IGFA (International Game Fishing Association) Rules Explained
Are Cleaned Fish Eligible For Records?
QUESTION:
I go on multi-day fishing trips where we will spend up to a week at sea in remote locations. During these trips, we usually gut our catches and pack them in ice, so they do not spoil before returning to the dock. On a recent trip, I caught an enormous fish which was then gutted and gilled. It wasn’t until we returned to the dock that we realised it had the potential of being a world record. We removed the ice from inside the fish and allowed it to completely thaw before being weighed. Would this catch be disqualified because we cleaned the fish before weighing it?
ANSWER:
This question comes up on a regular basis. As long as nothing is added to the gutted fish (like ice) to increase its weight, this would not disqualify your catch from being an IGFA record. By removing the internal organs of a fish, you are only decreasing its total weight. Therefore, the IGFA allows gutted fish to be submitted for world records, as long as all other IGFA rules are followed.
IGFA Rule Book: Rules Explained:
Are Cleaned Fish Eligible For Records?
Answer supplied by: Jack Vitek
Position: IGFA World Records Coordinator
This question ran in ISSUE 102 of BlueWater magazine: MARCH / APRIL 2014
