IGFA 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Martini Arostegui, of Coral Gables, Fla., USA, the youngest person to ever receive the honor, is still reeling them in with another potential record to possibly add to his 126 IGFA World Records. While fishing the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada, and guided by C.E.J. Mussell, the 17 year-old Martini landed a sturgeon (Acipensieridae family) on April 1, weighing 34.93 kg (77 lb 0 oz) on 60 kg (130 lb) class line. He used baitfish to attract the fish and battled it for 40 minutes. After this photo and documenting it he safely released the fish. The current IGFA line class record is 52 lb 6 oz (23.75 kg) caught in 1987 from Minnesota’s (USA) Rainy River near Loman.

Bangkok, Thailand’s Jean-Francois Helias, a 2008 IGFA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, landed a Thai shark catfish (Heliocophagus leptorhynshuc) on January 9 while fishing Kura Mung, Thailand. Using bread and rice husk flour for bait he caught the fish which weighed 2.1 kg (4 lb 10 oz), for a potential IGFA All-Tackle record. The current record is 4 lb 7 oz (2.03 kg) caught last year in Kwa Mung, Thailand.

While fishing the Miami Canal in Florida, Dennis Triana, Homestead, Fla., USA, used Powerbait to attract, hook and land an Amazon sailfin catfish (Pterygoplichthys pardalis) on March 6, weighing 1.02 kg (2 lb 4 oz). This catch may qualify as a new All-Tackle record species that if approved would appear in the 2011 edition of the IGFA’s World Record Game Fishes book.

Veteran world record-setting angler Stan Nabozny, of The Woodlands, Texas, USA, may be introducing a new IGFA All-Tackle record as well after landing a whip stingray (Dasyatis hastata) on January 31 weighing 75.98 kg (167 lb 8 oz) while fishing Banjul, Gambia. Nabozny used live herring for bait and battled the ray for 45 minutes.

While fly fishing Alabama’s Tallapoosa River on March 26, George P. Mann of nearby Opelika, landed a redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) weighing 1.25 kg (2 lb 12 oz) on 4 kg (8 lb) tippet. He was using a Grab-A-Holt fly and fought the fish for 10 minutes. The current IGFA record is 2 lb 7 oz (1.1 kg) set in 1989 at Merritt’s Mill Pond, Marianna, Fla., USA.

Throughout many of the major river systems of northern South America swims a fish with an ominous name, ripsaw catfish (Oxydoras niger). One of its main characteristics is the presence of thorn-like projections along the side of the body, known as scutes which are razor sharp and call for careful handling. Though freshwater aquarists call it a gentle giant the fish can quickly outgrow a tank to more than three feet and is usually moved to a pond. Fishing a cut river sardine for bait Brazilian angler Gilberto Fernandes, landed a ripsaw catfish on March 13, weighing 21.5 kg (47 lb 6 oz), in 15 minutes, while fishing Amazoñas, Brazil. The catch by Fernandes qualifies as a potential IGFA All-Tackle record. The current IGFA record is 24 lb 4 oz (11 kg) from Brazil’s Xingu River near Mato Grosso.

Rick Thomas, of Palmetto Bay, Fla, USA, landed a cobia (Rachycentron canadum) on April 16, weighing 54.94 kg (121 lb 2 oz) on 37 kg (80 lb) class line in five minutes using pinfish for bait. The current men’s IGFA line class record is 116 lb 8 oz (52.84 kg) caught in 2006 at Oregon Inlet, N.C. USA.

Young smallfry angler Joshua D. Anyzeski, of Jupiter, Fla, USA, landed a tripletail (Lobotes surinamensis) on March 23, weighing 10.21 kg (22 lb 8 oz). It took the youngster eight minutes using a sardine minnow. The current IGFA junior boy’s smallfry record is 21 lb 0 oz (9.52 kg) taken from Charlotte Harbor, Fla., USA in 2006.

Quinn Nicholas Snyder, a junior smallfry angler from Steamboat Springs, CO, USA, landed a brook trout, (Salvelinus fontinalis) on April 18, weighing 2.22 kg (4 lb 14.24 oz), in 15 seconds using night crawler while fishing Colorado’s Lower Spring Creek Reservoir. The current boy’s smallfry IGFA record is 3 lb 7 oz (1.55 kg) caught in 1997 from Paulins Kill River, N.J., USA

Fishing New Zealand’s Ranfurny Bank, Terence Price of Porirua, N.Z., landed a wreckfish (Polyprion americanus) on March 2, weighing 86.2 kg (190 lb 0 oz), in 25 minutes. He was using squid for the catch which qualifies as a potential All-Tackle record. The current IGFA record is 180 lb 5 oz (81.8 kg) caught in 2003 also on N.Z.’s Ranfurly Bank.