I have been biting my tongue on this for a couple days but I think a few things need to be said here. First off I fished down there for three days including the day this fish was caught. I got there shortly after the record was “caught. And for the people saying a fish this big isn’t snagable obviously haven’t fished down there. It is true 90% of the big ones are being snagged. The smaller ones bite but these big girls very rarely do. Keep in mind this is what I have witnessed while fishing the Heart those three days. And yes it is very possible for a fish this size to be snagged and landed it happened multiple times that day. These big females don’t fight they just kind of wallow around till they are swung into shore. Happens all the time many, many, times a day down there. Even when snagged in the tail. Hell I seen a twenty pound carp snagged that was fighting like Mike Tyson get landed. So that is a mute point. Now after being down there after the record was caught I asked two separate people if the record was snagged and they both said yes which I didn’t find surprising after I seen multiple giants snagged and landed that day. Again the smaller ones are caught in the mouth. What really got me was the video. The guy in the video obviously reaches down with a pliers and pulls a hook out of the back fin of this fish. The guy had the same jacket and pants of the net man in the picture. That really made me wonder a bit. I’m happy for the guy and all and think it’s an amazing fish and he should be able to keep it and all, but what bothers me is the guy that caught the record last year is getting his record stripped by a potentially illegal caught fish. That’s the real gut wrencher here and think the G&F need to really look into this. That video IMO holds a lot of water. There is nothing wrong with questioning this fish for the sake of the legally caught record last year. I’d like to add I don’t know either of the record holders or have ever met them. I just see nothing wrong with making sure it’s legal.
