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Marshall Hall, MD -- Federation veteran and BASS Open contender Justin Riley won his Anglers Choice tournament today with a 5 fish limit that weighed over 26 pounds. That wasn't news, though -- he's certainly won tournaments before and he's known for bringing in big sacks of fish. What made it newsworthy was the fact that he caught a Potomac River record 11.18 pound largemouth en route to his winning catch.
The record fish was caught out of a Potomac River community hole within Maryland waters, so the fish should count as a state record as well. Once the weigh-in was over he high-tailed it to the Hanover, MD Bass Pro Shops to meet with MD. DNR representatives to verify the weight and donate the fish to the shop.
The Potomac has long had a reputation as a producer of numbers of fish, but only recently as it become a consistent producer of eight pound plus largemouths. A few years back Virginia resident Gary Kincheloe broke a longstanding record with a 10 pounder caught out of the same general vicinity. During this year's BASS Capitol Clash, multiple 8s were weighed in. Most local river rats attribute this surge to the record abundance of submerged aquatic vegetation, in particular milfoil and hydrilla.
With the water at a frigid 38 degrees, the grass bite wasn't his focus, however. "We had located some fish in practice, but we got there and the cove was half iced in," Riley said. "So we did a bunch of 360s and the waves broke some of the ice up. We let things settle down for a while."
"We were fishing real slow with blade baits on the bottom and when she hit she was fighting so long that we assumed it was a carp or another type of fish. She ran underneath the ice but then we were able to get her up to the boat."
The record catch came on a half-ounce blade bait fished on Shimano Rods and reels and Berkley 12 lb. test Big Game line.
"I've caught four fish over 8 pounds out there and 1 over 9, but this is just unbelievable," Riley said.
Thanks to Kevin McCarthy and Grant Goldbeck for contributions to this story. Photo
courtesy of US Anglers Choice Tournaments.
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