New Hampshire Fish and Game’s Trophy Fish Program Coordinator John Viar recently announced the winners of the 2015 Trophy Fish Program.
New Hampshire’s Trophy and Record Fish programs provide opportunities for anglers of all ages to receive recognition while giving biologists important information on the state’s fisheries over time.
All successful applicants receive a Trophy Fish shoulder patch just for submitting their catch information. Then, each February, the person with the largest fish in each species category, kept or released, is awarded a special certificate.
Fishing is one of the few sports where the most impressive anglers are not separated by age, gender, or even experience. Of the 47 accepted entries in 2015, fourteen of the anglers were 18 years of age or younger.
Ten-year old Dustin Dextraze of Dover won his category of Kept Bluegill with an impressive 10.63 inch beauty caught out of Pawtuckaway Lake in Nottingham. Other impressive entries this year included a 19.25 inch Released Smallmouth Bass from six-year old Connor Hemmerling of Enfield, and a 21 inch Released Rainbow Trout from seven-year old Noah Wyatt of Concord.
Three new records were set in 2015. When nine-year old Madeline D’Agata of Gilford caught her 6 lb., 1.76 oz. Common White Sucker out of Poor Farm Brook in Gilford, she stole the record from seasoned angler Timothy Moore’s 5 lb., 4.96 oz. catch less than a month earlier; only to lose her own title five days later to Randy Comeau’s 6 lb., 11.68 oz. Common White Sucker from Lake Winnipesaukee in Tuftonboro.
The record Black Sea Bass (1 lb., 13.28 oz.) was caught in the Piscataqua River, Dover by Timothy Moore of Portsmouth.
Donald St. Lawrence of Henniker caught the new state record Common Carp (35 lbs., 13.12 oz.) from the Merrimack River in Manchester.
Program Coordinator John Viar noted only four species of “kept” fish were represented in 2015, and thirteen under “catch and release”. There are fifty-six categories available, he explained; twenty-one freshwater species and seven saltwater in categories for kept fish and catch and release enthusiasts.
For more information, visit www.fishnh.com.
source: New Hampshire Fish and Game