How the IGFA Was Founded: Michael Lerner and the Birth of Sportfishing’s World Records

Every angler who has ever wondered “Is this a record?” owes something to a meeting held on June 7, 1939. That day a handful of people met in a cramped upstairs office at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and founded the International Game Fish Association (IGFA). It became the organization that writes the rules, judges the catches and keeps the world records for recreational fishing.

In The History of Sportfishing, Chapter 10: The Competitive Edge begins in that same year: “In 1939, anglers began competing for the new IGFA record books.” Here’s how those record books came to be.

Key Takeaways

• The IGFA was formally launched on June 7, 1939, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
• Michael Lerner was the driving force and paid the new association’s expenses himself until he resigned as president in 1961.
• Dr. William K. Gregory was the first president. Lerner became president in 1944.
• In 1949 the IGFA began accepting nylon and other synthetic lines and switched from linen “thread” classes to pound-test line classes.
• In 1978 the IGFA took over the freshwater records Field & Stream had kept since 1910, plus the saltwater fly records and the spin-fishing records. All of angling’s world records were now kept in one place.

Before the IGFA: Big Fish and No Common Rules

By the 1930s, big game fishing had spread from Catalina to Florida, Long Island, Bimini, Australia and New Zealand. (Read how it began with the first big game fish caught on rod and reel.) Every club had its own rules, though, so nobody could fairly compare one angler’s catch with another’s.

The push for shared rules came from overseas. While Michael Lerner was organizing an American Museum of Natural History expedition to Australia and New Zealand, he heard that Britain’s Tunny Club was planning to set international rules. In Australia he met one of the country’s best anglers, Clive Firth. Firth thought Britain and her colonies would accept American judgment as fair and impartial, and that Americans should be the ones to write and run ethical angling rules.

After the expedition came home, letters went out to leading anglers, fishing clubs and tackle makers asking what they thought of an international association of marine angling clubs. The response was strongly favorable.

June 7, 1939: The Meeting That Started It All

Five people were in the room at the American Museum of Natural History:

• Michael Lerner, angler, expedition leader and Museum trustee
• Dr. William K. Gregory, Museum scientist
• Francesca “Frannie” LaMonte, Museum ichthyologist and science leader of several Lerner expeditions
• John Nichols, Museum ichthyologist
• Van Campen Heilner, angler and author

Lerner insisted that Gregory be elected the first president, a gesture to the Museum that had backed the idea. Lerner took a vice presidency and LaMonte became secretary. Lerner, Gregory, Heilner and LaMonte formed an executive committee, which stayed the IGFA’s core group through its early years.

Lerner then said he would personally pay all of the new organization’s expenses. He kept that promise until he resigned as IGFA president in 1961. The Museum gave the association office space, so the IGFA opened for business even as war news came in from Europe.

Ernest Hemingway, Lerner’s fellow big game angler, also served as an IGFA vice president. That’s a fitting link for anyone who has read our post on Hemingway’s inspiration.

Writing the Rulebook

The IGFA’s first jobs were to write standard angling rules and an ethical code, and to build a network of representatives who would spread those rules around the world. Only months after the first meeting, the association had published its organization and rules. In 1943 it put out an official yearbook despite wartime paper shortages.

In 1944 Dr. Gregory retired from the Museum and stepped down as president. Lerner was elected unanimously to replace him and led the IGFA for the next 16 years.

From Linen Threads to Pound-Test: Records Evolve With Tackle

Early records were based on linen line and grouped by thread count: 6-, 9-, 15-, 24-, 39- and 54-thread. In 1949 the IGFA began accepting nylon and synthetic lines for records. It dropped thread counts in favor of measured breaking strength, with line classes of 12, 20, 30, 50, 80, 130 and 180 lb plus all-tackle. Many more anglers had a shot at a record now, and applications picked up quickly. (For the story of the materials themselves, see the evolution of fishing line.)

On January 1, 1977, the IGFA also set up a metric line-class system to match international standards.

Leaving the Museum: The IGFA Moves to Florida

By 1958 the IGFA had outgrown its offices at the Museum, and William K. Carpenter became president that same year. The IGFA moved from New York to Florida in the late 1950s, first to Miami, then to Fort Lauderdale in 1967, Pompano Beach in 1992 and Dania Beach in 1999. It became a nonprofit in 1973. Elwood K. “E.K.” Harry was appointed president in 1975.

1978: One Roof for Every World Record

Under Harry came one of the biggest changes in IGFA history. In 1978 the IGFA took over all the freshwater world records Field & Stream magazine had kept since 1910. Some of those records dated back to the mid-1800s, and many had never been verified. Lerner and Francesca LaMonte both opposed the extra workload in a letter to Harry dated December 1977. Harry went ahead anyway.

Later in 1978 Harry also took over the saltwater fly records the Salt Water Fly Rodders of America had kept since 1963, along with the records of the International Spin Fishing Association. For the first time, every world record in recreational angling was kept by one organization. The annual record book was renamed World Record Game Fishes, and a freshwater fly program started the following season.

Why It Still Matters

Every IGFA world record certificate rests on what Lerner and his colleagues started in 1939: fair rules, sporting ethics and records you can check. That framework turned big fish stories into a sport that could be compared and competed in, and it gave conservation scientists a long record of catches to study.

Watch the Story

The IGFA’s early days, the race for records and the start of tournament fishing are covered in Chapter 10: The Competitive Edge of The History of Sportfishing. The offshore legends who set many of those early marks appear in Chapter 3: In Search of Giants. See all 12 chapters.

Sources

1. IGFA, “The International Game Fish Association formally launched” (June 7, 1939): https://igfa.org/announcement/the-international-game-fish-association-formally-launched/
2. IGFA, “Michael Lerner becomes IGFA President”: https://igfa.org/announcement/michael-lerner-becomes-igfa-president/
3. IGFA, “IGFA recognizes nylon lines…”: https://igfa.org/announcement/nylon-and-synthetic-fishing-line-recognized-for-world-records/
4. IGFA, “IGFA becomes the keeper of freshwater and saltwater fly records”: https://igfa.org/announcement/igfa-becomes-the-keeper-of-freshwater-world-records/
5. IGFA, “IGFA adopts the metric system”: https://igfa.org/announcement/igfa-adopts-the-metric-system/
6. IGFA History timeline: https://igfa.org/history/
7. IGFA, Hemingway Society (Hemingway as IGFA Vice President): https://igfa.org/hemingway-society/
8. Wikipedia, “International Game Fish Association”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Game_Fish_Association
9. White Marlin Open 52nd Annual Magazine, “IGFA History: The Early Years,” p. 42: https://whitemarlinopen.com/media/flipbooks/52nd-annual-magazine/files/basic-html/page42.html