Angler Catches 71.60 Lb. Striped Bass At O’Neill Forebay   By: Dan Bacher September 9, 2008 More Articles by Dan

Before the night of August 5, Frank Ualat of Gilroy had never caught a striped bass over 19 pounds. That all changed that evening when the angler pulled in a 52-1/2 inch striped bass, weighing 70.6 pounds on Coyote Bait and Tackle’s spring scale, from the O’Neill Forebay in Merced County.

The fish eclipses the existing California striped bass record of 67 pounds, 8 ounces, caught at O’Neill Forebay on May 7, 1992 by Hank Ferguson of Soquel. Ualat’s fish would also set a new world record, since Ferguson’s fish was the current all tackle IGFA record for landlocked striped bass.

Ualat was fishing from shore with three friends, Van Avan, Pedro Genetiano, and J.J. Max, at the forebay near the Highway 152 Bridge when the big fish hit his pileworm. An ardent striper fisherman who goes to San Luis and the Forebay an average of once a week, the angler was using top of the line gear – a G. Loomis 11 foot surf rod outfitted with a Daiwa 4000 Advantage Reel filled with 50 lb. test Power Pro Line.

“I was talking with my friend when I noticed a little hit on the line,” said Ualat “Then the rod went down and the fish began pulling line off the reel. I grabbed the rod, set the hook, and the rod started to bend like crazy.”

Realizing that it was a large fish, he advised his friends to pull their lines out of the water so they wouldn’t get tangled him. He battled the fish for 15 minutes before he got it close to shore. It took four long runs, with him each time winding the line back in, before the fish became tired.

“I was so excited as I battled the fish,” he stated. “I kept telling the line not to break.”

Finally, the fish was tuckered out and he reeled in the fish into shallow water next to the bank. Since he hadn’t brought a net, his friends grabbed the fish and put it up on the bank.

“When I saw the size of the fish, I didn’t know what to do,” Ualat said. “I had never seen such a big fish in my life. I was totally shocked. I didn’t think that there was a fish that large swimming in the lake.”

Realizing that it might be some sort of record fish, the lucky angler and one friend dragged the monster bass back to his truck, laying it on the truck bed. He and his friend went to Walmart on the way home to buy an ice chest big enough to put the fish in.

“I bought the biggest cooler available, but the fish still wouldn’t fit in it,” he noted. Since no stores or bait shops with scales were open at that time of night, when he arrived home he put the fish in his bathtub with 8 bags of ice to keep it cool. He weighed the fish on his bathroom scale and it went an amazing 73 pounds.

The next morning he drove to Coyote Bait and Tackle and weighed the fish where it weighed 70.6 pounds on their uncertified scale. They had a certified scale for bass tournaments, but it only went up to 30 pounds, according to Teri Bradford, who weighed in the fish. She urged Ualat to weigh in the fish at a grocery store with a certified scale, providing Ualat with the names of two markets, but he never weighed them in there.

“I’ve never seen such a big fish – I could hardly believe it when he showed me the fish,” she commented. “Just for him to bring the fish to the scale required two people.”

Although Ualat didn’t weigh the fish on a certified scale, the fish may be still eligible for a DFG if the scale is certified after the fish was weighed. To be recognized as a state record, the fish must be weighed on a certified scale in the presence of witnesses and a permanent employee of the DFG, according to Jay Rowan, must verify the species DFG fishery biologists, who encouraged Ualat tot fill out the paperwork.

“I’ve seen the photos,” said Rowan. “That is a huge fish!”

Ualat is applying for recognition of the fish as a potential state record by submitting the required California Inland Water Angling Record Verification Form (FG 737) to the DFG. He is also planning to begin the process with the International Game Fish Association with possible listing as an all tackle world landlocked striped bass record.

After hearing about the catch of the monster striped bass, Jay Sorenson, founder of the California Striped Bass Association, commented, “It’s fantastic. If you want to catch a record striper, I’ve always told people to fish the California Aqueduct or O’Neill Forebay. That fish was sucked out of the Delta by the state or federal Delta pumps into the canal and the forebay.”

Sorenson estimated that the fish was probably 30 to 35 years old, based on striped bass growth rates. “It’s the first striped bass over 70 pounds from California that I’ve heard of,” he noted.

The current all tackle IGFA record for striped bass is 78 pounds, 8 ounces. Albert McReynold caught the huge fish off Atlantic City, New Jersey, on September 21, 1982.

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