Gamecocks Fishing Team president catches 10-pound bass

Aaron Fewell joined the double-digit club, and he caught it from shore

Every bass angler likes the idea of catching a 10-pound bass, but far fewer reach that goal than those who fall short. So when someone joins the double-digit club, it’s always an eyebrow raising affair.

Aaron Fewell, president of the University of South Carolina Fishing Team, joined that elusive club on the last day of March when he landed a largemouth that pushed his scale to 10.58 pounds. He caught the big fish at Sesquicentennial State Park in Columbia, S.C. after fishing there a couple of times that week.

“That pond fishes like a natural trophy bass lake. Sometimes you go and catch nothing, but when the bite is on, you can catch some good ones,” Fewell said.

Earlier that week, Fewell had noticed several beds while fishing from his kayak. Fortunately, they were fairly close to a clear area on the bank, which is where he was standing when he hooked his trophy fish.

“It’s kind of a tough place to fish from shore because there just aren’t many good fishing spots along the bank, and the pond has a lot of weeds in it. Luckily, I spotted this bass from the bank, and I threw about every lure in my tackle box to it. It finally hit a soft plastic lizard,” he said.

After weighing the fish and snapping a few photos, Fewell released the fish back into the pond.

While he has caught his share of 4 and 5 pounders at this same park, the biggest fish he’d personally seen come out of it before was a 6.1-pound bass that fellow USC student Alexa Dean caught when Fewell decided to introduce her to the fishing pond.

“Her personal best was bigger than my personal best until I caught this 10 pounder. She said she’ll just have to catch a bigger one now,” he said.

Click here to read more about fishing in South Carolina’s state parks.