Special date – anglers dad caught 11.4-pounder on exact date 37 years earlier
Ask a typical outdoorsman when his wife’s birthday is, and he’s probably got the month nailed down, but might not be sure of the exact date. Ask that same guy what the date was when he caught a double-digit largemouth bass, and chances are, he’ll tell you the date, along with plenty of other details about it.
Oct 25 is a date Keith Deal of Holly Springs won’t forget, and it’s one his dad has never forgotten either. Deal whipped an 11.4-pound largemouth in the Raleigh Bassmaster Club Championship this past weekend. After finally joining his dad in the double-digit club, Deal called his dad to let him know the news. “He reminded me that he caught his biggest bass ever, also 11.4-pounds, on Oct 25, 1978. Now ain’t that cool!” said Deal.
Deal caught the big bass on a jig, and it wasn’t his easiest catch. “My jig was all down in the roots of a stump when the fish hit. She was hung in the stump, and we played tug-of-war for almost a minute before I sawed the root off with my line. Knowing that 15-pound line was frayed to pieces, I completely loosened the drag, and tried to finesse the fish to the boat with as little pressure as possible,” he said.
Once the fish surfaced, Deal knew he had a 10+ pound bass, something he has seen on the end of his line before, but has never been able to land. “I was by myself, and after several attempts, I finally got that huge thing in the net,” he said
See what pro angler Dustin Wilkes says about double-digit bass in North Carolina here.
