My new personal best Largemouth and the
Rancho Seco Lake record

     The following is the actual report that I made on the Fish Talk Forum of Trophy Bass Only .com,  about the last day of my vacation, on 4/10/03  (followed by several photos)

     Buddies, I don't know what to say ? I kind of feel like anything I do say would be an understatement..... plus, I have been up since 4 am (it's 11:15 pm now) and my head has been spinning for the last 9 hours. Anyway, if this post seems erratic, or slightly incoherent, that is about how I feel right now.

  So here it is:
  I got on the water a little late, at about 10 am. As I launched the boat, the water was like glass and the sky was clear. Immediately I start looking around for a big fish on a bed, but only see a few small ones. I go around one point staying pretty far off shore, trying to eye one bed up shallow, that has been holding some big fish on and off lately, but did not want to spook a fish if it was up.
  Out of chance I look straight down beside the boat and I see a very deep nest.... probably 15 feet, with a large log laying across one side of it..... Wait a minute....  that can't be a fish ! Just then this very large dark shadow eases off of the bed and disappears ! Oh my God ! That thing was deep and it still looked big ! I'm thinking at least 15 lbs, but maybe even 17 lbs !!! I back off a ways and lower the anchor. I try to fish the bed for a while, hoping the giant will come back up. But because of the depth, I really could not get far enough away from the nest to feel like I would not spook her, yet still be able to see the nest. Plus I'm thinking, even if a slight breeze comes up, I won't be able to find this bed ! What to do ???
  I decide to mark the bed with a small marker buoy. As I cruise out to set it, she is up again, but immediately cruises back out. That's Ok. Now I know where to cast, even from a further (read: less spooky) distance. I fish the bed confidently for another 20 minutes, but not so much as a tap.
Now the breeze is starting to pick up, so I decide that I should make a round and see if I can find some good ones that are more willing to play. Basically nothing. I find a few good fish up on shallow nests but they spook away and won't come back. At about 1:30 pm the breeze has turned into wind, and now the clouds are rolling in.
The barometer has to be falling, and since I didn't see anything else promising, I was preparing myself mentally to fish that one bed for 5 more hours (until dark) if I had to.
I make the first cast, and it was perfect. I do my twitching and jigging thing..... nothing.
Second cast. Again, it was dead on (pretty lucky really, with the wind and all) I let it set for a few minutes, then bump it. Then another minute.... then I give it three rapid pops...... THUNK ! My line starts to tighten ! I slam back but the rod tip doesn't budge ! In fact, for a solid 2 seconds nothing moved..... and not to sound like the old cliché, but honestly, it felt like snag ! Then, slowly at first, it starts to move. Quickly it picks up speed on a straight away run ! Oh my God ! This has to be "her" !!! It runs literally 60 feet as my line climbs towards the surface at the same time ! I knew what was going to happen, but there was no way I could be prepared for what I saw next !!! This massive fish explodes into a straight vertical leap, clearing the water by at least as high as her own length ! I'm telling you guys, my heart was immediately lodged in my throat ! This thing looked just huger than huge ! Giant head, with quarter sized bugged out eyes ! Huge belly ! Really long ! I'm thinking that this fish has just got to be 15 plus ! As soon as she crashes back into the water, she takes off on another screaming run of at least 50 more feet, and then does an incredible long jump, shaking her head, and kicking her tail though mid air as if she is still swimming ! Crash, back into the water she goes.... another 50 foot run followed by another vertical leap.... but not quite as high. After that, she made at least 3 more runs of 30 feet or so.
Now this is when I started to get worried ! Oh sure, she was starting to get tired, but I was experiencing a few problems of my own... I'm telling you guys, my adrenaline was on full tilt ! Honestly, I was starting to shake really bad ! Normally I wait until after I catch a huge fish to do
this ! I was seriously concerned that I would drop the rod, as my hands were tingling big time ! Of course so was my scalp ! I actually had the thought of passing out running though my mind...... at which point I had to start talking myself down a bit. Settle down... chill out... you will land her... and then of course all of the quick prayers... Please Lord, please, please, please....
I honestly believe that at this point I had been fighting her for over 5 minutes. Just then she started to go for the surface again, and I was like no, no, you don't want to jump again.... at which point she just kind of rolled over. She was still lightly kicking as I slow pumped her back, but amazingly, she never would let me get her turned around ! Just as she gets within reach of my net, I swing around in front of her with the net, and put the scoop on her ! I reach over with the other hand to get a hold of the hoop and drag her over the side of the boat, and I just stare down in disbelief !
This thing has got to be way over 15 lbs..... maybe even over 16.5 ! Is she my new PB ??? Immediately I put her in my 70 qt livewell along with a bunch of water.
At that point, I just spin around, drop to my knees, and put my head on my pedestal seat..... Thank you so much Lord, thank you, thank you....
  Ok, now this was all incredible and everything, but if I have a coronary attack now, I won't get to enjoy it for very long. Shake it off "Fish Chris"... You will be all right :-)
  I head back for the ramp. There were already a few guys asking across the water, "how big" ? I told them, we would find out in a few....
  When I get to the ramp, I ask one guy to run across the street to the lake managers office and tell them that I had a "HUGE" fish and could they please come witness the weighing. The lady calls the manager on a two way radio, from over on the other side of the park. While he is on the way, we start taking photos. Just 2 or 3 at a time so I could let her rest in the live well in between sessions.
  When the manager gets there, I open the livewell, and he immediately says, "Oh my God ! That is the biggest bass I have ever seen" ! Then as I get the scale ready, he adds, "....and I am the one who weighed the official lake record of 16.5 lbs" !
  The moment of truth.... I hang it on my Berkeley digital scale (which I have calibrated and found to be dead on) in front of the man who actually watched me catch it, plus the other gentleman taking pictures, and the lake manager........ 18.4 LBS !!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it ! I zero the scale just to make sure... 18.3, 18.5, ......18.4 solid !!!!  Oh my God ! I just caught the lake record !!!!  She had a length of 29", and a girth of 24.5" !

  Anyway, while there has never been a 19 lb'er caught this far North, I believe this is the fourth largest bass ever caught anywhere up here ! Oh, and nothing against the other three that were slightly bigger, but I think everyone who sees these photos will agree, this fish honestly looked more youthful (read: greater potential) than any of the others ! Which of course made it just all the cooler as I released her. I tried to turn her out away from the dock for a good release photo, but she would have no part of that as she exploded into a 180 and shot under the dock ! Gone ! But this was most certainly a memory that I will never forget ! Can't wait for a replica !

Still in disbelief,
Fish Chris

Ps, Without being totally blessed, I would not have even made it out of my bed..... let alone caught this massive lake record bass !!!

 And one more thing..... although this was certainly the most awesome catch of my life so far, I will have to stop short of referring to it as the "catch of a lifetime".... the reason being, there is no doubt in my mind that I will eventually catch a bigger one.
  A nice digital shot which shows the length pretty well.
  A 35 mm shot which shows that she had a good sized belly too.
...... and of course the release :-)
  Can't wait to catch her again when she is over 20 lbs ! ..... or just maybe 22-6 ???
A vertical digital shot.