Surely it's probably happened at least once. 

No Doubt!

The same can be said about a lot species. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

I put this hen back because 2006 record would have required killing her for a liver biopsy to prove she was not a smallie hybrid.  

The other choice was giving her to a state hatchery.  

A perfect Guadalupe hen living at a bat cave vent, and got to this size eating the baby bats that fell in.  

Go breed, girl.  

She's also my screen saver.  

 

and since I'm here, A-strain endemic bass at Cibolo Creek headwaters, isolated from genetic pollution by aquifer recharge - the creek disappears into the ground and re-emerges 30 miles away in the coastal plain.  One of only two A-strains that remain wild.  

I've released 4 other would-be state record fish without thinking about it - rainbow trout (though I know 2 people who have beaten mine), green sunfish, redbreast sunfish, and redear sunfish.  May have eaten the fly-rod king mackerel record, and possibly used the bluefish record for snapper cut-bait.  If you really want records, take a fly rod offshore - a couple of friends set 6 records between them in one day.  

When I was young I caught a 10+ fish that my much older brother in law said was a chain pickerel which, if true, would have been a world record.  But honestly he might have just been incorrect and it might have been a pike.  We ate it.

I caught a potential world record spotted bass last week. The fish hit my walking bait and the fight was on!!! After several runs, I lipped the fish, unhooked it and let it go. Just as I was looking up the spotted bass record on my phone, someone was shaking me and said “babe, you’re snoring. get off the couch and go back to bed.”

@TnRiver46 I hope you took a photo in your dream

 

 

Not likely, but certainly possible for it to be done unknowingly. Much more likely deliberately as described above. I know of quite a few fish larger than the record caught by anglers who don't care about such things.

I've unintentionally let two state records go in my lifetime.  I caught a huge bowfin, weighed it at 11 lbs.  That record would have only stood for a few months anyway, though.  The other was a rock bass I caught in my home waters, which are known for huge rockies.  I let her go, and immediately remembered that record was up for grabs.  A little kid registered a new record a couple years later with a fish - get this - caught from the same water.  Proud of that kid and my home water,

 

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/2020/06/upstate-ny-boy-8-sets-new-state-freshwater-fishing-record-for-rock-bass.html

@BassWhole!

especially red ear hens - they're so territorial, you can go back and catch them again.  

 

We caught this girl in the same spot 6 years in a row.  

When you released her, she would hang at your feet to keep an eye on you until you waded out of her turf.  

Not me, but someone we know. Might've been a NY state record, but who knows because it wasn't weighed. It was a long fight, and he didn't want to harm it by hanging it by its jaw. This place produces huge chains like this, so it's not an unusual catch.

 

 

When I was younger I released fish that where bigger than the state record for a couple species. I did not care much about records back then, maybe it might be different in the future if I catch another fish that is bigger than the state record. There are people that keep their catches private since they only fish for fun and care very little what others think.

The Red Ear Sunfish World Record is 6.3 lbs...dream on.

Tom

10 hours ago, PhishLI said:

Not me, but someone we know. Might've been a NY state record, but who knows because it wasn't weighed. It was a long fight, and he didn't want to harm it by hanging it by its jaw. This place produces huge chains like this, so it's not an unusual catch.

 

 

Goodness gracious 

Conversely, how many old records are on the books that were misidentified as one species of fish but were actually another? I remember seeing a picture of a state record channel cat from another central state (Illinois or Indiana maybe?) that was CLEARLY a flathead catfish. 

 

Our state record spotted bass is 4.44lbs from a lake with almost no spotted bass and a terrible bass population in general now and it was even worse 40 years ago when it was caught (likely before spotted bass were even present in the low numbers they are in the lake). There's no pictures of it that I can find. I would very surprised if the fish was actually a spotted bass and not a misidentified largemouth bass.