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FWC Celebrates 10,000 Trophy Bass
> THE TROPHYCATCH PROGRAM
created by the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission in 2012 needed
less than eight years to record its 10,000th
submission of trophy-worthy bass.
As of early July, the FWC has record
of over 10,500 largemouths caught from
Florida’s waters that meet the requirements
of being called a true lunker. As
outlined by the program, any bass
caught, photographed on a scale and
released alive that weighs 8 pounds or
better is eligible for submission to the
TrophyCatch program, which rewards
anglers with prizes (with help from partners
like Bass Pro Shops) and chances to
win a brand-new Phoenix boat powered
by a Mercury, a Minn Kota trolling
motor and Power-Poles.
The goal of the program is to get people
fishing, to teach those same people
good conservation practices and to help
provide valuable data to the FWC.
Clearly, it’s working.
“If Florida is to remain the big bass
capital of the world, Florida anglers
need to be part of our research team,”
says FWC commissioner Gary Lester.
“The FWC receives valuable data from
TrophyCatch anglers, and this information
will continue playing a crucial role
in management decisions. Their participation
is vital in keeping bass fishing in
Florida great.”
2020 ICAST Cup Winners
The ICAST Cup presented by FLW,
a popular part of the ICAST tradeshow
for the last five years, kicked off ICAST
Online as a fish, photograph and
release tournament July 11-12 with 50
anglers across the country fishing their
local waters to raise money for Keep
America Fishing.
The $20-per-angler entry fee goes
directly to Keep America Fishing and its
efforts to preserve every angler’s right to
sustainably fish on our nation’s waterways.
Since its inception, the ICAST Cup
has raised more than $50,000.
The ICAST Cup featured five geographic
divisions this year with anglers
competing over two days to tally the
most inches for their five longest largemouth,
smallmouth and spotted bass.
“Great” only begins to describe it.
Since 2012, TrophyCatch has amassed
over 85,600 active participants who have
collectively caught and released over
91,531 pounds of trophy largemouths. Of
those catches:
> 2,005 were 10 pounds or larger
> 82 were 13 pounds or larger – 17
of which came from Kingsley Lake
> 8.4 percent came from Lake
Kissimmee (7.2 percent from
Rodman Reservoir)
“It is truly a unique collaboration
between anglers, partners and the FWC
to ensure that future generations will
experience the same excitement that
these anglers did when they reeled in
their trophy bass,” says Jon Fury, FWC’s
Director of the Division of Freshwater
Fisheries Management.
To learn more about the program,
visit TrophyCatchFlorida.com.
Charlotte
Johnson
Central Division:
1st: Mark Balbinot – 85.75 inches
2nd: Russ Chargualaf – 82.00 inches
Northern Division:
1st: Michael Ovaska – 82.50 inches
2nd: Casey Reed – 77.50 inches
Southeastern Division:
1st: Doug Wilson – 103.25 inches
2nd: Ronan – 99.00 inches
Southern Division:
1st: Zack Holt – 71.75 inches
2nd: Jason McDonner – 63.75 inches
Western Division:
1st: Chayston Bastian – 83.50 inches
2nd: Zachary Espinosa – 58.00 inches
the catch of a
short
lifetime
Most bass
anglers will go
their entire lives having
never caught a bass weighing
double digits, and it’s a virtual certainty
almost none of those same
anglers will ever land one that tips
the scale at more than 15 pounds.
It’s all the more impressive, then,
when a 13-year-old angler can
count himself among the few who
get to experience that thrill.
Emory Carver was fishing a
pond owned by a family friend on
June 26, not far from Lake Eufaula
– where big fish are common –
when he got a bite few will ever be
able to say they experienced. After
a fight Carver says lasted about a
minute with a fish he knew was
going to prove to be close to double
digits, he finally managed to
hoist the 15-pound, 6-ounce behemoth
up onto dry land and into his
hands. Carver documented the
entire sequence with a GoPro and
posted the video (titled “15 POUND
BASS Caught by KID!!”) to his
YouTube channel.
When the dust settled, Carver
used a scale to weigh his incredible
catch, then returned the fish to
the pond before reality really set in.
He spent the next few minutes
telling everyone about his fish of a
lifetime. Carver caught the fish
using a right-handed reel (he normally
winds with his left) and a
Yamamoto Senko.
Carver’s catch came up 1
pound, 2 ounces shy of the
Alabama state record set by
Thomas Burgin in 1987, but you
probably won’t hear him lamenting
that fact. After all, there’s plenty of
time to work on landing a new
personal best. n
Complete results and photos are available on the FishDonkey app and ICASTCup.com.
To learn more about Keep America Fishing, visit KeepAmericaFishing.org.
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FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2020