International Game fish Association IGFA

World Record Saltwater & Freshwater Game Fish Record Keepers

Captain Richard Bradley is a Certified IGFA Captain / Guide and supports the International Game Fish Association in it's endeavors. The purpose of IGFA, is "to encourage the study of game fishes for the sake of whatever pleasure, information, or benefit it may provide; to keep the sport of game fishing ethical, and to make its rules acceptable to the majority of anglers; to encourage this sport both as recreation and as a potential source of scientific data; to place such data at the disposal of as many human beings as possible; and to keep an attested and up-to-date chart of world record catches." The founding fathers of IGFA - including such sport fishing greats as Michael Lerner, Van Campen Heilner, Clive Firth, and Ernest Hemingway - obviously had foresight; the basic purposes they set forth have increased in importance through the years. Today's IGFA has not changed these goals; rather it has brought them to the attention of the angling public, enlarged upon them, added to them, and adapted them to the current and increasing needs of the sport fishing community.

WORLD RECORD KEEPING

IGFA maintains and publishes world records for saltwater, freshwater, fly fishing catches, U.S. state freshwater records, and junior angler records, awarding certificates of recognition to each record holder. Recognized as the official keeper of world saltwater fishing records since 1939, IGFA entered the field of freshwater record keeping when Field & Stream transferred its 68 years of records to the association in 1978.

Snook Links & Information

Snook in East Central Florida have many different habitats and conditions that make them a great target for anglers looking for variable ways to catch this elusive fish. Juvenile fish can be caught in the estuaries, canals and backwater areas almost all year long. While not as prestigious as large breeder snook, they are non-the-less enjoyable to catch and will bite on everything from baitcasters to flyrods and everything between. Juvenile snook are suckers for artificial's and readily take live bait as well.

Big breeding snook spawn on or near the beaches of Central Florida and always have a passageway or access to the beaches or inlets available to them. The only time a breeder snook is generally caught in the backwaters here is because it's a cooler transitional time period usually. Canaveral snook spend their winter months in the Port under docks, wharfs and around other structure like boats and pilings. You often see them hanging around the lights at night in small and large schools. Sebastian Inlet Snook are caught in the inlet itself during the summer and fall months and many of the larger snook migrate south to Jupiter Inlet or hunker down in the fresh warmer water of the Sebastian River a short distance away.

Articles and Photos about Snook

It's important to all anglers to know the fishing regulations for each species they are harvesting. It's also important to understand state and federal laws as the IGFA submits the law of the land in which each record is submitted to. In the photos above each fish was captured, weighed (on certified scales), video taped and safely released and did not qualify for world records. IGFA had just opened the 8 & 12 lb test categories for snook the day we caught these outstanding fish and we'd hoped to get a quick record on the books for a quick retirement before a Central American angler gobbled up the glory. We corrected our errors the next day and to no avail... A Costa Rican fisherman had quickly caught a snook in the 30+ pound range and we were put out of our league.