Marinij.com REPORTED: On a late winter’s day in the Sierra Nevada foothills, Novato angler Keith Bryan was passing the afternoon casting a lure from a boat drifting near the bank of New Melones Reservoir. Bryan, fishing with a partner, was competing in a professional bass fishing tournament — and with $3,525 in prize money at stake, plus the glory of winning a fishing contest, this day was not about the water, the sun, the trees on the bank and the quiet of the country: It was about catching fish — big ones.
He did just that in hauling in a 10-pound, seven-ounce spotted bass — a possible world record.
Already, Bryan and his partner, Charlie Delight, had caught four bass, each now swimming in the circulating live well. The goal in a California Tournament Trails professional-amateur contest is to catch five black bass — whether smallmouth, largemouth or spotted — and bring them back to the boat ramp at the day’s end for weighing on the contest’s certified scale. The tournament is two days, and the heaviest catch wins. The fish are safely released afterward.
Bryan was retrieving his lure after a cast toward the bank when it stopped abruptly. His rod tip bent over, and line began to peel from his spool as the fish made for deep water. It took 30 feet of line before Bryan began to move the powerful creature back toward the boat. Was it a carp, he wondered? A catfish? The lake was clear, a drought-induced blue that allowed the anglers a look deep into the water — and as Bryan worked the fish toward the boat, a shape emerged, in a greenish-yellow shade familiar to black bass anglers.
The lunker broke the surface, and it was huge — a bass large enough to swallow a hefty trout. It dived under, leaving a powerful swirl at the surface, and made another fast run. It battled for 20 minutes, making half a dozen dashes for deep water before Bryan finally eased it to the surface. Delight made a quick stab with the landing net, and the fish was secured in the mesh.
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