Bass with Weights in the Stomach

[Matt Fly]

Mike Long's whopper is No. 17 all-time but, technically, not a Lake Mission Viejo mark

By Ed Zieralski

STAFF WRITER

April 30, 2005

Avid angler has become a gaff artist

Local teen tries to take advantage of casting call

Turns out Mike Long's 19.2-pound bass that he caught last Saturday at Lake Mission Viejo won't be the official lake record.

But it will keep its spot at No. 17 on the all-time heaviest black bass ever caught in the world. Long joined the ranks of Bob Crupi and Dan Kadota as the only anglers with two bass in the Bassmaster Magazine Top 25 All-Time Largemouth Bass. Long also is credited with a 20.75-pound bass he caught April 27, 2001 at Lake Dixon in Escondido.

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Here's why it's not a lake record at Lake Mission Viejo, a private lake open to Mission Viejo Association members and their guests:

Dave Kerr, the manager at Lake Mission Viejo Association, doesn't doubt that Long caught the 19.2-pound bass, just as he doesn't doubt Long once caught an 18-pound bass at the lake.

But Kerr said Thursday that the official record stays at 17 pounds, 6 ounces for a bass caught July 1, 2001 by Association member Richard Orellana.

"I just talked to Mike and I'm convinced he caught the bass, and I believe he caught it here and it was that big," Kerr said. "But we agreed that it isn't our official lake record because he didn't weigh it in here for anyone to see. This is the second time he has claimed a record here, and both times he failed to weigh the fish."

Long didn't weigh the 18-0 or the recent 19.2. Instead, rather than take the bass to the dock for weighing, Long weighed the bass on his hand-held Berkley 50-pound Digital Scale and released it in the same area where he caught it. He said he used an 8-inch Huddleston swimbait and pulled the lunker from under a swim dock in Lake Mission Viejo's Bahia del Lago, or what Long calls Pepinos Arm, named for an Italian restaurant nearby.

One of the pictures Long submitted to the Union-Tribune clearly shows the Berkley scale at "19.2," not 19-2 as was reported earlier. The 19.2 reading puts it at just over 19 pounds, 3 ounces.

Long, who was interviewed Thursday for a spot that airs tomorrow on ESPN's "Loudmouth Bass," said his scale has been approved by the International Game Fish Association for weighing record bass. He also had a witness to the catch, Mission Viejo Association member Mark Scott.

"That's why I took a picture of the bass on the scale," Long said. "I'm not calling it the official lake record, and I'm not trying to claim it."

Kerr, who has been at the 124-acre, mile-long lake for 27 years, said the scale at Mission Viejo is not a certified one, but he requires fishermen to weigh potential lake-record fish on the lake's scale with a lake employee present.

"That's only fair to everyone else who fishes here," Kerr said, adding that staff members usually are around until midnight.

Lake Mission Viejo's written policy prohibits anglers from putting bass in their live wells from March 1 to June 1, unless the bass is a potential lake or world-record catch.

Long could have put the bass in his livewell, returned to the dock and tried to find someone to weigh it, but he chose not to.

"I've quit taking bass to the dock and have been releasing my fish where I catch them," Long said.

Long's 19.2-pounder edged ahead of three bass caught in San Diego County on the Top 25 All-Time Largemouth Bass list. There's a 19.19-pound bass caught by Ardon Hanline on Feb. 17, 1987 at Lake Morena, and another 19.19-pounder caught by Steve Beasley on Feb. 3, 1986 at lake Wohlford.

Next up is the controversial 19.06-pounder caught by former Lake Miramar concession operator Sandy DeFresco. That bass, moved down to 20th now, was thought to be the heaviest bass caught in 56 years until it was discovered it had a 2-pound, 8-ounce lead diving weight in its stomach. DeFresco was given credit for her bass' weight, minus the lead in the belly.

Mission Viejo has become a draw for big-bass chasers due to its giant bass, trout-fed with Mt. Lassen rainbows from November to April. Some of the lake's original bass came from San Diego lakes in the mid-1970s, Kerr said. He said one angler has caught 13 bass over 9 pounds this year.

The stories just don't get any more outlandish than at Miramar. This is the lake where a 21-pound, 10-ounce bass was caught that was discovered to have a lead diving weight in its stomach--and also the place where a 20-pound, 15-ouncer is alleged to have been floating, dead of old age, and then scooped up and presented as a record catch. Regardless, Miramar is something of a miniaturized factory for making big bass. It is a tiny lake, just 180 acres with an estimated population of 5,000 bass. But they get huge. Stocked trout are like growing pills, and good numbers of threadfin shad are available as well, as prime forage. (California Fishing; T.C.G., Tom Stienstra 1995/96)

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Ed Zieralski: (619) 293-1225; ed.zieralski@uniontrib.com

[Matt Fly]

The Fish and game ruled that there was no way she could have place the weight in the fishes stomach, the fish had consumed the weight long time before this.  The weight had some type of aquatic growth on it.    This little 180 acre lake doesn't get as much pressure as you think for bass, the smallness doesn't appeal I guess to anglers who can't put there expensive bass boats on the water due to engine size.

[KenDammit28]

don't those berkley scales read in pounds and ounces, not tenths?  

[Hawg_Hunter]

Matt, it says in the artical that this little lake is private, so there wouldn't be thet much pressure except for residents and guests?

Man, I'd like to be a guest!

HH

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Ken- the berkley scale I had read tenths, not ounces.  I just realized it this yr when I bought the new rapala one and gave my buddy the old one.  We weighed the same fish one day to see if they were closely calibrated and that's when I realized for the last few yrs, I had been weighing in 10ths.  

[Matt Fly]

Matt, it says in the artical that this little lake is private, so there wouldn't be thet much pressure except for residents and guests?

Man, I'd like to be a guest!

HH

Back then, I had the green guest card, military I.D.   Miramar Naval Air Station.

[Guest avid]

I won a tackle shop contest back in the 80's in New York with a 7 lb 8 oz. bass.  I was pretty miffed when I was accused by the shop owner of having put a weight in it's belly.  I took out my pocket knife and gutted it right on top of his glass counter top.  He was really pi$$ed, but I won the contest (a trophy and a daiwa pistol grip rod with a millionaire casting reel)  Belly was full of half digested crawfish.

[Bass Hammer]

Guess you were not catch and release then? ;D

[Guest avid]

Actually I was.  But I knew this was a contest winner and it had to be weighed at the store for consideration.  I was actually entered in two contests at two different tackle shops about 35 miles apart.  There was no way the bass was going to survive so I wrapped it in a wet towel and took it to the shops where it did win both contests.  I had caught other big bass back in NY and put them in my bathtub at home to show off.  My wife went crazy but the kids loved it.  I released those fish and they seemed fine.  Back in the 70's and early 80's catch and release was still pretty new stuff especially on Long Island where most people fished salt water and Nothing was ever thrown back.  I used to trout fish alot back then too and trout unlimited was very big on catch on release so I think I was one of the earlier bass fisherman on Long Island to do it.