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Damien Cook broke a Maryland state record when he reeled in a 21-pound northern snakehead. Photo courtesy of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources July 7 (UPI) -- A Maryland angler broke a state record when he reeled in a northern snakehead that weighed in at a whopping 21 pounds. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources said Damien Cook of Rhodesville was fishing from his kayak in a Dorchester County river when he hooked the invasive fish. "Honestly, I thought it was just your average 30-inch snakehead when I first hooked the fish," Cook told DNR officials. "It pulled hard...

Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky were indicted on multiple charges after a video showed their catch apparently stuffed with lead weights.Two fishermen captured in a viral video appearing to scam an Ohio fishing tournament are on the hook for multiple crimes, including cheating, authorities said in announcing their indictments Wednesday.Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley described the allegedly fishy conduct of Jacob Runyan, 42, and Chase Cominsky, 35, at last month’s Lake Erie Walleye Trail Tournament as “not only dishonorable but also criminal.”Runyan and Cominsky were indicted on charges of attempted grand theft, cheating, possession of criminal tools and unlawful...

When a rattlesnake glided across the lake Sunday to visit a Wyoming fisherman, the fisherman wasn’t flattered. Patrick Edwards, avid fisherman and voice of Radcast Outdoors, recorded a video Sunday evening of a rattlesnake slithering toward him across the surface of Boysen Reservoir. He’d been fishing for Walleye with two of his four children – an 8-year-old and 12-year-old – and with his father and his wife’s grandfather. “This is not what you want to see when you go fishing,” said Edwards in the video. “That is a big’n… and he’s wanting to come hang out while I am fishing....

Another Jack Bell story. This one is about the fishing around Reno, Nevada in 1922. Illustrated with old postcards.

This is the first of two stories adapted from "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency," to be published Tuesday by Penguin Press. EXCERPT: "The United States was at war with al-Qaeda, intelligence-gathering is inherent in war, and the Constitution appoints the president commander in chief. But they had not been asked to give their own written assessments of the legality of domestic espionage. They based their answer in part on the attorney general's certification of the "form and legality" of the president's orders. Yet neither man had been allowed to see the program's codeword-classified legal analyses [5], which were prepared by...

Drunken Angler Pulls a gun on Family trying to fish ‘His Spot’ While his undersized fish was being taken away by the DNR, this drunken angler was being taken away in the back of the patrol car. The Michigan State Police had their hands full last Thursday when they received an unusual call. It seems that a family of four had been fishing a stretch of water on the backwaters of the Hodenpyl Dam when a drunken angler pulled a gun, pointed it at the group, and fired. The trigger happy angler turned out to be 54-year-old, Thomas Mast. It...

While catches of exotics are on the rise, these Toothy Fish have been mysteriously absent. Could they return?The last couple of years have seen unprecedented action for California saltwater anglers due to a strong El Niño. Highly desirable pelagics like yellowtail and tuna, along with true exotics like wahoo and blue marlin, have been dominating the headlines and anglers' attention. Over the past 50 years, barracuda catches have fluctuated up and down considerably, as has the species' popularity. In non-El Niño years, the barracuda would start to show up in San Diego waters in early April. They continued to move...

There was spirited celebration on the San Diego waterfront Monday morning after the vessel Vagabond returned from a long-range fishing trip into Mexican waters and offloaded the heaviest yellowfin tuna ever caught by an angler. The behemoth, landed by Mike Livingston of Sunland, Calif., weighed 405.2 pounds; it's girth was 61 inches and it measured nearly 86 inches from nose to tail. The catch, made on 100-pound-test line after nearly a three-hour fight, will be submitted to the International Game Fish Assn. for approval as an all-tackle world record. Capt. Mike Lackey said IGFA rules were followed so the catch...

Cheney — code-named Angler by the Secret Service — is a lot like fishing in dark water; there’s a lot going on underneath, but you’d never know it from staring at the surface… “I think it’s fair to argue,” said Cheney, “that we’re not going to have the same safeguards we’ve had for the last eight years.” ... It’s a good thing we had Dick Cheney in the Vice President’s office in the days following the 9/11 attacks. Cheney was the right man at the right time in history and was instrumental in launching the counter-attack against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan...

There should only have been one winner. On the riverbank was Jessica Wanstall, 4ft 10in tall weighing less than six stone (84lb) and something of a tiddler among anglers. In the river was a monster, a near 9ft catfish that hit the scales at a record 13st 8lb (193lb). But despite its size and whiskery age, the fish was no match for the skills of 11-year-old Jessica who waged a 20-minute battle to land her prize Jessica, from Sittingbourne, Kent, hooked the fish during a trip with her father to the Ebro River in North-East Spain. She said: ‘I didn’t...

Irish angler uses Magna Carta on landowner By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent Last Updated: 1:47am BST 14/04/2007 The Duke of Devonshire's ownership of Ireland's most prolific salmon river is to be challenged by an angler in a landmark court case that evokes the historic tensions between the English aristocracy and the Irish. Michael O'Shea will cite the 1215 Magna Carta signed by King John to argue that he has the right to fish the Blackwater as he attempts to overturn a poaching conviction. His case will question the Devonshires' entitlement to the river, which is on the border of Co...

When he saw a companion on his boat hook a giant fish during a sea angling contest, Ian Card was delighted. Next second, the scene of triumph turned to horror - as the 14ft blue marlin leapt out of the water across the vessel and speared Mr Card through the chest with its spiked bill. The impact of the 800lb fish knocked him overboard into the Atlantic off Bermuda. Then, with a thrash of its tail and with the 32-year-old still impaled and bleeding profusely, it dragged him underwater. Terribly injured, he somehow stayed conscious as he struggled to pull...

Heat Waves Follow Hottest Six Months on Record With record-breaking heat around the country, fish--and the people that love to catch them--are suffering. Not only is the fun of sitting out in the summer sun on a boat, on the shore or standing in a river beginning to lose some of its appeal, but these high temperatures are also stressing out fish, prompting midday fishing bans (in Montana), bass that won't bite (in Florida), and potentially later and smaller salmon runs (in Oregon and Washington). This summer's heat is coming on the heels of an announcement in July from the...

OK, I don't have a story to go with this, but I'll try to paraphrase from the report I heard on KTKZ today: As you probably know, every angler in the State of California is supposed to buy a fishing license of about $30 annually to fish in the state. This money is supposed to go to make improvements in the fisheries. However, in recent years the money has instead been dumped into the General Fund to be spent on everything from education to transportation. The Department of Fish and Game asked the Schwarzenegger administration to give the money back...