Prehistoric Fish Sets New Record

The biggest problem with the state of New York is New York City.

I know that sounds like some typical “I hate all large cities” nonsense, but I think that in a lot of ways New York City screws things up for just about everywhere else in the state.

I’ve been to the Big Apple a time or two, and it was exactly what I thought it was.

However, as I got older and had extended family that lived in upstate New York I have come to realize that there are a lot of people that have been to New York State tons of times having never stepped off of Manhattan Island.

Upstate New York is especially beautiful and to be quite honest a sportsman’s paradise.

Every year or two, we visit family in upstate New York near the Canadian border and the fishing is absolutely marvelous.

Monroe County is another place in New York, a little bit further west than I have been that has some amazing gar fishing.

Now, the first time I saw a gar I thought that it was a fish that someone was making up. That being said, countless people come to Monroe County every year to try their hand at catching longnose gar.

Recently, a record breaking longnose gar was caught that by all accounts is an absolute monster.

Chuck Zimmerman was the man that caught this record breaking longnose gar.

Using topwater swimbait, he reeled in a longnose gar that tips the scales at fifteen pounds and fourteen ounces, nearly one and a quarter pound heavier than the previous record setter that was caught in 2018.

These fish believe it or not are long term residents of the planet, with the longnose gar dating back to the Cretaceous Period, which is somewhere between 145 and 66 million years ago.

New York state definitely has some amazing opportunities and spots for fishing. However, there is one thing that until now I never truly realized.

If you go to New York state to try your hand at some fishing, you might very well find yourself on the other end of a fish that was around at the time of the dinosaurs.