This bass was caught at Valentine Lake in Louisiana in Kisatchie!
Alexandria Town Talk newspaper:
GARDNER , LA -- All she wanted was to enjoy some downtime after work, but what Regina Womack got was far more than she expected. On the afternoon of May 6, Womack of Alexandria and friend Lisa Alexander of Gardner took their kayaks to ValentineLake, a small, pristine lake located 15 miles west of Alexandria in the Kisatchie National Forest , to fish and enjoy a little peace and quiet.
"I love the lake," Womack said. "First of all, I don't have any cell service out there. It's not very big (46 acres) and outboard motors are not allowed. It's beautiful there and I just enjoy paddling around the lake in my kayak fishing. I just love going there after work."
An avid angler, she enjoys fishing for bass in the small lake, which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
"I fish it a lot and have caught some, but nothing larger than three pounds. More times than not, I will fish it and come home with nothing," Womack said.
All of that would change by day's end. I began fishing around 5:30 that afternoon," Womack said. "We were at the Southwest end of the lake which is the opposite end of the dam. There was a lot of grass and lily pads where we were at and we started seeing a lot of fish moving around in the grass." Fishing with a Daiwa spin cast reel, a Shimano rod, and 20-pound test Seaguar fluorocarbon line, she was throwing her weightless Zoom Mag II plum super plus worm when a large swirl opposite from location caught her attention.
"Around 7:45, I was watching the water for any sign of fish feeding when I saw this very large swirl on the opposite side. I kept my eye on the spot and I saw the swirl again," Womack said. She paddled to the spot and cast her worm. Nothing. I tried again and again "» no luck. Then on her fourth cast, she hit pay dirt. "I must have thrown right across her, because she hit it immediately," Womack said. "I really didn't know what I had because it felt like something other than a fish "» like an alligator. I started yelling at Lisa to come and help me.. I didn't have time to think, just react. I don't know how long I fought her. It was probably only 30 or 40 seconds but it seemed more like an eternity," Womack continued. "I didn't have time to think. I could barely hold onto the rod with all the jerking of my kayak."
The unseen fish instinctively headed for the safety of the grass and became entangled. With a death grip on her rod, Womack managed to get her kayak, a 14-foot Native Manta Ray, over to where the fish was. She looked down into the thick grass and noticed a very large eye ball looking up at her.
"I was a little frightened when I stuck my hands into the water to grab her mouth," Womack said. "It was only then I realize I was looking at this monster bass. It took all my strength to pull the bass out of the grass and over into my lap. And I did it without flipping my kayak. I had both my hands in her mouth and hooked my legs around her to keep her from getting away."
Alexander, who was 100 yards away, heard her friend's frantic call for help and paddled up to her kayak just as Womack lifted the fish out of the water and into her lap. "As I got there I saw Regina haul this big sow out of the water. She was holding on to the bass' mouth with both hands and shaking like an earthquake," Alexander said. After the two friends managed to collect there sences, Alexander tied their two kayaks together and managed to get them to the pier where a man helped the pair put the fish into a large storage big in the front of Womack's kayak. It took them a half hour to get their kayaks loaded and headed back to Alexander's house. On the way, she called her dad, Jack Womack of Olla, and both of her brother-in-laws, but they were skeptical she could have caught such a big fish. "They just didn't believe me," Womack said. "So, I gave up on the phone calls." As soon as they arrived at Alexander's house, they immediately put the fish into an ice chest filled with water. It was barely alive.
Alexander took her old meat scales and calibrated them before weighing the fish. It weighed 16.25 pounds at the time. They immediately called Alexander's father, a retired Wildlife and Fisheries employee, who in turn was able to give them names and numbers of the people they needed to call to get the fish certified. After several unsuccessful attempts to reach anyone, they called T..W. Thompson, Alexandria 's Police Commissioner and a good friend. They took it into town and where they were met by 10 people, all of whom were also making phone calls to try and find certified scales. It was almost 10:30 p.m. by the time Womack was able to weigh the fish on the certified scales at the Alexandria 's Kroger Signature store. It weighed 15.88 pounds. Unable to do anything more, they placed the fish on ice. The following day Robert Gough, program manager of Booker Fowler Fish Hatchery weighed, measured, and certified Womack's fish. It was 27 inches long; had a 25-inch girth, and weighed a whopping 15.875 pounds, just .095 pounds off the state record. It had already spawned. U.S. Forest Fisheries Program Manager David C. Byrd, who oversees the management of Valentine Lake , believes the bass would not only have shattered theLouisiana state record, but would have wiped out the record in Texas as well. "It lost enough to keep it out of the state record book," Byrd said. "But it is still a nice fish with a great weight. Just imagine though if it hadn't spawned and she caught it and weighed it immediately. I believe her bass could have gone as much as 17.5 to 18 pounds, and that weight would have shattered the record in both states. "As it is, she is going to miss the state record (15.97 pounds) by 1/10th of a pound (.095 ounces)," Byrd said. Greg Wiggins caught the present record out of Caney Lake in February of 1994. Womack has sent off the paperwork on her fish to the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association, who are the official keepers of the state's records, and is just awaiting word back from them. She has turned her fish over to local taxidermist Harry Vermaelen in Pineville to preserve it.
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