Fish records are kept by a multitude of organizations at the state, national and world levels.
And in hundreds of categories, too, including by species and for hook-and-line, catch-and-release, spear fishing and more.
With all due respect to all of those, in my opinion they can’t match the significance of a record established Aug. 9 at a Milwaukee fishing tournament.
Anglers at the 2026 Brew City Salmon Tournament donated 2,080 pounds of salmon and trout to the Hunger Task Force.
The amount is a record high in fish donated from the event, said Jerry Pipp, director of operations for Hunger Task Force.
“It’s gigantic,” Pipp said. “Over the course of the year, nothing else compares to [the Brew City donations].”
Hunger Task Force is a nonprofit organization serving food pantries in Milwaukee County.
While food is regularly donated to Hunger Task Force by organizations and individuals, it’s almost always canned, dried or frozen.
The fish provided by the Brew City anglers was cleaned, filleted and bagged in family-sized portions. After being transported to the Hunger Task Force facility in Milwaukee, it was stored overnight in safe, temperature-controlled conditions and distributed Aug. 10 to local food pantries.
If you bought it in a market, the fish would be advertised as “fresh caught,” “wild caught” and “never frozen.” All of which is true in the case of the Brew City salmon and trout donations.
The price of such fish is often $25 per pound in Wisconsin stores. That’s too expensive for many people, especially those experiencing food insecurities.
So for sake of discussion, the fishing tourney donations had an estimated retail value of $52,000.
And more, they provided a rare, fresh and nutritious component to the diets of hundreds of local residents.
“Distributing fresh fish to people in our community doesn’t happen without this tournament,” Pipp said. “It’s really valuable from every perspective.”
The Brew City tournament is organized by the Milwaukee Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club and has been held mostly annually since the late 1990s.
In 2013, fishing club members decided to start donating fish from the event to local food pantries, said club president Bob Wincek.
It evolved into the relationship with Hunger Task Force.
Over about the last decade, Brew City organizers have asked tourney participants to consider donating their catches to Hunger Task Force.
The anglers have responded in a big way.
The tournament’s one-day format has teams of anglers fishing the Lake Michigan waters of Wisconsin from early morning to early afternoon with the requirement they are in the weigh-in line by the appointed time.
Prizes are awarded to the teams with the heaviest 10-fish bags.
This year the weigh-in was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at McKinley Marina in Milwaukee.
But a severe thunderstorm rolled through southeastern Wisconsin about 11 a.m. Its arrival included a dramatic shelf cloud over Milwaukee.
And the Lake Michigan anglers, among the most weather-aware segment of our population, made their way into the Milwaukee harbor before the high winds and rain hit.
The storm knocked out power at McKinley Marina, delaying the weigh-in process and denying fish cleaners the use of the grinder at the site’s public fish cleaning station.
But after about an hour power was restored. And it did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the participants and volunteers at the event.
Among the volunteers were members of the Wisconsin Council of Sport Fishing Organizations who filleted and bagged fish.
The tournament was won by a team with Milwaukee Offshore Fishing led by Capt. Mark Scaffidi. The team weighed a 10-fish bag of 151 pounds.
The fish were all chinook salmon caught northeast of Milwaukee and mostly on dodger-fly combos, Scaffidi said.
The team brought 14 fish to shore, intentionally leaving one short of the legal limit in case they caught a very big fish to help their tournament weight.
The biggest individual fish were chinook salmon in the 20-pound range, Scaffidi said.
The first-place finish came with a $2,625 check and trophy.
To the point of my column, though, the team donated all 14 fish, totaling about 200 pounds, to the Hunger Task Force.
Every team I talked to did the same.
The donated fish were distributed within 24 hours to 12 food pantries in Milwaukee, Pipp said.
The fish were separated into 67 bins, each containing about 31 pounds of fillets.
“Generally by that evening it’s in the homes and in the hands of people who need it,” Pipp said. “It’s really gratifying to see how the anglers support this need.”
Based on my observations Aug. 9 at the tournament, the record isn’t safe.
“We lost a couple hours of fishing due to that storm,” Wincek said. “And I can tell you, the Brew City anglers are determined to break their fish donation mark next year. It’s become a source of pride.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Fish records come in many forms, but helping feed others is tops | Paul A. Smith
Reporting by Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
