We are extremely excited for Wes and his accomplishment catching a pending world record Spot. Here are his details with his permission to post. Here is my story: There was no epic battle with climatic finish. There was no bravado, no yelling or touchdown celebrations. This is a story about two knuckle heads doing voice impersonations while swinging 1lb spots into each other. This is a story about my iPhone dying, very bad cell service, a lot of luck and most importantly my friends rallying around me. In this story, the Department of Fish and Wildlife went above and beyond their call of their duty to provide guidance to two guys who weren’t prepared for what transpired that day and who didn’t bring enough cold weather gear. This is a story of one leftover Christmas ham sandwich and one pending world record spotted bass.
This story starts back in November. I was originally suppose to get out on the water the last weekend in November up to the lake but,my wife pulled my yard pass on account of bad behavior and put me on landscaping duty. As a result, I had to reschedule the trip. I will never forget the look on my wife’s face when I showed her the amazing fish that Paul Bailey had caught that weekend. She apologized several times but still didn’t pull me from landscaping duty.
Fast-forward a month later. I finally got back out on the water on December 27, 2015. My former tournament partner, John and I were running late to get up to the Lake; so late that literally we only fished for four hours or so. The day was an uneventful. After about an hour we finally started catching some dinks. We moved spot to spot catching a small fish here and there. About 2:00pm we pull up to a SSDD spot. At that point I mentally kind just checked out. I mean I was full on sitting in the old-man chair, sandwich in one hand jig rod in the other dragging a jig on the back deck. I make a cast and I get bit right away. My drag slips and I boat another dink. I remember that was odd and realized I had not adjusted my drag since my last trip in November. I adjust the drag and make the same cast. This time my sandwich is in my mouth, water bottle in between my legs and I get bit. Again my drag slips and now I am like “great, my reel is jack”. I quickly reel up the line and see the color of the fish. I tell John get the net. She made one dive and with four full turns of my reel she was in the net. The whole ordeal was a whooping 8-10 seconds. At this time, I am still grubbing my ham sandwich and John tells me “Hey bud, she is big. She is a Double and might be in contention for the world record.” I stand up and see her and immediately and get his live-well going. Continue reading – https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=898189543627463&id=372228952890194&substory_index=0