish of steamed rice… Voila!!! Finger food for everyone! To me, it was way too fishy and way too bony… but hey, as long as my family enjoyed it, that’s all that really counted.Moving along by about twenty years…I was rummaging through my dad’s belongings in their master bedroom one day. Dad had passed away several years prior, but mom kept his stuff right where he liked it. I came across a small, foldable picture frame on the back of his night stand. I opened the frame to find a photo of my son at birth on the left side and a photo of me holding that giant anchovy on the right. It warmed my heart to know those two experiences were part of dad’s favorite memories. Handwritten on the bottom were the words “Jr’s Tenpounder”. I figured it was a harmless embellishment by dad. In truth, I recently found out that dad wasn’t embellishing. That’s actually the name of the fish - Hawaiian Tenpounder - otherwise known as a Ladyfish.Kinda cool going back through memory lane!(Photo courtesy of the International Game Fish Association)

All fishing regulations will apply, whether a fish is unusually large or not. In many jurisdictions, recreationally caught fish cannot be sold, and this will also apply.Generally, record recreational catches are managed by IGFA (International Game Fish Association, www.igfa.org), who will have a local representative with a certified scale.