Washington's Best Chances for State Record Fish

[Pete Heley]

WASHINGTON
American Shad - A state record of less than four pounds should not stand for long - even though it has (2005). The current Oregon record weighed more than six pounds and swam up the same Columbia River that almost all of Washington’s shad ascend. All it takes is for an angler to catch a shad weighing more than 3.85 pounds that actually turns it in for a Washington state record.
Black Bullhead - Black bullheads are not that common in Washington, but when the national record weighs eight pounds, a state record of only one pound 12 ounces seems rather anemic. A number of years ago, a black bullhead weighing more than nine pounds was supposedly caught and turned in for a record, but was disallowed - most likely because it was a black bullhead, or even a bullhead. It it was, indeed, a black bullhead that for some reason was not officiallly certified, Washington’s current record appears even more anemic.
Blue Catfish - Some people question whether or not Washington’s blue catfish record was even a blue catfish, but rather a channel catfish. If there are blue catfish in Washington’s Snake River, they should certainly get much, much larger than the current Washington record of 17 pounds 12 ounces which is less than 13% of the weight of the national record holder.
Flathead Catfish - Likewise, there should be much larger flathead catfish in that portion of the Snake River flowing through Washington. Washington’s record flathead catfish weighed 22.8 pounds or less than 20% of the weight of the USA record.
Green Sunfish - The state record weighed .79 pounds and was taken from Bailey Lake in 1994. Most green sunfish state records are heavier and the national record, taken from Missouri, weighed two pounds two ounces.
Warmouth - Silver Lake in Cowlitz County holds the state record of .53 pounds. Since all the other panfish in the lake reach good size and warmouths in the one pound class have been caught and released from the lake, it seems reasonable to think that a new state record should be caught in the near future. A warmouth weighing more than one pound 14 ounces is the current Oregon state record and it was caught from the Columbia River which is less than a half hour drive from Silver Lake.