Cliff Chamberlain holding his 6.1-pound pink salmon caught in the Salmon River on Aug. 31. It would have been a new state record if the state hadn’t eliminated the species from the Angler Achievement Award Program last year.
Cliff Chamberlain holds his 6.1-pound pink salmon that was a state record in New York...until it hit a snag.

A fisherman in New York caught a 6.1-pound pink salmon that was certified as a state record by a biologist from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. Cliff Chamberlain was even told “congratulations” by a state official.

But his jubilation soon turned to disappointment when he was told his record would not be recognized by the state, as first thought.

“They went through all the formalities of making sure it was a state record, told me congratulations,” Chamberlain told New York Upstate. “And then they called me back and said they retired the pink salmon category.

“I’m like, are you kidding me? I went from the highest high to the lowest low in about five hours.”

New York Upstate reported that “due to an act of bureaucratic housecleaning last year,” the record wasn’t a record after all.

“DEC cannot recognize Mr. Chamberlain’s catch as a new record because pink salmon are no longer amongst the list of eligible species in the Angler Achievement Award Program and as such, not eligible for state-record consideration.”

DEC stated that the pink salmon category was eliminated in 2024 because nobody had submitted one since Randy Nyberg caught a 4-pound, 15-ounce pink salmon on Lake Erie in 1985.

Pink salmon wasn’t the only species on the chopping block. The DEC also retired state records for American eel, redfin pickerel, kokanee salmon, sauger, striped bass and hybrid striped bass.

DEC concluded that it would be unfair to reopen the category and add Chamberlain’s fish to the record books because it’s possible (though unlikely) that another fisherman in New York caught a pink salmon of record size in the past few months.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Solo hiker deploys bear spray too late to prevent attack

Chamberlain was fishing above the Black Hole section of the Salmon River on Aug. 31 when he hooked into what he initially thought was a coho salmon. But after netting it, he wasn't so sure.

“I knew it wasn’t a coho,” Chamberlain told New York Upstate. “It had that big hump on it and the lower jaw. The face of the fish was not a coho face.”

He took it to an Altmar cleaning station where it was identified as a pink salmon by owner Shane Muckey.

The fish weighed 6.5 pounds, and it was put into a freezer because it was Labor Day weekend and wildlife officials were unavailable. When DEC biologists confirmed the species on the morning of Sept. 11, the fish weighed 6.1 pounds and Chamberlain thought he was a record holder.

“And then about four o’clock, I got the bad news,” Chamberlain told New York Upstate.

Chamberlain was incredulous, and thought the pink salmon category could easily be restored.

“I mean, how hard can it be to put an entry in a record book?” he told New York Upstate. “I don’t get it.”

The same could be said for the other species that were removed from the record book.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Fisherman loses state-record salmon due to ‘bureaucratic housecleaning’

Reporting by David Strege, For The Win / For The Win

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect