Eight-year-old Jason Leusch just reeled in a new rock bass record for New York State.
Young Jason Leusch started off his fishing season in New York on a high note by latching into a rock bass that would become the new record for New York.
The state DEC is saying that Jason was fishing off of the dock at his family's cottage on Port Bay in the eastern end of Lake Ontario when the chunky rock bass struck a live minnow.
The big fish was weighed onsite by Jason's father, Mike Leusch, topping the scale at exactly two pounds. According to New York Upstate, "their son had already landed about 20 rock bass that morning. He was fishing with a 5-foot, ultra-light pole using fathead minnows as bait."
Mike Leusch told his son right off, "Holy cow, that's a big one buddy." They got some pictures, and since he had his phone out anyway, the elder Leusch looked up the existing rock bass record for New York, which was listed at one pound 15 ounces.
Now they had to be excited!
The previous record was caught way back in 1984 on the Ramapo River, which is a tributary of the Pompton River, located in the southern part of New York and extending out of New Jersey.
Since the pair knew that dad's trusty digital scale would not suffice as an official weight measuring device, they drove to the Bay Bridge Sport Shop at the south end of Sodus Bay, where it again tipped the store's official state scale at exactly two pounds, measuring 14.5 inches long.
After contacting the NYSDEC, they learned that they should freeze the possible record fish, and then take it to the DEC Region Eight Office in Avon, New York for an official weigh-in and species identification.
Just so everyone knows, this isn't Jason's first big bass: he has a six-pound, 11-ounce largemouth on the wall at home already! Jason's dad said, "We're going to have this state record fish mounted as well. It's going to hang on the wall next to the big bass in our living room."
Big congratulations to Jason Leusch and his record setting fish! We couldn't be happier for this young angler and his folks, and we can't wait to see his name on the DEC list of record fish for New York. Well done!
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