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CATCH ADDS FUEL TO WORLD RECORD FRENZY -- jim matthews outdoor column -- 21mar07
Diamond Valley record for largemouth broken with a 16 1/2 pounder
By JIM MATTHEWS Outdoor News Service
Diamond Valley Lake is where most Southern California bass anglers believe the new world record largemouth bass will be caught. This is in spite of the "25-pound incident" at Dixon Lake last spring, when a fish bigger than the current record of 22 1/4-pounds was accidentally snagged and released after a few photos and being weighed. So when Mike Long, a well-known Poway angler who specializes in big fish, caught a 16 1/2-pound bass at Diamond Valley last Friday, it added fuel to the fire that this western Riverside County reservoir was on it's way.
This was, after all, the biggest bass caught so far this spring in the region. It was caught at Diamond Valley, which has been on fire, producing dozens of five-fish, 30-pound catches in the past three weeks. And the big fish was caught by one of the preeminent big bass anglers in the nation -- why else would he be there?
Whoa. Mike Giusti, the Department of Fish and Game fishery biologist who literally built the Diamond Valley bass fishery from the ground up with the intent of growing world-record sized bass, says it might happen at DVL. But it probably won't be too soon.
"Long's fish was mostly likely one of the first year fish, so it's likely just seven years old," said Giusti. "The most it would be is 10 [years old]." Giusti said that's how old it would be if it were one of the original bass planted in a special pond created in the bottom of Diamond Valley before the main lake was filled. When the filling lake came up over the banks of that pond, all the fish in there provided the broodstock bass that have made the fishery what it has quickly become -- arguably Southern California's best bass fishery
"Bass continue to grow forever, but I'd guess most bass peak at 10 to 15 years old," said Giusti, adding that the oldest fish ever recorded was a 24-year-old hatchery fish in Texas, and that an 18-year-old fish in the wild is extremely rare.
The first generation or two of bass in a new lake have the greatest opportunity to reach mammoth proportions because they are the top fish in the food chain and have virtually no competition from older, bigger fish. Most biologists also believe that rainbow trout, which the big bass eat in the winter months when the basses' metabolisms are slower, allow these trophy fish to put weigh on year around, giving them the boost they need to become world record class fish. Castaic Lake's produced a number of 20-pound bass, including several very close to the coveted world record, when it's first generation fish were from 10 to 12 years old.
Giusti said DVL began filling in 2000 and it reached full pool for the first time just this year.
"Everyone wants to know when we'll break the world record," said Giusti. "I'd say it will be three or four more years, maybe sooner, before we see fish in the 18 to 20-pound range. Mike's big fish would have weighed 20 pounds if it had just eaten a couple of two-pound rainbows."
Giusti might not make a prediction, but I don't see any harm in doing some forecasting. So here goes: The first DVL 20-pound will be caught next year, 2008, and the first 22-pound class fish will come out two years after that in 2010. But between 2010 and 2012, there will be at least 20 bass over 22 pounds caught at Diamond Valley, and George Perry's world record will fall for the first time on February 27, 2011. It will topple again at least three more times in the subsequent 12 months.
That's unless, of course, Dixon Lake doesn't break the record first with one of it's genetic-giant, gill-plate-spotted monsters. It could there happen any day now.
Diamond Valley record for largemouth broken with a 16 1/2 pounder
By JIM MATTHEWS Outdoor News Service
Diamond Valley Lake is where most Southern California bass anglers believe the new world record largemouth bass will be caught. This is in spite of the "25-pound incident" at Dixon Lake last spring, when a fish bigger than the current record of 22 1/4-pounds was accidentally snagged and released after a few photos and being weighed. So when Mike Long, a well-known Poway angler who specializes in big fish, caught a 16 1/2-pound bass at Diamond Valley last Friday, it added fuel to the fire that this western Riverside County reservoir was on it's way.
This was, after all, the biggest bass caught so far this spring in the region. It was caught at Diamond Valley, which has been on fire, producing dozens of five-fish, 30-pound catches in the past three weeks. And the big fish was caught by one of the preeminent big bass anglers in the nation -- why else would he be there?
Whoa. Mike Giusti, the Department of Fish and Game fishery biologist who literally built the Diamond Valley bass fishery from the ground up with the intent of growing world-record sized bass, says it might happen at DVL. But it probably won't be too soon.
"Long's fish was mostly likely one of the first year fish, so it's likely just seven years old," said Giusti. "The most it would be is 10 [years old]." Giusti said that's how old it would be if it were one of the original bass planted in a special pond created in the bottom of Diamond Valley before the main lake was filled. When the filling lake came up over the banks of that pond, all the fish in there provided the broodstock bass that have made the fishery what it has quickly become -- arguably Southern California's best bass fishery
"Bass continue to grow forever, but I'd guess most bass peak at 10 to 15 years old," said Giusti, adding that the oldest fish ever recorded was a 24-year-old hatchery fish in Texas, and that an 18-year-old fish in the wild is extremely rare.
The first generation or two of bass in a new lake have the greatest opportunity to reach mammoth proportions because they are the top fish in the food chain and have virtually no competition from older, bigger fish. Most biologists also believe that rainbow trout, which the big bass eat in the winter months when the basses' metabolisms are slower, allow these trophy fish to put weigh on year around, giving them the boost they need to become world record class fish. Castaic Lake's produced a number of 20-pound bass, including several very close to the coveted world record, when it's first generation fish were from 10 to 12 years old.
Giusti said DVL began filling in 2000 and it reached full pool for the first time just this year.
"Everyone wants to know when we'll break the world record," said Giusti. "I'd say it will be three or four more years, maybe sooner, before we see fish in the 18 to 20-pound range. Mike's big fish would have weighed 20 pounds if it had just eaten a couple of two-pound rainbows."
Giusti might not make a prediction, but I don't see any harm in doing some forecasting. So here goes: The first DVL 20-pound will be caught next year, 2008, and the first 22-pound class fish will come out two years after that in 2010. But between 2010 and 2012, there will be at least 20 bass over 22 pounds caught at Diamond Valley, and George Perry's world record will fall for the first time on February 27, 2011. It will topple again at least three more times in the subsequent 12 months.
That's unless, of course, Dixon Lake doesn't break the record first with one of it's genetic-giant, gill-plate-spotted monsters. It could there happen any day now.
