A few years back my son caught a 10 inch redbreast on Lake Lewisville. We threw it back but I was later surprised no-one had even claimed a lake record. Since then in the back of my mind I've been thinking it might be fun to try and get a lake record. From time to time we'll throw back or eat sunfish that are at least close to lake records on Lewisville. Today was the first time I bothered to weigh fish as I caught a bluegill just shy of 8 inches and a longear about 6.5 inches and thought I might have two records. Well, these guys must be skinny because although longer then the lake records each was about 2/10ths of a ounce lighter.

Curious who may have come close, exceeded lake records for sunfish? Curious if anyone has pics of some monsters? I suppose a lot of people are like me, just a bit too lazy to go through the trouble. At .34 pounds the record at Lewisville seems easy to beat.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/fish/programs/fishrecords/

If you have a certified scale it really is no trouble. Last month my son and I turned in longear sunfish records for Grapevine. This month we are mailing in tied/matching fly rod record Bluegills for Joe Pool. No overly large fish because the present records were either vacant or beatable. Anyone with kids should consider turning in at least one record for them just for fun. My son thinks it is pretty cool. Especially when we later used our lake records to catch catfish.

That's cool Draggin Yak. I am sure your son is proud of his records.

If my kids haven't lost their enthusiasm for fishing I'd probably buy a certified scale. Well, now I have an 8 inch bluegill and a 6.5 inch longear in my aquarium ;-)

When in doubt go to your local post office after hours and weigh the fish there just clean up with some of those Clorox wipes.

Can you cite the post office scale as the official scale for your record w/o getting in trouble? I have a postal scale at home that I used, but it is not certified.

I doubt you could use a postal scale because you would be unable to get it certified by, nor get documentation of certification from any of: the department of agriculture, a scale testing service, or the IGFA. Those after hours scales at the post office don't have any kind of certification sticker on them. I had the same idea once and looked.

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The scales at the post offices' desks (not the after hours ones) are certified. The scales at grocery stores are certified. Just put your fish in a ziplok bag and take it to the deli or meat counter at any supermarket and ask them to weigh it for you. You don't have to worry about the certification date if you use one of the ones at the post office or grocery store because Joedy Gray at TP&WD knows that all p.o. and grocery scales are certified. Just get the scale number if possible.

Curious who may have come close, exceeded lake records for sunfish? >>>

I came close to the record for Tyler State Park for a Warmouth.
I caught a Longear the other day that would of beat the record, but threw it back, not realizing at the time it was a record for sure. I thought, this could be a record, and then just let it go. Sure enough I came home, and it was a record for Lake O' The Pines. Oh well... those are the ONLY fish I have gotten close to, or surpassed the record.

I think I may have caught a new private waters record a couple of years back...caught the largest BG I've ever seen...estimated in excess of 13 inches against my fly rod. I had a quandary, however...didn't have my camera, tape measure, nothing to record the fish or transport the fish. I had to decide whether I wanted to go for a record (and kill the fish) or release it and hope to catch it again some day. I released it back into my pond and have not seen it since.

I am haunted by that fish

I just googled Bluegill Lifespan. Unlike Carp which live 40-50 years, looks like Bluegill live around 4 - 6 average and extreme in captivity 8 - 11 years. Your 13 inch Bluegill was certainly at the far end or past that extreme age. It would have already spread it's genes several generations in the early years and then would have been at the end of it's rope by the time you caught it.

Yes, since its been two years since catching it...its probably a goner by now. If I had "do-overs", I'd keep that baby.