A few weeks back Andy Mill joined a distinguished class of anglers inducted into the IGFA Hall of Fame. Since I found Andy's Millhouse podcast, HERE, a few years ago I have become a big fan. He has had himself quite a career from world class skiing, to broadcasting, to fly fishing. He fell in love and became obsessed with tarpon fishing and that has taken him to all corners of the world. He's involved heavily with Hardy and can be found doing the bigger shows on the circuit.
Some of my favorite interviews he's done are with Popovics, Clouser, Pallot, Sosin, and Dixon. There are many others that I've listened to it's just they are more from the Florida/ tarpon/ poling/ record/ and tournament world. I can remember when I had my panties all up in a bunch one day and I discussed this with Bob. It was generally my huffy opinion that the top tier (In any sport) players always came down to money, and the access that money brings. All of these big players in Mill's podcasts seemed to be in that 1% everyone talks about. Traveling the world. Associated with more people with money. Staying at exotic places in exotic lands. How could myself, or any other average angler, relate? Well Bob wasn't happy, and he let me know it.
That's the text I woke up to after we talked about what I thought about those guys and all that is money and fly fishing. And with that text it all just left my brain. I'm not revisiting it here because Bobby's not around to protect me from myself, it's just because it fits here. But yes, it is hard to relate to fly anglers who can go and do it just about whenever and wherever they want to. Now to be fair, a lot of those people started out in very humble beginnings, something I always learn as Andy meticulously navigates through each
interviewees life history. But in the end the list is full of anglers who have chased records, fished in tournaments around the world, and are in a circle of people that I will never know. That's not to say they aren't great guys and gals and aren't approachable. They are. It's just how many people can they and do they want to touch. I'll never see these guys catching a tide on the Jersey Shore or Delaware River.
I know less about Andy Mill then I do about him. I did get to learn more about him in Episode 34 on the Millhouse Podcast. He tells a really good story about his life leading up to and including fly fishing. Trading one passion for another along the way. He is constantly giving back to the sport, and the people in it, and we saw that first hand when he hosted the American
Museum of Fly Fishing's tribute to Bobby during the The Fly Fishing Show in Edison this past year. He did for Bob, and he did it for us. I think he would do it for anyone, I really do. I think if I contacted him and I needed something he would help me, if he remembered meeting me or not. I just think that's the way he's wired, 1%-ter or Knight of the Round Table or not.
IGFA is deeply rooted in New Jersey. Our own Mark Sosin, remember the show "Saltwater Journal with Mark Sosin", was the standard keeper of the rules and records before handing it
over to the IGFA in the 1970's. Sosin didn't start the IGFA, it was Micheal Lerner who did so in 1939. There are folks on both sides of the aisle, like everything else these days, who have their own opinions on the IGFA, past and present.
Some think chasing records are great for a sport, others not so much, especially when they were part of the kill tournaments in the past. Kill tournaments, for striped bass to tarpon, where a potential bounty is put on many a fishes head, is never good. There's good arguments against tournaments that include flooding a local fishery with tons of boats and pressuring fish, breaking big fish off on light gear and tippets, and the mortality that comes with catch and release.
But the IGFA isn't just about records. On their website they list the things they do outside of tournaments, like being heavily involved in conservation and education. While yes, there are a multitude of people who "belong" to the IGFA, there's that upper echelon of people who run and are the players. Those are the people who attend the meetings, dinners, and tournaments. I would say it's the same as any other fishing organization, like the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust. Those groups count on memberships, affiliations, and donations to maintain their existence and continue to do good work.
In order to help out the IGFA Andy Mill raffled off his own house in 2020. The winner won a weeks stay during Christmas or a week of their choice. His house, a 6,500 square-foot
home in Aspen with spectacular views rents for about $30,000 a week during the holidays. Wining that for
me would be like winning that Mercedes they raffle each year at Our Lady of the Sea Church in Cape May. I could afford the ticket but paying the taxes and registration on it would kill me. The same with a stay at Andy's house. Gotta get there, and get around there, and eat, and a few beers...forget it. But the thing I point out is his gesture and willingness to give to help others.
So while I fished around the IGFA website I went and looked up some records. Obviously striped bass piqued my interest so I went through the categories before finding what I was
really looking for which was fly rod caught striped bass records. Of course, Greg Myseron holds the record for his 81 lb 4 oz fish he caught in 2011. That beat New Jersey's own Al McReynolds 1978 78 pound 8 ounce world record. Interestingly both anglers wish they never landed that fish, or had it weighed in. You can hear a good interview with Myseron, HERE, which was done by the Brooklyn Fishing Club.
Below are the fly caught world records for striped bass. They have them broken down by tippet class. In the two pound tippet class a 19 pound bass was landed in Montauk in 2005.
Those are some big fish on light tippets there. No doubt shock tippets were used and I would guess most of those anglers were out in search of a world record. Otherwise who fishes for striped bass with a two or four pound tippet. You can see below how your leader and tippet
must be configured to be considered for a world record. If you look down to the 20-pound tippet record, which is what most of us are using, it was caught in 2015 by Joan Sharrott near Highlands, New Jersey. She caught that fish on on a big old bunker fly on July 3rd,
which to me is kind of late for that as I find most of the bass are on bunker up until the last week of June. And in the last few years that June bite hasn't really materialized. Sharrott held 8 world records at some point and is currently listed as the 12 and 16 pound tippet record holder in the bluefish category. I have a good bluefish story and wonder where my client Mike
Kelly's bluefish would rank on the IGFA list. It was October 25th 2013 and we came out of Shark River. We rode about 1/2 a mile out and the screen was lit up with spike weakfish down low. On the first cast we hooked up and Mike landed the above fish. It was on 20 pound straight fluoro with no wire. I guess you really have to be in that record state of mind, know the rules, and how to weigh them in.
I think we were all taken aback when on December 30, 2023 (Announced in 2024) when Tom Weaver caught a world record striped bass out of Annapolis, Maryland. While it looked like a fine fish it didn't look world record-ish. It measured 102 cm, which is 40.2575 inches. Mmmm. I've
done that before. There's no mention of tippet or the weight of the fish because it fell under the Striped Bass All Tackle (Length) World Record.
So if you're interested or land that striped bass of a millennium what can you do? Well, first you should know the rules and a good place to start is to watch the video below.
You don't have to be a member of the IGFA to submit a fish. And the best part is you can still practice catch and release and qualify for a world record. Surely these records will be broken if people participate as we're seeing less overall but more bigger bass these days. I am sure that this fall alone catches could shatter all but Myerson's record, and I anticipate that to be broken sooner then later as well. Although a 19 pound fish on a 2 pound tippet definitely takes some skill.
So I'll circle back to where this post started, congratulating Andy Mill on yet another honor for a job well done. And thanks to Andy for all he has given to fishing, including entertaining me a few times a month over at the Millhouse. I'd really love to sit across from him one day.
