Anglers’ dream: Scoring a record catch

ALBANY ‒ Ole Robert Altman nailed it when he said, “I love fishing. You put that line in the water and you don’t know what’s on the other end. Your imagination is under there.”

With every cast of your lure or drop of a cricket in a likely spot, you never know what might decide to take your bait. It doesn’t matter where you are fishing or what pectoral species you might attempt to target, there’s never a guarantee what’s going to be on the other end of the line. Therefore, it’s rare for an angler not to let his imagination at some point wander toward the possibility of landing a record catch.

Georgia lends itself to anglers’ dreams for very good reason. One of angling’s longest-standing world records was achieved on June 2, 1932, when George Perry caught a Largemouth Bass weighing 22 pounds and 4 ounces. That record still stands as the Holy Grail of bass fishing after 92 years. However, on the day of his record catch in the depths of the Great Depression, Perry had no dreams or aspirations of catching a trophy.

Perry and his close friend Jack Page launched a small homemade boat in Montgomery Lake near Lumber City, Ga., in hopes of catching supper. The friends took turns paddling and casting with the only rod and reel they had. The fishing was slow, and Perry recalled that as they were paddling back to take out the boat, he noticed the large roil of a fish next to a stump. He decided to make one last cast, quickly pitching the weathered Creek Chub Twin Tail Shiner toward the spot. They were immediately showered with water as a large fish slammed the topwater plug. When Perry set the hook there was no give to his line, and he initially feared he might have hooked a stump and could lose the only lure the pair had.

However, the “stump” started to pull strongly against his line. Wrestling the bass to the boat, Perry had to use both hands to pull the behemoth aboard. The anglers knew the fish was big but had no clue as to how big it really was. Stopping at the grocery store to show it off, they measured a bass 32 ½ inches in length and 28 ½ inches in girth. Emboldened by their discovery, they next stopped at the Post Office where the fish was weighed on certified scales.

The bass was cleaned and is said to have fed the family of six for two nights. After hearing that Field and Stream magazine had a fishing contest, friends of Perry submitted the information about his catch and Perry ended up winning $75 worth of fishing gear.

Today, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources recognizes 24 species of freshwater fish and 65 saltwater species for state record recognition. Georgia’s state record fish are diverse, ranging from the 10-ounce freshwater Shadow Bass to the saltwater record-breaking 794-pound Tiger Shark. This year, a half-dozen Georgia state records have been broken, including Jack Crevalle, Queen Trigger Fish, Graysby Grouper and Rock Bass.

I reached out to Captain Cefus McRae, host of the television series “Nuts & Bolts Fishing” and an award-winning author, to pick has brain as a fishing guide for some tips on trying to make a record-breaking catch. I was anticipating advice on bait size, tackle tips and fishing techniques. However, as usual I should have realized Capt. McRae would be thinking outside the box.

“I don’t think I’d go for trying to find a 22-pound Largemouth Bass,” he said. “However, there are a lot of farm ponds with really big bream in them.”

Before I could ask what, a good bream pond had to do with catching a record-breaking fish, he proceeded to clarify his interest in farm ponds.

“When I was a member of the International Game Fish Association, there was a young lady in her teens that held all sorts of world records,” he said. “She wasn’t catching world class Marlin and Tuna, she was looking at the IGFA record book and looking for records she could beat.”

It turns our the young lady is not alone. When I looked at the IGFA website, I discovered that there are many anglers who amass IGFA records by finding records they have a high likelihood of breaking. One gentleman has set more than 100 IGFA world records in just nine years. It turns out the secret is in the rule book.

The IGFA was established in 1939 and is the leading authority on angling pursuits and the keeper of the most current world records of fish catches by species. Their records are maintained for saltwater, freshwater, and flyfishing. Their records include not only the largest species of fish landed but for the largest species of fish landed by line weight or tippet class. As most anglers know, fishing line has a rated breaking strength that, with finesse, skill and luck, can often be greatly exceeded.

Although the rules are rather complex, the weight class category is what makes catching a “record” an achievable goal for most anglers. It’s also where McRae’s strategy comes into play. Search the record book for species you have access to. Then identify a “line class record” that you could catch and set your sights on that record. With a little research and a good bit of preparation, you could be in the record book soon as well.

For more information and a start on a personal record quest, go to https://igfa.org.

Special Photo; Georgia DNR