Potential World Record PIC......what a fish!

[Captain Cali]

I don't understand. Why wouldn't his scale prove worthy? There are plenty of handheld scales that can be IGFA certified (heck, I own one). The question is, was it certified before the weighing.

[grahamb]

Me ? I would take the fish to a certified scale, have it measured, weighted, photographed and the do the right thing, return it to the water let everybody know that the fish was foul hooked and not apply for the world record.

The IGFA does not say that a foul-hooked fish is disqualified....all it says is that you cannot intentionally foul hook a fish.

http://www.igfa.org/BookRule2004.pdf

The only thing it says about foul-hooking is -

The following acts will disqualify a catch:

5. Intentionally foul-hooking or snagging a fish.

Equipment Regulations

F. LURES - ... . The use of any lure designed to entangle or foul-hook a fish is prohibited. ...

G. HOOKS FOR BAIT FISHING - A two-hook rig for bottom fishing is acceptable if it consists of two single hooks on separate leaders or drops. Both hooks must be imbedded in the respective baits and separated sufficiently so that a fish caught on one hook cannot be foul-hooked by the other.

[Raul]

I understand Graham, the fish was not intentionally foul hooked, so from that point the fish could qualify but the fish was caught in a California lake and under California law you cannot keep a foul hooked fish, it doesn 't matter if it was intentional or unintentional, the law is clear, you should obey the law.

Being honest and honorable is to do the right thing even when nobody 's watching.

[Rattletrap]

In other words. If I'm fishing a rattlin rogue and the bass hits and is hooked in the side of the head, it's legal.

[sportmed22]

THAT THING IS HUGE! It had to feel like reeling in a VW Bug.  Does anyone know how big this lake is?  Now that everyone knows where she is the record will soon fall, but I think the spawn might be the only time someone will have to catch her.  On the three other times that she was reportedly caught was it during the spring?  Foul hook or not it is a pig.

[5bass]

In other words. If I'm fishing a rattlin rogue and the bass hits and is hooked in the side of the head, it's legal.

Thats correct.

[squid]

Fouled Hook or not...it is a big bass, and who is to say that the scales used back in 1932 were on the button or that George W. Perry didn't foul hook his fish.  This is a world record either way.  The sucker weighs 25 lbs period!!  How can anyone tell this guy....SORRY?    :-X

World-record bass boated in California

Largemouth tips scale to 25.1 pounds, then is released back into Dixon Lake

By Brett Pauly

ESPNOutdoors.com senior editor March 20, 2006

He may have released her, but his intentions were good. Now the question beckons: Will Mac Weakley be rewarded with a world record for this 25.1-pound largemouth bass he boated early Monday. That's Mike Winn holding the Dixon Lake denizen.CARLSBAD, Calif. "Chaos has broken out."

Well, what do you expect when you notify the media that you boated a potential world-record bass?

That was the story at the home of Mac Weakley, who early Monday caught a mammoth largemouth on tiny Dixon Lake in southern California that he and his long-time fishing partners Mike Winn and Jed Dickerson weighed out at 25.1 pounds on a hand-held digital scale.

If that weight stands up it would shatter what is considered to be the granddaddy of angling records the 22¼-pound largemouth bass taken in 1932 at Georgia's Montgomery Lake by George Washington Perry.

"I feel good, awesome, in fact," said Weakley, 32, of Carlsbad, Calif, who used a white jig with a skirt and rattle on 15-pound line to boat the brute. "I'm just stoked to see a fish that big."

Claimed by many to be a mark that could never be eclipsed, the largemouth-bass record has become the thing of legends. It's the Joe DiMaggio 56-game hitting streak of the angling world.

"It's simply because there are people who are out there who didn't think a bass can grow to more than 22.25 pounds," said James Hall, editor of Bassmaster magazine. "It's because of how elusive the record has been for so many years."

Fortunately for the naysayers, the fish was documented by anglers with impressive resumes Weakley and Dickerson each already are officially recognized for boating top-15 bass of all-time at Dixon Lake and they claim to have witnesses, photo evidence of the catch and video documentation of Monday's behemoth on the scale.

"There is no smoke and mirrors," Hall said.

Dickerson believes the 25.1-pounder is the exact same fish that vaulted him to the No. 4 spot on The Bassmaster Top 25 list when he caught her on a swimbait May 31, 2003, at Dixon Lake a drop-in-the-bucket, 70-acre impoundment in San Diego County. He knows this because she has the same distinguishing black dot under her right gill plate. Back then she weighed 21.7 pounds, and quite clearly she still is a big fish in a small lake.

"It's the same fish I caught three years ago," said Dickerson, 33, a casino-industry employee from Oceanside, Calif. "I knew this was a world record before we even weighed it. It's the biggest, most ferocious bass in that lake, guaranteed."

But, like any good fishing story, this one comes with several sidebars. There's the fact that the fish was foul-hooked. That it wasn't weighed on a certified scale. And, ultimately, that it was released.

All of which will no doubt conspire to make Monday's catch much more difficult to be recognized as a world record.

Weakley, Winn and Dickerson, who fish Dixon Lake as often as five days a week, said they decided to release the spawning fish because they were under the impression it wouldn't qualify as a record since it was foul-hooked.

Jed Dickerson claims the 21.7-pound he caught in 2003 (above) at California's Dixon Lake is the same 25.1-pounder taken today by his angling parter Mac Weakley.Only later did they discover that may not be the case.

"It may still qualify," Hall said. "The IGFA (International Game Fish Association, the most-recognized keeper of angling records) has a pretty vague rule about foul-hooking, which states you cannot intentionally foul-hook a fish."

Weakley now plans to submit his catch along with photos, video, the line and the scale for verification by the International Game Fish Association.

"We didn't know" about the foul-hooking specifics, he said. "Now we are learning other things about it. If you accidentally foul-hook a fish and you instinctively set the hook, apparently it counts."

We'll certainly learn more about it, also, in the coming weeks as the world-record application is processed, including whether the IGFA would consider certifying a scale after the fact.

"It's way too early; this one is really up in the air," Hall said. "Ideally it would have been caught in the mouth and ideally it would not have been released and ideally it would have been weighed on a certified scale.

"Ultimately, however, the fact that he boated a 25-pound largemouth needs to be recognized."

As for the catch itself, Dickerson explained that it was raining and dark early Monday when the anglers came across the bedding bass in 12 feet of water. A male often much smaller than a female in the world of spawning bass also was on the bed, and it made several stabs at the jig. The fishermen couldn't tell whether the male or female was hitting the jig when Weakley set the hook at about 6:40 a.m.

The fish surged to deeper water, and Winn, who said he was manning the boat, motored toward a nearby dock where, Weakley explained, three people, including the dock attendant for the city-owned facility in Escondido, Calif., witnessed the action. There Winn fumbled on his initial attempt at netting the fish.

Yep, Winn swung and missed, which is surprising to anyone who saw him skillfully gaff saltwater fish on the fly when he was a second captain on a charter boat out of Santa Barbara, Calif., in an earlier career.

"My heart was in my throat," said Winn, 32, of Carlsbad, who now also works in the casino industry. "I was wondering which I would get next, a black eye or a bloody nose."

In the confusion and excitement that can at times underscore this level of fishing, Winn had picked up a net that wasn't his and was unfamiliar to him.

"I just grabbed for whatever was closest. I have never, ever missed a fish with my net," Winn explained. " But I got the fish halfway in and it freaked out and kicked out of this other net."

By this time it was quite apparent that it was the female at line's end, and one extremely large and displeased specimen. It again finned to deeper water, and the pursuers followed in their electric-powered rental boat (all that is permitted for use at this 80-foot-deep reservoir).

More evidence of big bass at Dixon Lake: Mike Long registered the largest largemouth in two decades when he boated this bubba in late April 2001.But a few moments later and five minutes after it was hooked, the big mother was in Winn's net. To the anglers' great dismay, the fish had been hooked in its side. Soon after that sad discovery and determining that its own weight might hurt the fish in the handling process the bassers decided to release it.

Winn said he hoisted the fish out of the water and did most of the handling, while Dickerson weighed it.

"This was so big, we thought we were going to break its neck," Weakley said. "But we were confident in the scale. It is without a doubt the world record, so we let it go."

Hall notes that there is the potential for a lot of cash to be associated with a world-record largemouth bass. It's been fabled by many that such a milestone could be worth $1 million or more to the lucky angler.

"Had they not released the fish alive and I think releasing it is the right thing to do I think they might have made quite a bit of money," Hall said. He surmised that there might be sponsorships from the manufacturers of the gear used to catch the bass and payments for guest appearances with the fish mount on display.

Hall said they still could get a plastic replica mount made, "But I don't know where in the hell they are going to get a mount that large."

Whatever happens, Mac Weakley no doubt will become the poster boy for catch and release and, refreshingly, he's all right with that, even if he doesn't break the record or make a dime.

"Would I be disappointed? Not at all," said Weakley, who is a supervisor at a casino in Oceanside. "I feel I'm very blessed; everything I care about is family and friends. I really don't care about money.

"To tell you the truth, I have a good job and I do all right, and I really don't give a (second thought) about it at all. We're more happy just to see that there is a 25-pound bass still living and in this lake."

Weakley sounded fairly calm at the time of this interview, but Winn said that wasn't exactly the case on the water. "He was kind of shaken up from the whole thing," Winn said.

Indeed, Weakley was so out of sorts that he insisted Winn hold up the big bass for the obligatory snapshots. Weakley deferred to his fellow basser for the photo op because of Winn's fish-handling experience as a charter-boat second captain, Winn said. Weakley obviously had regained confidence in his buddy after Winn's earlier netting troubles.

"He was afraid he was going to drop the fish," Winn said.

Weakley was adamant and didn't have to twist Winn's arm too terribly, as Winn explained: "'Grab it,' he said. 'Dude, I can't hold it; I'm afraid I might drop it. Just grab it, dude; I don't care.'"

Weakley then composed himself long enough to compose the photograph.

And so Winn gets of a share of the 15 minutes of fame. "People are going to start calling me Mac," he said.

But in this tight group of fishing friends, it's all in the family, especially when it comes to the pursuit of world-record bass.

[5bass]

squid,I think Perry's bass was more fishy than this one.Nobody could even find a pic of his WR bass.And on the cover of Bassmaster a while back,Perry was on there with what looked to be maybe a 6 pounder......which HE claimed weighed 13+ pounds.Maybe the Perry bass actually only weighed about 15 pounds.

I hope the Dixon Hawg sticks as the WR.......although,deep down,I dont think it will.

[DePoy79]

i bet its gonna be pretty tough to get on dixon now, all the big bass hunters will be there , trying to catch it again.