Clyde Geiger, 25, of Carnesville, GA, recently took a fishing trip on Lake Hartwell that was what he described as the most fun of his life for two reasons, or three, depending on how you're counting.
Clyde Geiger, 25, of Carnesville, GA, recently took a fishing trip on Lake Hartwell that was what he described as the most fun of his life for two reasons, or three, depending on how you're counting.
To start of the morning, after launching at Harbor Light Marina, Geiger caught two fish simultaneously on one lure, then another on the next cast. It was the second catch that prompted him to search the internet for big fish records.
Fishing from a boat off a point, Geiger was throwing out across a hump, walking a Sammy - a pearl color on 14lb Trilene with a Bass Pro Extreme rod and reel - when an 11 pound, 1 ounce hybrid bass hit it.
"It took me about five to 10 minutes to get it in the boat," he said, noting he didn't have a net.
But with a little ingenuity - he used a boat seat cover as a net - and some help from his fishing partner/brother-in-law, Kevin Stinson of Lavonia, he was able to haul it in around 8 a.m. on May 19.
"It was the best freshwater fight I have experienced," he said, pointing out that his internet search revealed that his catch was more than half the size of the record.
According to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, the record is 20 pounds, six ounces, caught in 1978 by Danny Wood of Commerce, GA.
Shortly before the hybrid catch, he hooked two large mouth bass, approximately two to three pounds each, at the same time on the Sammy.
"This was probably my most fun fishing morning ever," Geiger said.
Stinson landed a largemouth on a Devil Horse lure, and all the fish caught were catch and release, Geiger said.