NEW RECORD - 5 FISH - 23 Pounds, 7 ounces
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2003 2:07 pm
On the way up to my club tournament this weekend on a lake that will for the time remain "nameless", I had the privilege of fishing with the current record holder of the largest recorded 5 fish limit in a tournament, Neil Destefano. Neil and I have becomes friends over the last few years (despite the fact that we compete against each other in tournaments). The topic of big bags came up (20+ lbs) and I mentioned the fact that had never been able to break 20 lbs in a tournament and had yet to have a fish over 6lbs in a tournament.
For those of you who are not from NY, a 20 lbs. bag is a “Monster Bag”. In fact, of all of the bass clubs in the NYS Alliance of Bass Clubs, there have only been 6 bags over 20 lbs recorded at a tournament since the start of NY bass clubs over 30 years ago. Neil Destefano had 3 of the six bags weighed in and held the first place record of 20lbs, 13oz which has stood for over 7 years to date.
The lake we fished had a reputation for giving up consistent 5 fish limits going 16 lbs with frequent winning weights in the 17-18 lbs range and 6 lbs lunkers were common.
The tournament started at 6:00 am and within the first 30 minutes, I managed to put together a small limit of bass. The water was up from all the rain we have had in the northeast and the bass could be found in all three stages of Pre, post and spawn. At this point, I had 2 fish under two pounds and 3 fish in the 3 lbs range. Around 7:15 am, I culled one of my small bass with a smallmouth that was in the lower 2 lbs range followed by a fish weighing around 4 lbs.
So as of about 7:35 am, my bag consisted of onr fish over 4 lbs, three fish over 3 lbs and one smallie just over 2 lbs. Giving my somewhere in the neighbor hood of 15+ lbs for 5 fish. Neil was still trying to get a first keeper fish in the boat. On the way up, he stated that work has been taking him out of the zone this season and cutting into the mental aspect of tournament fishing. Plus being in the back of the boat when you are a boater, S U C K S!
At this point, I was completely in the zone and after landing a second fish over 4 lbs, I started to piece together a big fish pattern. Both 4 lbs fish came off the exact same type of cover with 3 identical features to the area. Here comes the first bad part of the day… while opening the live-well to cull out the 2 lbs smallie caught only 20 minutes early, I was shocked to find that he had died in the live-well. Tournament rules state that you “CAN NOT CULL A DEAD FISH”, so this 2 lbs smallie was stuck in my bag till the end. Since he was my smallest fish, I had throw back one of the three lbs largemouths… Man, does that hurt! Now I felt like I was taking steps backwards and would need to have an amazing day to recover from this mishap.
My bag now consisted of one permanent 2 lbs+ smallie, two 3 lbs+ and two 4 lbs+ bass. Neil was encouraging me to keep fishing hard because I wanted to make sure he was able to get himself a good limit too. With the two of us fishing from the front of the boat, big fish were “up for grabs” and Neil also knew where the bigger females where hiding. We took turns at possible targets, but for what ever reason, the ones I picked to throw at had the big fish on them and around 10:15am, I hooked my first 5 lbs + largemouth for the day which culled out one of my 3 pound fish. Within the next 15 minutes, I hooked into another fish over 4lbs and culled out my last 3 pound fish. Now I’m starting to see the potential of the bag I was building and that 2 lbs smallie that pasted away was really bringing me down. I just kept thinking “I’ll just have to fish harder”, so I did… and about an hour later, I pulled another fish over 5 lbs off of the same type of area and cover that the other 5 lbs and two 4’s came off. I turned to Neil and said “Hey, that’s got to make a 20 pound bag”. He just looked over and said, “Yeah, you might have 20 pounds. Keep pounding the cover, because today is your day and you won’t get many like this one”. Neil had a small limit at this point and I offered him the front of the boat for a while so he could work on his bag. We started trading back and forth and pointing out fish to each other. When I would spot a fish that was less than 4 lbs, I’d point it out to Neil (If he hadn’t already spotted it) and let him work the area. He began getting back into the game and culling some of his smaller fish out.
I continued culling what I could; I caught plenty of 3 pound bass and a couple more 4 pound bass which helped a little, but not much. When you are stuck with a 2 lbs fish, it really hurts throwing a back “4 pound fish”.
It was around 12 noon when I said something that really didn’t fit with the kind of day I was having… “Neil, I need to get a kicker fish, because that 2 lbs smallie is going to coast me the tournament”. Neil of course thinks that the sun has gotten to my head at this point and says “YOU HAVE FOUR KICKER FISH RIGHT NOW!!!”
At around 12:45 pm, I flipped my jig into the right place at the right time and was immediately greeted with a hard strike… I called for the net “Neil, this is the one man, get the net”. (He later told me he figured it was just another 4 pound fish so he didn’t hurry for the net this time). Now I yelled “NEIL, THIS IS A MONSTER, GET THE FREAKIN’ NET!!!” When he looked over, and saw what was stripping drag off my 7’ heavy action flipping stick, he sprang for the net. The fish ran all over the place and was not willing to come in easily. She circled ¾ of the boat and jumped twice before giving up. Neil managed to get her into the net and in the boat. What a slob!!! We both felt very comfortable calling the bass conservatively “over 6 pounds”. I turned to Neil and said, “Take the front for the rest of the day”.
The tournament ended and there were two other monster bags brought to the scales. Mike Ebris had 19 lbs, 3 oz and Frank Kavanagh had 20 lbs, 10 oz.
First they weighed my whole limit which went 23 lbs, 7 oz, and then they weighed my lunker… 7 pounds, 11 ounces…
Both numbers were personal goals I had wanted to achieve since I got serious about tournament fishing and they both got broken on the same day… which just happened to be my 30th birthday, June 28th. I couldn’t have asked for a better present or a better day!
I'll post the pictures when I get them from the guys in my club...
BC
For those of you who are not from NY, a 20 lbs. bag is a “Monster Bag”. In fact, of all of the bass clubs in the NYS Alliance of Bass Clubs, there have only been 6 bags over 20 lbs recorded at a tournament since the start of NY bass clubs over 30 years ago. Neil Destefano had 3 of the six bags weighed in and held the first place record of 20lbs, 13oz which has stood for over 7 years to date.
The lake we fished had a reputation for giving up consistent 5 fish limits going 16 lbs with frequent winning weights in the 17-18 lbs range and 6 lbs lunkers were common.
The tournament started at 6:00 am and within the first 30 minutes, I managed to put together a small limit of bass. The water was up from all the rain we have had in the northeast and the bass could be found in all three stages of Pre, post and spawn. At this point, I had 2 fish under two pounds and 3 fish in the 3 lbs range. Around 7:15 am, I culled one of my small bass with a smallmouth that was in the lower 2 lbs range followed by a fish weighing around 4 lbs.
So as of about 7:35 am, my bag consisted of onr fish over 4 lbs, three fish over 3 lbs and one smallie just over 2 lbs. Giving my somewhere in the neighbor hood of 15+ lbs for 5 fish. Neil was still trying to get a first keeper fish in the boat. On the way up, he stated that work has been taking him out of the zone this season and cutting into the mental aspect of tournament fishing. Plus being in the back of the boat when you are a boater, S U C K S!
At this point, I was completely in the zone and after landing a second fish over 4 lbs, I started to piece together a big fish pattern. Both 4 lbs fish came off the exact same type of cover with 3 identical features to the area. Here comes the first bad part of the day… while opening the live-well to cull out the 2 lbs smallie caught only 20 minutes early, I was shocked to find that he had died in the live-well. Tournament rules state that you “CAN NOT CULL A DEAD FISH”, so this 2 lbs smallie was stuck in my bag till the end. Since he was my smallest fish, I had throw back one of the three lbs largemouths… Man, does that hurt! Now I felt like I was taking steps backwards and would need to have an amazing day to recover from this mishap.
My bag now consisted of one permanent 2 lbs+ smallie, two 3 lbs+ and two 4 lbs+ bass. Neil was encouraging me to keep fishing hard because I wanted to make sure he was able to get himself a good limit too. With the two of us fishing from the front of the boat, big fish were “up for grabs” and Neil also knew where the bigger females where hiding. We took turns at possible targets, but for what ever reason, the ones I picked to throw at had the big fish on them and around 10:15am, I hooked my first 5 lbs + largemouth for the day which culled out one of my 3 pound fish. Within the next 15 minutes, I hooked into another fish over 4lbs and culled out my last 3 pound fish. Now I’m starting to see the potential of the bag I was building and that 2 lbs smallie that pasted away was really bringing me down. I just kept thinking “I’ll just have to fish harder”, so I did… and about an hour later, I pulled another fish over 5 lbs off of the same type of area and cover that the other 5 lbs and two 4’s came off. I turned to Neil and said “Hey, that’s got to make a 20 pound bag”. He just looked over and said, “Yeah, you might have 20 pounds. Keep pounding the cover, because today is your day and you won’t get many like this one”. Neil had a small limit at this point and I offered him the front of the boat for a while so he could work on his bag. We started trading back and forth and pointing out fish to each other. When I would spot a fish that was less than 4 lbs, I’d point it out to Neil (If he hadn’t already spotted it) and let him work the area. He began getting back into the game and culling some of his smaller fish out.
I continued culling what I could; I caught plenty of 3 pound bass and a couple more 4 pound bass which helped a little, but not much. When you are stuck with a 2 lbs fish, it really hurts throwing a back “4 pound fish”.
It was around 12 noon when I said something that really didn’t fit with the kind of day I was having… “Neil, I need to get a kicker fish, because that 2 lbs smallie is going to coast me the tournament”. Neil of course thinks that the sun has gotten to my head at this point and says “YOU HAVE FOUR KICKER FISH RIGHT NOW!!!”
At around 12:45 pm, I flipped my jig into the right place at the right time and was immediately greeted with a hard strike… I called for the net “Neil, this is the one man, get the net”. (He later told me he figured it was just another 4 pound fish so he didn’t hurry for the net this time). Now I yelled “NEIL, THIS IS A MONSTER, GET THE FREAKIN’ NET!!!” When he looked over, and saw what was stripping drag off my 7’ heavy action flipping stick, he sprang for the net. The fish ran all over the place and was not willing to come in easily. She circled ¾ of the boat and jumped twice before giving up. Neil managed to get her into the net and in the boat. What a slob!!! We both felt very comfortable calling the bass conservatively “over 6 pounds”. I turned to Neil and said, “Take the front for the rest of the day”.
The tournament ended and there were two other monster bags brought to the scales. Mike Ebris had 19 lbs, 3 oz and Frank Kavanagh had 20 lbs, 10 oz.
First they weighed my whole limit which went 23 lbs, 7 oz, and then they weighed my lunker… 7 pounds, 11 ounces…
Both numbers were personal goals I had wanted to achieve since I got serious about tournament fishing and they both got broken on the same day… which just happened to be my 30th birthday, June 28th. I couldn’t have asked for a better present or a better day!
I'll post the pictures when I get them from the guys in my club...
BC