# Record saugeye -- It's official!



## Net (Apr 10, 2004)

Again, congratulations to Roger 'recordbreaker' Sizemore on his fantastic accomplishment!  

For those of you who didn't see it, the following article appeared in the outdoors section of the Sunday Dispatch on 1/9/05:


*Its official: Ohio has new record saugeye 
Lingering mystery is how fish ended up in Antrim Lake*

Sunday, January 09, 2005
Dave Golowenski 
FOR THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


The tale of Roger Sizemores state-record saugeye is long on mystery but a wee short on suspense. 

To be sure, the 30 1/8-inch fish for several weeks lacked only certification by the Outdoor Writers of Ohio state record fish committee. Given that its 14.04-pound weight beat the standing record by more than a pound, approval had appeared a death-and-taxes certainty since the fish was taken and put to scale Nov. 24. The panel finally flashed its thumbs-up last week, and an amended and very public-record list went with it. 

That, of course, makes Sizemore, 32, of Orient, one happy angling celebrity. 

"I meet new people every day by computer on a fishing forum," he said. "Nobody can really believe it. I cant really believe it." 

Least believing might be Brian Bang, a Galloway resident whose state-record 12.84-pound saugeye, caught Jan. 26, 2002, at Alum Creek Reservoir, no longer reigns. Sizemore said Bang told him good-naturedly in a cyber-communique that hes now gunning for a 15-pounder. 

Although state records are promised to no one, a fisherman will catch fish, occasionally big fish. Further, when stars line up and unspoken prayers are answered, a fisherman might catch a record fish. Make no mistake: Sizemore is a fisherman, someone to whom all-weather bait-dunking is as natural and automatic as begging to come out of the rain is to a house cat. 

So the mystery isnt what a fisherman was doing at the 27-acre Antrim Lake on a wet, chilly November morn an hour or so before a hatchery truck was scheduled to release a load of good-sized trout. The riddle is what such a huge saugeye was doing there. 

Ray Petering, inland fisheries program administrator for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, doesnt claim to be Sherlock Holmes but thinks, as do his colleagues, that the enigmas unraveling is  shall it be said?  elementary. 

The great fish, Petering explained, "was likely originally caught, at a much smaller size (right over the bank) in the Olentangy River and then transplanted into Antrim Lake. Ive fished that stretch of river myself and caught lots of saugeyes over the years." 

Although the wildlife division doesnt plant saugeye in the Olentangy or Antrim Lake, it has been stocking the walleye-sauger hybrids in Delaware Lake since 1986, meaning that escapees regularly reach Columbus and beyond. 

The rest, though making somewhat less than an airtight court case, can be surmised from the existing evidence, the sum of which is a really big, really fat, really frozen fish in Sizemores freezer. 

"Given many an anglers propensity to do some armchair fish management, it is highly likely that several saugeyes have been relocated from the Olentangy into Antrim Lake over the years," Petering said. "Somehow, that particular fish eluded capture long enough to grow to state-record size." 

Petering expressed himself like a head-shaking fisheries biologist who has seen much too much. 

An avid Ohio State football fan, Petering has a sense of what coach Jim Tressel goes through with Sunday morning quarterbacks after a third straight loss. Moreover, what Petering referred to is that armchair fish managers, unlike their griping gridiron counterparts, actually can make a difference in the way the game is played. 

"Nothing surprises me anymore," Petering said last week, still basking in the giddy aftermath of OSUs bowl victory over Oklahoma State and Michigans bowl loss to Texas. "Ive seen so many species of fish turn up in places that they shouldnt, that Ive learned to never say never. Most of these strange occurrences are a result of anglers transporting fish from one location to another, which, by the way, is illegal in public waters." 

That said, everything in Sizemores case appears on the up and up: right place, right time, right Berkley Power Bait, right retrieval technique, right-hand man Johnny DeLong, 34, of Columbus up to his frigid knees in Antrim holding a landing net. 

Not only will Sizemore retain the Ohio saugeye record until his gets beaten, he also can claim the North American line-class record sanctioned by the Wisconsin-based National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. The current record for 6-pound test line is a 12-pound, 7-ounce fish taken Feb. 22, 1987, from Yellowstone River in Montana. 

The immediate step, however, is locating a taxidermist who can do a venerable saugeye justice and allow an apparently nomadic fish to take a long rest. 

"I have a spot in mind above my fireplace," Sizemore said. 

[email protected] Hows the weather? Check the back of Metro


----------



## fishingredhawk (Apr 14, 2004)

Congratulations again!


----------



## TIGHTLINER (Apr 7, 2004)

That's awesome! That was a great article and congrads goes out to Sizemore once again......TightLines!


----------



## Alter (Apr 8, 2004)

We Sizemore's are darn good fishermen  Although, I don't think I'm any kin to Roger.

There's also an Ira Sizemore who is the state record holder in the white bass category...don't think I'm related to him either . Now I just have to finally land that state record spotted bass and there'd be three of us in the books 

Congrats Roger, make sure to post another picture after you get that big fish mounted.

Steve


----------



## Shon van nest (May 4, 2021)

Didn't know how close I was catching this saugeye in late summer of 2019, caught at clendining lake on a bass minnow on the bottom, great fight and a memory forever.


----------

