Talk about an exciting turn at a fishing tournament. Two anglers actually ended up breaking a Florida state record with one massive bass they hooked. He caught the fish while participating in the Fifth Annual Liberty County Bulldog Booster Bass Tournament at Florida's Apalachicola River.
Tournament anglers Joe Durden and Wynn Fletcher ended up hooking the fish.
"There were four or five nice fish holding in a backwater slough out of the main current of river flow," Durden told Outdoor Life. "The mouth of the slough was about 12 feet deep. Inside the slough the bottom rose to 4 feet and then it dropped back off to 8 feet and that's where the fish I marked on sonar were holding."
Bass Breaking Record
Durden ended up getting a bite, which he thought was a catfish at first, but it ended up being a bass.
"The fish fought deep and tough, and I thought sure it was a catfish," says Durden. "I got the fish up near the boat, and when it came up, I saw it was a bass, and it darted around the boat a good bit before Wynn could net it and put it in my Skeeter."
The angler realized right away that it was a potential state record breaker.
"I knew right away it was potentially a state record," says Durden. "It was the biggest spotted bass I ever saw, and in my boat, it weighed 3 pounds 14 ounces. I called a friend and learned the state record was smaller, so I knew I had to get it weighed on certified scales and checked by a state biologist to verify it was a spotted bass."
While they ultimately didn't place in the tournament, Durden did break a state record for spotted bass.
FWC fisheries biologist Andy Strickland confirmed the impressive fish's size of 3.93 pounds and 18.25 inches long.la.
"Catching a state record fish is a tremendous accomplishment for any angler," said Strickland. "Particularly a record that's held the test of time for 40 years."
The angler plans to mount the fish.
"I will have a taxidermist [mount] that bass," Durden says. "We didn't do well in the tournament that day. But catching a state-record fish is better than a win anyway."
