Posted by Admin | Posted in complete bass fishing | Posted on 26-01-2012
Tags: largemouth bass, poor timing, precise measurement
The current record in Illinois for the largest largemouth bass is 13 pounds, 1 ounce — a mark Rick Herring says he would have eclipsed were it not for poor timing.
Herring went out for a regular day May 20, fishing with his brother at his side. They went to their favorite pond east of Brighton. that day, he left with a 14-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass.
Herring and his brother could not believe their eyes.
“I hugged it,” Herring said. “I was so pleased.”
Ed Walbel set the current record for Illinois’ biggest largemouth bass in February 1976.
Herring had everyone he knew, including many friends, help weigh the fish to get a precise measurement, which was 14 pounds, 4 ounces each time, he said. He then took it to his cousin to have it mounted.
Herring said he took the fish to a conservation agent to file the paperwork, but he didn’t realize the agent was retiring the next day. As it turns out, the documentation on the fish was turned in after a 90-day grace period, so his bass was not eligible for a state record.
But he said he expects to duplicate the feat this year because the ponds he fishes are full of big bass.
Herring lives in Brighton with his wife. Fishing has been his main leisure activity ever since he was a child.
“When I grew up, I had three brothers and two sisters. I was 14 when we got running water,” Herring said. “We lived north of Brighton on a farm and we used to fish, hunt and butcher our own meat.”
Herring and his brother continue to fish and even have contests to see who can catch the biggest fish. obviously, Herring won this time around.
It took about an hour to get a firm grip on the fish to get it into the boat. Herring also caught two 8 1/2-pound fish that day and said he could even fit one of the heads of the smaller fish into the largemouth bass.
The largemouth bass could have been larger, too.
“if the fish hadn’t laid its eggs before, it would have been around 17 pounds,” Herring said.
Besides fishing on his own time, Herring takes children out to teach them how to fish, with their parents’ permission.
Herring also does a lot of volunteer work and takes care of senior citizens in his town, along with his own mother, who is in a nursing home.