World Record Alert
Potential spotted bass record caught at Bullards Bar Reservoir
On Saturday, Feb. 21, Lou Ferrante of Sparks, Nev., caught a 10.95-pound spotted bass from Bullards Bar Reservoir in California. If certified, it will be the new world record, beating out the current world record caught last year by Keith Bryan by about a half pound.
Ferrante, a co-angler in the Rayovac FLW Series, caught the fish while participating in a 19-boat tournament held by the Great Basin Bassers. The fish was first weighed in on the club’s scale, where it weighed 11.20 pounds. Unfortunately, the club’s scale wasn’t certified, so Ferrante had to find a place to weigh it while he drove back to Nevada. Eventually, he found a Save Mart supermarket in Truckee, Calif., where he was able to get the certified weight of 10.95 pounds. Ferrante and his partner Joe Inama finished fourth in the tournament with 12.32 pounds.
Ferrante says he caught the fish at around noon on a Quantum spinning outfit with 8-pound-test line and a brown-colored Yamamoto grub on a darter head in about 20 to 25 feet of water.
“I broke off my Senko about two or three casts before the fish bit,” says Ferrante. “I think God told me to pick up the rod with the grub instead of re-tying. It took me about two or three minutes to land it, and I almost fainted when I saw her in the net.”
Ferrante has been bass fishing since 1985, but says that this was only the third time he had ever fished at Bullards Bar. Ferrante finished in 44th place on the co-angler side at the recent Rayovac FLW Series event on Lake Havasu and plans to compete in the remainder of the Western Division events.
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