FOLLOW-UP: Petition drive for Ply's record catch

Follow-up to:  http://fishhound.com/article/heart-broken-not-record

Follow-up to:  http://fishhound.com/article/angler%E2%80%99s-chance-11-million-and-world-record-crushed

Rodney Ply of Diamond City, Ark., has been patiently waiting to hear from the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) with a decision of whether or not his 68-pound striper, caught out of Bull Shoals Lake, will be a world record after submitting an appeal to the ruling against his catch.

TheRockyRiver.com has started a petition online to try and help Ply out. The goal is to reach 100,000 signatures and then submit the petition to the IGFA Rules Committee.

The IGFA states that an umbrella rig is not an eligible lure to catch a record fish. Though, the IGFA has no rule against the use of the umbrella rig when casting it or in freshwater use.The only mention of the rig is in reference to saltwater trolling situations. Thus, Ply and other anglers feel that no rule has been broken.

Along with having a potential world-record catch, Ply registered for the Mustad Hooks "Hook-a-Million" contest. In the contest, a world-record fish caught on a Mustad hook is worth $1,000,000. The petition asks for Mustad to recognize the fish as a record, regardless of what the IGFA decides.