The fishing records keep breaking and it’s not even summer yet. Similar to the fella with the massive chub we saw earlier this spring, the new world record sunfish is so much bigger than even imaginable.
The 6-pound 3-ounce sunfish was hooked by Thomas Farchione, a Wisconsin man who was fishing in the California Bay area of Lake Havasu, which is in Arizona.
Lake Havasu has a world renowned reputation as one of the premier party lakes in the country, but it’s also becoming the sunfish capital of the world too.
The fish had more girth than length, which is just a fascinating measurement.
“Just your typical 6.3 lb redear sunfish… new World Record btw.
Weighed in at Bass Tackle Master of Lake Havasu Arizona, the new pending world record Redear sunfish 6.30lbs 17″ Long, 20″ Girth.
Caught by Thomas Farchione of Waterford, Wisconsin. Dropshotted Nightcrawer was the bait of choice.”
The new record blew the old record out of the water, as that fish weighed 5-pounds 7-ounces. It was also caught in Lake Havasu back in 2014.
In most bodies of water, a 2-pounder is considered to be a big sunfish.
Some larger sunfish are so girthy that fishermen can’t get their hand around them to remove the hook, so pinning them flatly against your chest with one hand and removing the hook with the other is the go to technique. This has lead to exceptionally large sunfish being nicknamed “titty brim” throughout parts of the Southeast.
The fish are also called shellcrackers, as their throats are lined with teeth that allow them to break apart tough to eat foods like crustaceans, snails, and mussels. In recent years Lake Havasu has seen an explosion of invasive quagga mussels which have provided a new food source for the fish, and reportedly the average size of the sunfish in Lake Havasu has grown alongside the quagga muscle populations.
Isn’t ecology fascinating?
And what an exceptional titty brim that is.
Bravo.
