WORLD RECORD BASS

Steve wrote:
The only thing that I know of first hand that approaches that feat is my friend Gil landing a 48
inch muskie on 4 lb. mono

I once caught an 18 pound carp on monofilament sewing thread (about 3/4 pound break strength). For
about a season and a half back around '74 I did a lot of super-ultralight fishing. Long noodle
rods, 1/100 to 1/64 oz jigs and 2 pound line max -- more often, the sewing thread. Mostly it was
panfish and stream trout. But I carried the rod with me most trips and landed LM to almost 5, SM
to about 4, and a northern pike in the 10 pound range on it. But this one early summer trip, my
son and I were headed out on lillinonah at about 5PM, and I cast a 1/64 oz, white marabou jig at a
stump in the cove the ramp is in, the fish picked it up, and for the next 40 minutes, I basically
followed it around the cove with the electric motor on high, reeling and backreeling as necessary
to keep some pressure on the fish. At various times my audience ranged as high as 10 or 12 people
cheering me on. I was never really worried that the line would break. That was less a concern with
the sewing thread than with 2 pound fishing mono, because the sewing mono had a huge amount of
stretch (50% or better) that acted like a shock absorber. A WAS worried that it was just going to
go down and sulk, and I wouldn't be able to put enough pressure on it to remind it that it was
hooked, but it never stopped pulling and swimming, and eventually it wore down enough to get it to
the boat, and my kid just held the net in the water and I let it swim into the net.

RichZ©
www.richz.com/fishing