Anglers occasionally tell tall tales about the fish they've caught and the ones that got away, but official records tell the truth. Here are some of the top fishing records in Pennsylvania, according to the state Fish and Boat Commission.
The oldest record on the books for a fish caught in Pennsylvania goes all the way back to 1924, when a muskellunge (muskie) caught by Lewis Walker Jr. of Meadville in Conneaut Lake in Crawford County topped the scales at 54 pounds, 3 ounces. The next oldest record dates to 1964, when, fishing in the Juniata River in Huntingdon County, George Brown of Saltillo caught a 52-pound common carp.
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Pennsylvania's largemouth bass record has been held since 1983 by Donald Shade of Waynesboro for an 11-pound, 3-ounce specimen he caught at Birch Run Reservoir in Adams County. The biggest smallmouth bass catch on record at 8 pounds, 8 ounces came from Scotts Run Lake in Berks County, caught by Robert T. Steelman of Havertown.
The state's rock bass record goes back to 1971 when David L. Weber of Lake City caught a 3-pound, 2-ounce fish in Elk Creek in Erie County. A 3-pound, 15.7-ounce white bass caught by Robert H. Hornstrom of Meadville in Crawford County's Conneaut Lake in 2002 holds the record for that species.
Donald J. Clark of Boothwyn snagged the marine striped bass record with a 53-pound, 13-ounce fish from the Delaware River in Delaware County.
In 1983, Tom Twincheck of Blairsville caught a 2-pound, 9-ounce bluegill in Keystone Lake in Armstrong County. Another panfisherman, Richard A. Pino of Covington, caught a 4-pound, 2.88-ounce crappie in Hammond Lake in Tioga County in 2000.
Ian C. Radle of Palmerton pulled a 4-pound, 10-ounce bullhead catfish out of Beltzville Lake in Carbon County in 2011, while Austin E. Roth III of Bowmanstown caught a 35-pound, 2.5-ounce channel catfish in the Lehigh Canal in Northampton County in 1991. Pennsylvania's record for flathead catfish is held by James R. Shabrach Jr. of Boyertown whose 48-pound, 6-ounce cat came from the Blue Marsh Spillway in Berks County in 2006.
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