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A Western New York angler last week reeled in a state record white bass on the Lower Niagara River while out fishing with his dad. Actually, he caught two that day that broke the record.
Morgan Fonzi, 28, caught the record fish on May 6 while out fishing with his father, Capt. Joe Fonzi, of Thumbs Up Guide Service, who is a well-known fishing guide in the area. The two normally don’t get to fish together much, but with them both being off work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic they’ve been out together fishing almost every day lately.
The two often fish the Lake Erie, Upper Niagara River area, but as a result of strong northwestern winds, switched to fishing the Lower Niagara last week. They were catching bass, lake trout, steelhead — and white bass.
“We were letting everything go except the white bass,” the father said. “We have some Amish friends who like to eat them so we kept them.”
White bass, also called silver bass, look like a small, striped bass. They swim up the Niagara River from Lake Ontario every spring to spawn.
The two initially were unaware of the state record for the fish species. The current record is a 3-pound, 6-ounce fish landed in 1992 by Robert Hilton from Furnace Brook, a tributary of the Hudson River in Westchester County. It measured 18.5 inches.
On May 5, the two were on the Lower Niagara and got into the white bass, keeping 25, including one that weighed 3 pounds, 10 ounces, according to the scale on the father’s boat. The big one ended up getting cleaned with the rest.
“We googled the record the following day while out fishing and found out we could have beaten it,” the father said.
That afternoon, the two once again targeted white bass on the Lower Niagara. Morgan was using a 5/8-ounce, gold Steelshad blade bait.
“We were using our electric motor, fishing a back eddy and slowly bouncing the blade bait off the bottom,” Morgan said.
This time the son caught two that were again potential record breakers, according to two different scales on the father’s boat.
“We were out afterward for pizza,” Morgan said, saying he and his father tried to think of a place where they could get the fish officially weighed since most places were closed.
The son, remembering that he worked at a nearby Tops Market during high school, called and found out his old manager was still working there. They brought the fish over and had the fish weighed on the super market’s scale. One fish weighed 3 pounds 8 ounces, the other, 3 pounds, 7 ½ ounces — both state records.
They then put the fish on ice at their house. On Friday, a state Department of Environmental Conservation fisheries biologist came to their home to verify the fish species and the weight.
Morgan said he plans to have fish mounts made of both the fish, since they both were state records. The one weighing 3 pounds, 8 ounces will be the official state record. It measured 18 inches.
“He just got an email from the DEC — it’s now officially a state record,” the father said.
“I’m still in shock,” the son added.
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Western NY angler breaks the New York State fishing record for white bass — twice - newyorkupstate.com
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