For The Record
A Florida caught and released what could have been a record largemouth bass in July. He knew what he caught was special, but he didn’t want to kill the fish for the record.
Dave Ochs, 58, of Lake Wales, said he caught and released this trophy-class bass on the north end of Lake Kissimmee on July 23 while fishing a Senko. Ochs said its estimated weight was 19.40 pounds, based on a big-bass formula produced by biologists (length times girth squared and divided by 800). Ochs said he used a digital Berkley scale that provided a 19.20-pound weight. Ochs said he tried to take a picture of it with a scale, but to get the whole fish in the picture, you had to back off so far you couldn’t read the scale. Ochs released the fish because it would not fit in his livewell. Ochs did not want to risk killing the fish by dragging it in beside the boat, especially with the very warm water temperatures this time of year.
Ochs’ bass did not meet Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) requirements for its TrophyCatchFlorida.com program because a photo required includes the fish and read-out on a digital scale. The fish would also have to be witnessed by a FWC biologist for record consideration. The FWC’s Florida Bass Weight Calculator shows a fish that size weighs 15.44 pounds, with optional weights of 14.60 pounds, 17.50 pounds or 19.40 pounds. The official state record is 17.27 pounds.
Even though Ochs’ fish was not a record, it was a fish of a lifetime! Ochs currently operates the Bait Shop at Waters Edge Fish Camp in Lake Wales. He writes a monthly fishing forecast for the Kissimmee Chain in the Lakeland/Sumter edition of the Coastal Angler Magazine.
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