# New State Record Green Sunfish



## CoolWater

http://www.dnr.ohio.gov/wildlife/Fishing/recordfish_fshohio/record_sunfish.htm


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## Warpath

First, let me say congrats to the young guy. A person catching any state record fish is an amazing feat. It's something he will remember for the rest of his life. 

I was fishing Friendship Park in Jefferson County once and caught a large green sunfish. I caught it on a 1/2 oz. Terminator spinnerbait. I couldn't believe it when I got the fish in. It hit like a bass and fought like a bass. When I got it in, I thought it was some sort of hybrid bluegill. I looked it over and when I got home I looked it up on the DNR website. It was only then that I realized that it could have been a state record green sunfish. I lipped the fish just like you would a bass. Its mouth was that large. 

How do you guys feel about state records coming from private ponds? I know that some states, like LA, have state records for both public and private waters. I'd rather OH do that as well.

Eric


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## jwg299

im with you on the seperate records for public and private waters.........warpath

i work with a guy who's about 60yrs and has a farm pond that i know for a fact has 18in. crappie in it but he will not let anyone fish it unless hes with you, plus he will only let you fish by doing C&R.

i say if its private and others cant fish it then the state shouldn't give them full credit for the catch


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## CoolWater

I agree as well...


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## mrfishohio

Funny, that was my take a few years ago. Everyone seemed to think it was okay if it came from a private lake. It came up because I was chasing the hybrid striper record in the OH river. It was still 16.19# and came from the warm water dischage in Aberdeen, Jan,1985 and stood for about 18 years. Then one was caught in a lake near Deer Creek or Deer Run or something, rumored to have come from a private lake, about a week later another was caught at or near the same place. It supposedly came from out of the spillway of the lake or escaped thru an overflow/flooding? Anyway, I guess it wasn't caught in a private lake as 1st reported.
Most seemed to feel it didn't matter if it's private or not. My arguement is that someone could "farm" raise some state record fish in their own ponds, or even is a big tank and then claim the new state record ________ (insert your fish...bluegill, LM bass,redear,etc) Wouldn't be hard to do. 
My contention is a state record fish ought to come from public waters so that anyone in the state has access to the same population of fish. Glad to see I'm not alone on this issue.
Oh, not taking anything away from the new record fish, maybe to accomodate everyone there could be two(2) classifications, one for public waters and one for private waters. That might make everyone happy.  Works for me.


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## mrfishohio

They don't allow fish from a paylake to count......so why a private pond?
Have to proud to break the record reguardless.  Gives him some braggin rights for the rest of his life


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## Warpath

I'm not trying to take anything away from the young man, or at least I don't think I am. I just like the way some other states distinguish between the two, public and private land records. I think a person should have to prove they caught the fish legally as well, even if they have to administer a lie detector. I don't remember who the member was who netted the state record LM bass a month or so ago, but I have to commend him for being a true sportsman. I hope I would have had the same sportsman approach to it as he did. 

Anyway, I think a true state record should come from a water source that everyone has the right to fish. If that can't be the case, then they should make separate records for public and private lands. 

Eric


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## BottomBouncer

Yeah, it would make sense that the state record should come from state owner waters, not cousin Earl's farm pond. For that matter, I have a 1000 gallon or so pond in the front yard. I could drop a fish in there, keep the water warm through out the year and feed it all time. Then go out with whatever I have been feeding him, except on a hook. 

It's a nice fish.......


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## Banker

In the book "Sowbelly:quest for the world record largemouth" it talks about a fisherman in mississippi who is trying to do exactly that - raise the next world record larry in his private pond! once or twice a year he dumps rainbows in there for food(got that idea from the state of california where the larrys grow big off of trout). Then in texas they got their "share lunker" program where they collect larry's over 13 lbs, breed them and use the little guys for stocking.....so one day if the record comes from there should it be invalid bc the fish were "genetically engineered"? Actually I don't think that's genetic engineering but rather selective breeding(or are these two things basically the same thing?). Any biologists out there?


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## BottomBouncer

Dude, those fish would come from PUBLIC waterways, they would have to survive fishing pressure just like all other fish. If this pond that the kid caught the fish in were public, whose to say that fish would have lived that long??? Maybe someone would have caught it early in it's life and used it for catfish bait....who knows.

So, if I am understanding your view, I can make a lake/pond on my land. Add only *insert favorite gamefish* put large amount of quality baitfish in there, create a perfect enviroment that has virtually no pressure and say 10 years from now, fish out a 5lb. crappie.......get the record.....that is okay? Say you caught the previous record from a public body of water......you wouldn't be a bit psst if my "farm raised" fish beat yours? Might as well get the next record flatty down at Catfisherman's Paradise........what's the difference?


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## Banker

without getting into the public/private thing, I think it would be extremely difficult to raise any record fish in your private pond. Even "just" a 1 lb green sunfish (which would break this kids current 0.99 lb record) would be extremely difficult to raise. Just my opinion - what do you think, given 10 million do you think you could raise a 1 lb green sunfish within the next 20 years? Heck maybe some think they could do it at home in their 55 gallon aquarium.....


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