When it comes to state record fish, there's sometimes a slight catch. Not all awards are created equal.

Although the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is the state's official record keeper, the International Game Fish Association also maintains a state records program, in which line weight and species restrictions have yielded a mixed bag of trophies.

The IGFA's biggest rainbow trout in Pennsylvania -- taken on 10-pound tippet -- is less than 1¹/₂ pounds, while the official state record is a 15-pound, 6.25-ounce whopper caught in 1986. The group's Pennsylvania record walleye on spinning tackle and 20-pound test is about half the size of the 17¹/₂-pound Fish Commission-certified specimen landed at Kinzua Dam 27 years ago. The IGFA record for lake trout on 4-pound tippet remains vacant.

Irwin resident Jeffrey Caputo's 9-pound Lake Erie smallmouth would have shattered the official state record when it was caught in 1980 on 12-pound test. But Caputo, intent on live release, sought and earned an IGFA record without submitting it for the official Pennsylvania state record.

Established almost 70 years ago as a saltwater club with an emphasis on angling ethics, the Florida-based IGFA -- whose founders included author-adventurer Ernest Hemingway -- assumed maintenance of freshwater fishing records from Field and Stream magazine in 1969. In recent years, the group added records programs for every state, including those inland, in spinning and fly tackle categories.

The IGFA is a club, with a requirement that all record holders must join. Membership is $40 a year.

"Our state record program is still pretty new. We think a lot of people don't know about it," said IGFA conservation director and biologist Jason Schratwieser. "That makes some of the records pretty easy to set."

IGFA criteria differ greatly from that of the Fish Commission. Species must be caught on 4-, 12- or 20-pound test and the only Pennsylvania species included are walleye, rainbow trout, lake trout, and largemouth and smallmouth bass. Steelhead, muskies and northern pike are not considered.

"We picked better in some states than others," said Schratwieser.

The Fish Commission does not collaborate with the IFGA; one official said he doesn't know much about the club's practices. But the commission is currently reviewing its own records program with possible changes planned for 2008.

Fish Commission policy is to scrutinize every record-contending catch, making live release impractical. The IGFA encourages live release as long as the catch is well documented.

Caputo had to weigh his smallmouth on a certified scale and submit photographs, plus a 30-foot section of line with lure (Gitzit), to the IGFA in order to claim the club's state record.

"What I like about the IGFA," said Caputo, a long-time member, "is it gives sportsmen a chance to get some glory without depleting the fishery."

Caputo held the fish in his livewell before deciding to release it. He has no regrets, he says, about sacrificing the official state record.

"It was the most majestic fish I'd ever seen. It took my breath away," he said. "When you catch a fish like that, you're not king, the fish is. There's no way I was ever going to let a fish like that die."

The IGFA is currently developing another records program that would omit weights and focus on length. Currently, several line-class records in Pennsylvania remain vacant, offering anglers seeking recognition an alternate venue.

"The chance of breaking a Fish Commission all-tackle record is one in a million," said IGFA record holder Lou Gocek of Peckville, near Scranton. "So you look around and see what you can possibly get. The IGFA program is new, so your chances are pretty good, especially with the heavier line classes."

Gocek holds the IGFA Pennsylvania walleye records for 20-pound test (8 pounds, 15 ounces) and 12-pound test (10¹/₂ pounds). In July, his wife, Margret, set the IGFA Pennsylvania 4-pound test walleye record with an 8-pound, 11-ouncer. All three fish were caught in the Delaware River.

John Boesenberg of Pocono Lakes holds the IGFA 12- and 20-pound test records for largemouth bass with a 6-pound, 3-ouncer and a 5-pound, 8-ouncer, respectively, caught on the same day on Brady Lake in the Poconos.

Both the IGFA and the Fish Commission offer angler recognition programs for non-record setting catches, and both suggest the same formula for calculating fish weights in the field: girth (in inches) times girth times length (in inches) divided by 800 equals weight in pounds.