When Victor Gelman landed a 45.03-pound muskie through the ice on Feb. 24, he had high hopes that his fish would set a New Jersey state record.
But those hopes were dashed late last week when the state’s Division of Fish and Wildlife formally announced it rejected Gelman’s application.
The Official Word
The reason? He was fishing on the wrong side of Greenwood Lake, which straddles the New Jersey-New York state line.
“While Victor’s catch was an incredible example of freshwater fishing, it was determined that he hooked and landed the fish on the New York side of Greenwood Lake, making it ineligible for the New Jersey State Record Fish Program,” the Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement to Wired2fish.
“Our determination aligns with how the New York Department of Environmental Conservation would review a similar application for Greenwood Lake and other border waters.”
Gelman’s fish weighed far less than New York’s state-record muskie, which was 69 pounds, 15 ounces.
‘This Was a New Jersey Fish’
The decision didn’t sit well with Gelman. He readily admits that he was fishing the New York side of the border lake when he ventured out on a cold post-front day in February.
But he says that everything about the fish was New Jersey.
“That muskie was born in New Jersey, stocked in New Jersey, wouldn’t have even been there if it wasn’t for New Jersey’s muskie program,” Gelman told Wired2fish. “New York doesn’t even have a muskie program.
“In most aspects, this was a New Jersey fish.”
Gelman praised the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery in New Jersey, where he had the fish weighed on certified scales.
The hatchery is acclaimed for its muskie and tiger muskie program. It collects 100,000-plus eggs from adult fish in the wild, then hatches them in a controlled setting. The fingerlings are raised to about 10 inches long before they are stocked in lakes such as Greenwood.
Those efforts have created a trophy fishery, one that Gelman enthusiastically supports. He has caught other large muskies on Greenwood, and was targeting a big one on Feb. 24. He was using suckers 10 to 12 inches long under tipups when the fish struck.
A Disappointing Ending
In a letter of protest to New Jersey fisheries officials that Gelman shared with Wired2fish, he wrote, “The fish in question was born, fed, migrated and matured within a unified aquatic environment. It did not live exclusively on one side of the lake.”
In the letter, Gelman pointed out that eight states address boundary waters or have accepted shared records.
But New Jersey fisheries officials stand by their decision. The top requirement of their state record program is that the fish must be caught in New Jersey waters. And this one, ultimately, was not.
