Holding the fish, Mike Winn (Photo by Mac Weakley)
Potential new largemouth record caught in California – and released
Alleged 25-pound, 1-ounce bass would crush Perry’s 22-422.Mar.2006
The world of big-bass hunting was turned upside-down Monday morning when a California angler, Mac Weakley, reportedly caught and released a 25-pound, 1-ounce largemouth bass from Dixon Lake near San Diego. If true, the fish would shatter George W. Perry’s 73-year-old largemouth bass record of 22-4.
Various news reports say that Weakley, while fishing with fellow anglers Jed Dickerson and Mike Winn, caught the fish early Monday morning, March 20, while sight-fishing a spawning bed in the shallows of gin-clear Dixon Lake. Reports say that Weakley caught the fish on a white jig with 15-pound line.
Weakley, Dickerson and Winn reportedly weighed the fish on a dock using a hand-held scale and videotaped it. With several purported witnesses on the scene, the scale apparently read 25 pounds, 1 ounce, which would top the vaunted record set by Perry at Montgomery Lake, Georgia, in 1932 by almost 3 pounds.
Weakley then released the fish back into Dixon Lake, reportedly because he had foul-hooked it on its left side below the dorsal fin. The International Game Fish Association, which maintains fish records, has a rule stating that a record may be disqualified if an angler “intentionally” foul-hooks a fish. Weakley told the San Diego Union-Tribune that he didn’t foul-hook the fish intentionally but decided to release it anyway.
IGFA world records administrator Becky Reynolds told FLWOutdoors.com that the organization has yet to review Weakley’s catch.
“There isn’t a whole lot of news to report because the angler hasn’t contacted us yet,” Reynolds said Tuesday afternoon. “We have to wait until we have all the information and the application, then we can review it just like we would any other record consideration. Until then, it’s all speculation.”
While FLWOutdoors.com’s efforts to contact Weakley and Dickerson have so far been unsuccessful, Wal-Mart FLW Tour pro Art Berry, a native San Diegan and acquaintance of the anglers, was thrilled by the news Tuesday.
“That’s right! 619, baby!” Berry said, referring to the San Diego area code. “Honestly, these guys put their time in doing this. Heck, the guy caught a 25-pounder. Even if he did foul-hook it, how many guys can say that? It’s a huge deal down here.”
Not coincidentally, Weakley, Dickerson and Winn are subjects in a book by writer Monte Burke released last year entitled, “Sowbelly: The Obsessive Quest for the World-Record Largemouth Bass.” In it, Burke details the lengths to which the San Diego anglers – and many others – have gone in search of the world record. Tuesday, Berry confirmed the book’s portrayal of the San Diego scene and its record-bass chase, particularly at Dixon Lake.
“These two guys, Mac Weakley and Jed Dickerson, are fishing partners. They’ve been fishing together up there for years,” Berry said. “They only fish three or four months a year in search of big fish. They set up in campsites and stay up there for weeks and weeks on end. Those guys know every bed on the whole lake, and they rotate fishing them, knowing when they’ll feed and what they’ll bite on.”
Dixon Lake has long been the target of record-bass chasers. At just 76 acres and an 80-foot maximum depth, the water-supply impoundment is controlled by the City of Escondido, Calif., and is regularly stocked with trout for fishing. With strict fishing regulations – such as no combustion-motor use, pay-per-access fishing fees, and a ready supply of fresh trout to feed on – the Florida-strain largemouth bass in the lake have a tendency to grow quite large.
Speculation has it that the fish Weakley caught Monday was, in fact, the same fish that Dickerson caught in 2003, which officially weighed 21 pounds, 11 ounces and landed him in fourth place in the record books. The anglers say that the fish has a unique black spot beneath its right gill plate that makes it easily identifiable.
“I’ve seen them in there, so I know they’re in there,” Berry said. “Around here, we call them ‘turkey bellies’ because, once they get over 18 pounds, more than 80 percent of them is that white belly and that’s all you can see. They’re bigger than a basketball, I’m not kidding you. Twenty-five pounds for one fish? A fish like that has eyeballs the size of your fist. If you’ve been there and seen what’s swimming around in there, you would not believe it.
“The scary part is that there are more of them. And that’s not the only lake. The fishing around here is absolutely incredible right now. At one local tournament this weekend it took 45 pounds with five fish to win it. There are fish like that in (San Diego-area lakes) Jennings, Miramar, Murray, Mission Viejo. Those fish, they’re bred to be that way. This is big stuff, and it’s going to happen again.”
Click here to read Monte Burke's account of Weakley’s latest catch at fieldandstream.com.
Various news reports say that Weakley, while fishing with fellow anglers Jed Dickerson and Mike Winn, caught the fish early Monday morning, March 20, while sight-fishing a spawning bed in the shallows of gin-clear Dixon Lake. Reports say that Weakley caught the fish on a white jig with 15-pound line.
Weakley, Dickerson and Winn reportedly weighed the fish on a dock using a hand-held scale and videotaped it. With several purported witnesses on the scene, the scale apparently read 25 pounds, 1 ounce, which would top the vaunted record set by Perry at Montgomery Lake, Georgia, in 1932 by almost 3 pounds.
Weakley then released the fish back into Dixon Lake, reportedly because he had foul-hooked it on its left side below the dorsal fin. The International Game Fish Association, which maintains fish records, has a rule stating that a record may be disqualified if an angler “intentionally” foul-hooks a fish. Weakley told the San Diego Union-Tribune that he didn’t foul-hook the fish intentionally but decided to release it anyway.
IGFA world records administrator Becky Reynolds told FLWOutdoors.com that the organization has yet to review Weakley’s catch.
“There isn’t a whole lot of news to report because the angler hasn’t contacted us yet,” Reynolds said Tuesday afternoon. “We have to wait until we have all the information and the application, then we can review it just like we would any other record consideration. Until then, it’s all speculation.”
While FLWOutdoors.com’s efforts to contact Weakley and Dickerson have so far been unsuccessful, Wal-Mart FLW Tour pro Art Berry, a native San Diegan and acquaintance of the anglers, was thrilled by the news Tuesday.
“That’s right! 619, baby!” Berry said, referring to the San Diego area code. “Honestly, these guys put their time in doing this. Heck, the guy caught a 25-pounder. Even if he did foul-hook it, how many guys can say that? It’s a huge deal down here.”
Not coincidentally, Weakley, Dickerson and Winn are subjects in a book by writer Monte Burke released last year entitled, “Sowbelly: The Obsessive Quest for the World-Record Largemouth Bass.” In it, Burke details the lengths to which the San Diego anglers – and many others – have gone in search of the world record. Tuesday, Berry confirmed the book’s portrayal of the San Diego scene and its record-bass chase, particularly at Dixon Lake.
“These two guys, Mac Weakley and Jed Dickerson, are fishing partners. They’ve been fishing together up there for years,” Berry said. “They only fish three or four months a year in search of big fish. They set up in campsites and stay up there for weeks and weeks on end. Those guys know every bed on the whole lake, and they rotate fishing them, knowing when they’ll feed and what they’ll bite on.”
Dixon Lake has long been the target of record-bass chasers. At just 76 acres and an 80-foot maximum depth, the water-supply impoundment is controlled by the City of Escondido, Calif., and is regularly stocked with trout for fishing. With strict fishing regulations – such as no combustion-motor use, pay-per-access fishing fees, and a ready supply of fresh trout to feed on – the Florida-strain largemouth bass in the lake have a tendency to grow quite large.
Speculation has it that the fish Weakley caught Monday was, in fact, the same fish that Dickerson caught in 2003, which officially weighed 21 pounds, 11 ounces and landed him in fourth place in the record books. The anglers say that the fish has a unique black spot beneath its right gill plate that makes it easily identifiable.
“I’ve seen them in there, so I know they’re in there,” Berry said. “Around here, we call them ‘turkey bellies’ because, once they get over 18 pounds, more than 80 percent of them is that white belly and that’s all you can see. They’re bigger than a basketball, I’m not kidding you. Twenty-five pounds for one fish? A fish like that has eyeballs the size of your fist. If you’ve been there and seen what’s swimming around in there, you would not believe it.
“The scary part is that there are more of them. And that’s not the only lake. The fishing around here is absolutely incredible right now. At one local tournament this weekend it took 45 pounds with five fish to win it. There are fish like that in (San Diego-area lakes) Jennings, Miramar, Murray, Mission Viejo. Those fish, they’re bred to be that way. This is big stuff, and it’s going to happen again.”
Click here to read Monte Burke's account of Weakley’s latest catch at fieldandstream.com.
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