Apparently this is the EXACT fish that was caught a couple of years back that almost broke the record. There are some identifying marks on the fish that seem to support this. It survived the other times it was released. Hopefully it lives one more time. I agree with Cecil and others that it looks like it could have been handled horizontally instead of vertically to give it a better chance of survival. Guess you can't really blame a guy for showin' off a fish like that.

Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.