By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
You may already be acquainted with the Sitkan who hauled in a world-record fish this past summer, but you probably can’t identify the fish he caught.
Even the man who caught the fish, lifelong outdoorsman Steve Ramp, didn’t know what he had caught when he reeled it in June 3 as he was out sport fishing by himself four miles northwest of Cape Edgecumbe.
“It surprised me to bring up something I didn’t know,” he said. “I had no idea what it was, so I didn’t know if it was big or little.”
Steve Ramp holds up his record fish at the Sitka Sound Seafoods dock this summer. (Photo provided by Steve Ramp)
Ramp asked around, and later that day encountered a longliner who said he believed it was a prowfish, a species rarely seen in local waters.
“I looked it up and there was a picture of my fish,” Ramp said.
He had Sitka Sound Seafoods weigh his fish on a certified scale, and it came in at 17 pounds, 13 ounces. It measured 36 inches in length. Checking his copy of the International Game Fish Association record book, Ramp found there was no record established for the prowfish.
In his research he also found that prowfish (Zaprora silenus) had been encountered as long as 34 inches, and immediately saw the possibility of achieving his ambition of having a world-record fish to his name.
He was already a member of the IGFA, so he was familiar with the association’s “fair fight” rules for claiming sport fish records, which include reeling in the fish unassisted, and not bracing the rod.
Ramp filled out the application for an IGFA record, and Alaska Fish and Game sport fish biologist Bob Chadwick signed the part of the application identifying the species. Ramp had the form notarized, and sent it in.
Last week, a framed certificate arrived in the mail, affirming Ramp as the world record holder for prowfish. He’d already been notified of the award, but kept the news to himself until the certificate arrived.
“I’ve always had a dream of catching a world-record fish,” the lifelong sport fisherman said. The IGFA said his prowfish record is for “all tackle.”
Ramp said his prowfish catch on June 3 rounded out a productive day of angling from his 24-foot Olympic cabin cruiser. He had already pulled up a 97-pound halibut and three black bass and a yelloweye. The prowfish hit his line from a depth of 46 to 50 fathoms, he said.
Ramp said he grew up fishing the lakes and rivers of central California and the ocean off Monterey. He was stationed all over the country during his years with the U.S. Coast Guard, taking the opportunity to fish on the Potomac River and the ocean waters off Kodiak, Cape Cod, Virginia Beach and Puerto Rico. He’s also taken fishing trips to Hawaii and Mexico.
In 1997 he and his family came to Sitka, where he was stationed with the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Woodrush before retiring. He was a captain with Allen Marine for 13 years and is now in his seventh year as a Coast Guard fishing vessel safety examiner.
Although he’s realized his dream of setting a world record – for any species – Ramp is keeping his eye on records for billfish, a more competitive category, including such species as spearfish, sailfish and spike marlin.
“That’s my lifelong quest,” he said.
Fish and Game has a Trophy Fish Program for 17 commonly caught trout, salmon and groundfish species in Alaska. Unsurprisingly the prowfish is not on the list, but a Fish and Game biologist in Juneau says the department hears about prowfish caught from time to time. Fish and Game said the “species has been observed infrequently despite numerous and extensive trawl surveys that included thousands of net deployments off Alaska and the west coast of North America.”
