Photos: Provided by Cody Meyer
On Friday, Dec. 16, 2016, 33-year-old, Cody Meyer of Auburn, Calif. landed the next potential world record spotted bass with a 10.80 caught at a Northern California fishery, known as Lake X.
Tackle Warehouse Shoot Ends in a World Record Class Spotted Bass
Along with fellow angler J.R. Wright, Cody Meyer launched on to a NorCal lake shooting photos for TW.
With an eight-pound spot already in the box, Meyer targeted a “do-nothing point” that he located on his electronics and reeled in the catch of a lifetime - a spotted bass that weighed in at 10.80.
”It was one of those clay points that you fish a million of and don’t get bit,” recalled Meyer, a Daiwa pro. “There was a little cut by the point and some water coming down; so it was just the perfect storm.”
Tools of the Record Catch
Meyer was fishing a 5-inch Strike King Ocho in a color that he did not wish to disclose. “Everyone keeps thinking I was throwing it with a weight; but I wasn’t,” he revealed.
He threw the stickbait on six-pound Seaguar Tatsu and Daiwa gear that included an Exist reel and a prototype signature series rod. The deets on the Daiwa protype were also on the DL.
“Those Daiwa reels have the best drags; but when you’re talking about six-pound-test with a fish that is nearly double the size of the line strength you’re throwing, you’ve got to do everything right and back reeling was the way to go.
“Back reeling looks goofy; but I do believe I wouldn’t have caught that bass, if I didn’t do it. At one point, when this thing took off, I literally let go of the spool and slowed down the handle. If I would have had a drag set, it would’ve broke off.”
Locating and Landing a Double-Digit Spotted Bass
Meyer credited his electronics as an integral part of the feat. “I am using the Garmin Panoptix™,” he said. “It is a forward-faced shooting transducer, so you can see what is in front of you. It shoots down; but it shoots out.
“We pulled up on this point in about 100-feet of water. I actually saw a couple of fish on my electronics and pitched the bait out to them. They were suspended down at about 20-feet. I let a bunch of line out, let the Ocho sink down and watched the fish on my electronics come up and eat.
“When I saw the fish turn and come up to the bait, I shook it twice, felt it and swung on it. I immediately thought it was a big one; but then it stopped. For like a second or two, I thought it snapped on a tree; but there are no trees out there. Then, it turned and slowly swam out in front of the boat. At that point, it must’ve realized it was hooked and went crazy.
“It felt like if I pulled any harder, I would break the line; but I wasn’t budging the bass. I fought it for like four hours – okay, it was probably more like five or seven minutes; but it felt like four hours.”
An Unbelievable 10.80 Spotted Bass
The visual sight of a spot that size was hard for Meyer and Wright to comprehend.
“When I finally saw it, I looked at J.R. and he told me not to saying anything –just to get it in the boat,” recalled Meyer. “We netted it and I thought it was a 12-pounder. I had never seen a spot that big. When a fish is wider than it is long, it just doesn’t look right. It was just unbelievable.
“I went out there hoping for a six or seven-pounder for a really nice photo. Obviously, I didn’t think I would catch that thing and that wasn’t all that we got there. J.R. got a 7.47 there. I caught the big one and then an eight; but then we stopped getting bit.
“We left and came back to the area; but there was never a fish to be seen there again. We went all around there – shallow and deeper. When those big ones come up to feed and you’re there, you get lucky and if you’re not there, you don’t.”
An Official Record of the Record-Size Bass
Once the fish was in the boat, the celebration began.
“J.R. did a big fish pump and we hugged each other,” Meyer said. “It was so big, it literally looked like a tuna. We weighed it once and it was 10.78 and then weighed it on another scale and it was 10.80.”
After the initial weighing, Meyer put the spot in the box and checked in with Tim Little.
Little is a California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Officer and coincindentally the current IGFA All-Tackle record holder for a 10-lbs, 6-oz spot caught on Jan. 12, 2015 at New Bullards Bar.
In addition to the IGFA record, Little's spot also qualified him for the California state record. He held the California record only a few weeks, when Lou Ferrante certified a 11-lbs,3-oz spotted bass caught on Feb. 21, 2015, also at Bullards.
Although Ferrante took the California title, Little's IGFA record still stands, as Ferrante's was only certified as a state record and has not been certified as a world record.
Being an IGFA record holder, Little is well-aware of the certification process and offered to meet Meyer at the lake and help him with the documentation for the record.
“I knew there had been bigger ones caught; so I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” said Meyer. “Tim told me there had not been a bigger one officially certified and because of the 6-lb line, I could have a line-class record.”
Little and Meyer weighed the spot on land and documented the process on video that will be released from Tactical Bassin'.
“I wasn’t even thinking world record when we were doing that,” said Meyer. “I was thinking line-class and how super-special that it would be to have a spot this big caught on six-pound-test; but once Tim weighed it and told me it could be the WORLD record, I was really glad we did it.
“I would’ve never known all of the things that I would’ve had to do to get it official; so it was really cool that Tim offered to do that – especially on his day off and even more so because he is the current IGFA record holder. There are some guys that wouldn’t want to help a guy that was going to break the record that they held; so I appreciate that very much.”
What’s It Like to Land a World Record Bass?
For Meyer, the catch was a personal best bass that was 18-years in the making.
“I have fished my whole life for big spotted bass,” he said. “When I was 15-years-old, my mom would drive me to the lake and back me in the water. I would fish all day and she would come back and pick me up.
“Over all of that time, I’ve caught a lot of big spots; but yesterday – with that bass – it was the best day of them all. I am sure I will never see a fish that big again. Honestly, I don’t even really think there are that many spotted bass that are that size in the world.”
Bass Fishing Lake X
Lake X has been spitting out giant spots for a couple of years. Meyer is hopeful; but not certain, that will continue.
“It is getting tougher and tougher,” he said.” I have no doubt someone will catch a bigger one.
"Right now, with this class of spotted bass, no one knows how big they will get; because they’ve never been this big before. We are pushing limits that have never been pushed before. We could get to 12-pounds or they could be at their max now.
“On the other hand, there has been a few years of this same class. The bass are getting old. They’re dying off. A lot of people catch ‘em deep, don’t fizz ‘em and they stress out and die. That makes me feel like there may be a couple of years of fishing left; but then it could be bad for a long time.”
The lake is definitely still fishing good as Meyer and Wright’s best five went for 41.55. All were caught on the same bait.
Meyer’s Final Thought on a World Record Bass
“If the record is certified it will be awesome, even if it only holds for one day and if it doesn’t, it will be totally fine. I have caught my biggest-ever spotted bass and it is something that I will never forget!”
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