Outdoor Notes / Pete Thomas : Record-Breaking Fish Are Still Being Caught

Given the passage of time, fishermen might be led to believe that most of the big freshwater fish have already been caught and that to make a record catch is becoming increasingly difficult.

“That’s not true,” said Bob Kutz, founder of the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, a nonprofit organization and museum that recognizes freshwater records. “It’s dropping a little bit, probably 10% a year, but we still qualify about 250 new records each year.”

Kutz said that in addition, his organization, based in Hayward, Wis., and not affiliated with the International Game Fish Assn., processes about 200 outstanding angling awards for catches falling just short of record size.

Most records are in the line-class category, but an average of 12 all-tackle records are broken each year, Kutz said.

Notable catches for 1988 include:

--Gary Helms’ catch last February of a land-locked striped bass that weighed 60 pounds 8 ounces. Helms’ fish, caught at Melton Lake in Tennessee, surpassed a 59-pound 12-ounce striper caught on the Colorado River in 1977.

--Several largemouth bass catches came close to George Perry’s 56-year-old record 22-pound 4-ounce bass, caught in 1932 in Alabama’s Montgomery Lake. Black bass line class records from 18 to 21 pounds have been processed by Kutz’s organization in recent years.

--Michael Manley’s catch of a 38-pound 9-ounce brown trout last August at Arkansas’ North Fork River. The same week, David Wooten caught a 34-pounder, good for a record in the 17-pound-test category. Manley’s fish was caught on a treble hook and therefore didn’t qualify for an IGFA mark.

Said Kutz: “We feel a fish is a fish and a catch is a catch.”

On that note, it should be noted that the IGFA still recognizes a 35-pound 15-ounce brown caught in Argentina in 1952.

“We dropped that record because we determined it had been foul-hooked,” Kutz said. “And we don’t recognize fish that are foul-hooked.”

California deer hunters had relatively safe fall hunts in 1988, according to preliminary accounts by the DFG, which reported one fatality and four injuries directly related to the sport.

A senior citizen, hunting in Lake County, died of a gunshot wound to the head from his own firearm. Officials said it appeared that the man had fallen, become entangled in fence wires, causing his rifle to discharge.

The injuries:

--In Los Angeles County, an archer was shot in the hip by his partner, who mistakenly shot into a brushy area where his companion was standing.

--In Plumas County, two cousins stalking the same buck with archery equipment shot at it simultaneously from opposite sides of the animal. Both missed, but one of the arrows hit one of the men in the leg.

--Another man, after hunting in Tehema County, climbed into his truck, where his gun discharged, blowing the thumb off his left hand.

--Finally, a Tulare County hunter shooting across a canyon at what he thought was a buck, instead hit someone else’s spotting scope, spraying fragments of the scope and bullet into the two nearby hunters.

The DFG’s California Wildlands Program, which enables the public to view wildlife in natural settings, has begun in nine wildlife areas or ecological reserves throughout the state.

For $2 a day--proceeds go to state wildlife and habitat programs--visitors can view or photograph various species of wildlife in their natural habitats. Tours, lectures, nature trails, displays and photographic blinds will be available.

The Southern California site, opening next Tuesday, is the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve--noted for bird-watching--in Orange County.

Passes and further information may be obtained from licensed DFG agents statewide.

Bob Fletcher, chief deputy director of the Department of Fish and Game, will resign from his position in early March to become president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California, replacing Bill Nott, who is leaving for medical reasons.

Nott had heart bypass surgery last November and remains hospitalized at St. Mary Medical Center because of complications stemming from post-polio syndrome. He has run the 235-member Long Beach-based organization, which represents the sportfishing community in legislative and legal issues, for the last 17 years.

Fletcher, 45, worked as a skipper in the San Diego area for 12 years before joining the DFG.

Briefly

The Easter Seal’s junior disabled learn-to-fish program has scheduled fishing trips for disabled children Jan. 27 and March 17 at the Santa Ana River Lakes in Anaheim from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers are needed to help teach the children how to fish and to donate equipment for use during the event. For more information call (714) 545-2033.

The Salt Water Sportsman magazine’s national seminar series, which is coming to Long Beach City College Saturday, will sell tickets at the door beginning at 7:30 a.m. the day of the program. The $25 cost for the event, geared to California ocean fishing, includes an 80-page textbook and a chance at winning a fishing trip to Costa Rica.

Francisco (Chico) Mendes, the Brazilian labor leader and environmentalist who was murdered last December, has been awarded the highest honor of the National Wildlife Federation for leading the movement to save Brazil’s tropical rain forests. Mendes will receive the “Connie” award posthumously in March.