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Michigan fisherman hooks 3-pound, 15-inch long goldfish Mike Martin caught the large goldfish while ice fishing at Lake St. Clair in Michigan. He says he plans to eventually mount the catch, which has become an international sensation. Mike Martin, 25, set out onto the icy surface of Lake St. Clair, a freshwater lake between Michigan and Ontario, on Jan. 11. The temperature was beginning to rise and there was a feeling in the air that it might be his last ice fishing opportunity for a while. He cut a circle in the ice and dropped his line into the familiar...

The acting U.S. Commerce Secretary on Friday ordered federal regulators to return about $544,000 in unjust fines collected from 14 fishermen or fishing businesses, most of whom worked Northeast waters. Secretary Rebecca Blank also directed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to forgive two other complainants a combined $150,000 in debt. Her decisions followed the second phase of a lengthy probe into charges by New England fishermen of abusive, unfair treatment by the officers and attorneys who enforce the nation's fishing laws. Blank's decisions mean nearly $1.2 million in unjust penalties has now been ordered returned to fishermen. In May...

KETCHIKAN, Alaska — Two Wrangell mariners are safe with the help of a Good Samaritan vessel. The Coast Guard says the wooden-hull trawler Carrie Arlene sent out a distress report . ... The Coast Guard and Wrangell Search and Rescue tried to reach the vessel but were turned back by foul weather.

Shame on the Interior Department for trying to drum a family-owned enterprise out of business. After a seaside area has been designated as wilderness, when is it considered pristine enough by Washington's standards? Is it after airplanes have been banned from flying over it? After electricity pylons and telephone cables have been removed, cars and bikers prohibited, the roads torn up? When hikers are forbidden access to trails, and kayakers, sailors and snorkelers banished from the water? When eucalyptus trees and other foreign species are eradicated? Or only after Miwok Indians' arrowheads have been excavated and placed in a museum?...

In an unusual development that researchers are calling evidence of adaptive behavior, some catfish have taken to jumping on land to hunt live pigeons. Discover Magazine's Ed Yong writes, "These particular catfish have taken to lunging out of the water, grabbing a pigeon, and then wriggling back into the water to swallow their prey. In the process, they temporarily strand themselves on land for a few seconds."Researchers captured video of the European catfish, which reside in the River Tarn in southwestern France. In the footage, several of the fish, which range in length from 3 to nearly 5 feet, are...

A California family that has operated an oyster farm on the bucolic Northern California coast is fighting back after the federal government moved to kick it off of the National Park Service property where the shellfish have been legally harvested for nearly 80 years. The Drakes Bay Oyster Company faces closure and its 30 employees will be out of work if the National Park Service reclaims some 1,100 acres of an estuary as part of a plan to create a larger marine wilderness preserve at Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County. Owner Kevin Lunny said federal officials told him...

Pirate fishing vessels in west Africa are selling their illegal catch in Europe, according to a report published today (11 October) by the Environmental Justice Foundation. The report says that more pirate fishing takes place in west African waters than anywhere else in the world, and one-third of the catch in the region is illegal. During a two-year investigation, the EJF found 250 reports of pirate fishing by industrial vessels in Sierra Leone's waters alone. A 2010 EU regulation authorizes the European Commission to blacklist vessels caught fishing illegally and even blacklist countries that fail to prevent pirate fishing under...

Here is a moving article from 2008 about this legendary fishing lady, who was an inspiration to so many female anglers. Don Barone LAKE HAMILTON, Ark. — Behind me, a woman stands on a dock. Alone. She scans the waters of Lake Hamilton. Listening. Looking. Crying. I know that, because I made her cry. And then I left. This lady told me she was "a woman of the water, born under the sign of the fish, Pisces." And to her I brought tears. And I did this by listening. This morning, a stranger showed me her strength by opening her...

September 22 marked National Hunting and Fishing Day, which dates from 1972 when President Nixon signed it into law. "I urge all citizens to join with outdoor sportsmen in the wise use of our natural resources and in insuring their proper management for the benefit of future generations," wrote President Nixon at the time. Alas, nothing was heard from our current President regarding National Hunting and Fishing Day. But then “people who cling to guns” are not particularly popular with this administration. And speaking of President Nixon’s recommendation, long ago my family found that among the very wisest uses...

Migingo island is a small rocky outcrop in the middle of Lake Victoria that's causing big trouble between two African nations. While the island is marked on maps and official documents as belonging to Kenya; the Ugandan government claims that Migingo Island is in Ugandan waters and that it is therefore illegal for Kenyans to fish there. The rich fishing ground has attracted fishermen from both Kenya and Uganda, three hours and six hours away respectively.

A Scottish skipper has found the oldest message ever in a bottle at sea, Guinness World Records said. According to the record-keeping organization, Andrew Leaper, skipper of the Shetland fishing boat "Copious," made the discovery on April 12 when hauling in his nets in the North Sea off the coast of Shetland. He later learned that the message in bottle had been adrift for 97 years and 309 days. This surpasses the previous record by more than five years. Amazingly, it was Leaper's friend Mark Anderson who set the previous record in 2006 by retrieving another Scottish bottle as he...

SEWARD, Alaska, -- A hometown angler caught a $50,000-tagged salmon in the Seward, Alaska, Silver Salmon Derby. Michael Rogers, 64, landed one of a handful of tagged fish Saturday, the Anchorage Daily News reported. "I've been fishing this derby since it started pretty much, since I was a little kid. I've won quite a few prizes, but this is the first major one," Rogers told the Daily News in a telephone interview. Rogers said things weren't going his way at first, but then he changed things up and started catching salmon. When he returned to derby headquarters, Rogers said he...

Good evening friends. I recently received a gift of a Garmin GPS 60CSx to replace my old model-t Magellan handheld unit which finally went toes up last week while on a fishing trip. It seems to be a good unit, perhaps a bit more complicated than I am used to. I was wondering if someone could recommend Mac compatible topographic map/software. It doesn't have to have tons of bells and whistles...it will be used primarily to mark spots for duck hunting, deer stands, fishing, etc. Thanks in advance for advice

EU member states that have repeatedly flouted EU limits on how much fish they can catch will receive greatly reduced quotas for this year, as the bloc strives to ensure sustainable fishing, the European Commission said on Wednesday (1 August). Those who incur the biggest penalties are France, Portugal and Spain. Quotas are normally reduced by a percentage of the amount a nation has overfished. … Quotas have been a regular source of contention among major fishing nations such as Spain, Denmark, France and Britain. …

A spunky 17-year-old who had his right arm partially torn from his body during a vicious alligator attack, told FoxNews.com that he wants the alligator’s head. "I'm going to use it for a prosthetic armrest," Kaleb Langdale said in an exclusive interview. “I want his head." The Florida teen lost his right arm below the elbow Monday night during an alligator attack. He said he survived by offering the 11-foot alligator his arm, and used the skills he learned by watching TV shows like "Swamp People" to survive the brutal attack. "I'm glad the alligator attacked me, because if it...

The exhausted crew of the Brigitte Bardot scramble to evacuate the ailing vessel. And Captain Paul Watson goes on the offensive, sending a team to board the heavily armed security vessel: the Shonan Maru.

Do you love fishing as I do? Did you give it up because of fibromyalgia? Instead of giving up, start preparing before you go! I have been fishing again for the last three years. I have specific things to take with me, and if you make a list, it will be no problem getting back to the sport you love!

<“Our last trip was just five days before he died,” Lau said. “We fished from 2 in the afternoon until 5, and he caught six and I caught five, which is just the way I like it.”> < I’ll then most humbly pray;>

Got my fishing license yesterday, it took my driver's license for identification, my birthdate AND my social security number. Oops forgot, also a phone number, gal said that was a required box to fill in on the computer. I can go vote with no identification. I live in the communistic state of Maryland - oh yeah that explains it. I guess that so the fish know where to find us to sue us.

Since mid April Chinese naval vessels have been circling a pile of rocks situated 124 miles off the coast of the Philippines that barely qualifies as an “island”. The rocks are called the Scarborough Shoal and save for there position, and rumors of oil and gas under them, they have no value to anyone. Nevertheless it is precisely because they are so far from their own shore that the Chinese are trying to pressure the Filipinos into relinquishing their long held claim (since 1734) to Panatag as they call them. Moreover since the Scarborough Shoal at just 124 miles off...