Fish will top state fishing records if accepted by SCDNR.
Shortly after Eric Weir of Belmont landed a 6-pound, 5-ounce spotted bass out of Lake Norman the day after Christmas in 2003, he made two predictions: first, that his record wouldn’t last long; and second, that it would be broken by another fish caught at Norman.
Eight years may or may not qualify as “lasting long,” but Weir’s second prediction came true on Saturday, Feb. 11, when Terry Trivette of Rural Hall landed a 6.97-pound spotted bass while fishing during a local Troll-Eze bass club tournament with partner Derick Tolley on Lake Norman.“At first, I wasn’t quite sure it was really a spotted bass,” said Trivette, who fishes local bass tournaments year-round. “It had all the markings of a spot – the tongue patch, the spot on the tail and the different dorsal fin – but when you’re holding a 7-pound spotted bass that close up, it just doesn’t look real.”
Trivette and Tolley won the tournament they were fishing – including the big-fish prize – he headed to the weigh-in for the DJ Winter Championship tournament, also being held on Lake Norman, to weigh the fish again. Once he confirmed what he had, he went looking for certified scales to document his record catch.
“There were a couple of full-time pros at that tournament, and they also had a better set of scales,” said Trivette. “Everyone who saw the fish said I had a record spot.”
Keeping the fish alive in his livewell, Trivette had the fish’s weight verified on certified scales at The General Store in Denver, then contacted Bass Pro Shops in Concord, offering to put the fish in their display aquarium. Trivette then took the fish home, where he kept it in an aerated cooler in his basement until a required 30-day quarantine passes; after that time, the fish can go in the main viewing tank at BPS. He hopes the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission can have the new record certified before fish hits the big tank.
“The (Commission) has a fin graph from the bass,” said Trivets. “In order for the record to be official, they have to test the DNA to verify it’s a spotted bass and not a hybrid (between a spotted bass and a largemouth). I’ve been told that process can take one to two months to complete, but since the fish will be on public display, we’re hoping to get the final results before the fish comes out of quarantine.”
Trivets spent much of the day that he caught his huge bass casting an Alabama Rig, but he caught the fish on Rapallo DT6 crank bait in hot mustard color. He said he caught the fish off a point.
“We fish a lot of different lakes, and this fish came off of one of (my partner’s) spots,” he said. “I could probably take you there in a boat, but as for the name of the point or what area it was in, I really don’t know.”
The fact that Lake Norman has produced another state-record spotted bass comes as little surprise to anglers who have seen the fishery for spotted bass explode since they were introduced to the lake – illegally – by local anglers in the 1990s. Norman’s deep, clear waters and rocky substrate make ideal living conditions for spotted bass. As for Trivets, he was happy to be in the right place when this fish bit.
“We put our time in on the lakes, no doubt,” he said. “But nobody can predict when or where a record will hit. I’d love to see this fish certified as the new state record and let everyone have a chance to go to Bass Pro Shops and see it for themselves.”
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