ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997 TAG: 9704070134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
Bill Nease hadn't had a strike all afternoon, then suddenly something hit his jig-and-eel lure and it felt as if he'd lassoed a steer.
A state record fish?
Nease, a stock broker from Martinsville, knows what it is like to hook a big fish, even a record. In 1979, he caught an 18-pound, 11-ounce brown trout from the Smith River that is Virginia's record for the species. He has landed an estimated 30 largemouth bass that weigh 8 pounds or more.
It was bass that Nease and his 21-year-old son, Carson, were after when his jig-and-eel was gobbled up. The two anglers were in a johnboat fishing a golf-course pond, the kind of small-water habitat that Bill probes in the spring for jumbo-size bass. He has landed them up to 11 pounds, 11 ounces.
Bill was flipping his lure under brush that was hanging over the shoreline and Carson was casting a spinnerbait. The spinnerbait had accounted for a couple of of 2-to 3-pound bass for Carson. Bill was getting skunked.
``I threw [the lure] up under this brush like I always do this time of the year,'' Bill said. ``The thing just slid back up under there and I got a strike. I reared back and set the hook. I had that 24-pound SpiderWire [line] and I told Carson, `Get the net, Son, this is a good fish!'''
The fish stuck to its lair like a stubborn wisdom tooth.
``I put an awful lot of pressure on it and finally it came out'' Bill said.
``Get ready! This is a really big fish,'' Bill told Carson.
``I was going to pull it to the top like a bass so Carson could net it, and I pulled with everything I had and it was just down there tugging,'' Bill said. ``After about 10 seconds, I realized I didn't have a bass. There is no bass in this world that could have withstood that.''
Bill's 61/2-foot popping rod was bent double.
``I must have a turtle,'' he said.
``You are going to break your rod,'' Carson warned.
The fish headed toward the middle of the lake, towing the johnboat like an ox pulling a sleigh.
``We had a big, heavy 12-foot johnboat with Carson and I in it and all our gear and it just pulled us on out in the middle of the lake,'' Bill said.
The anglers fought back and Bill finally got the fish to the surface where Carson could get a swipe at it with the net. The fish was the color of a bass, but way too big to fit into a bass net.
``I knew it wasn't a bass,'' said Bill.
It was 'ol buglelips, a carp.
``It looked as big as a man, but, of course, it wasn't that big,'' Bill said. But it was beefy enough to elude the net.
``We fooled around with it there in the lake, I am going to say - it seemed like forever - 2 or 3 minutes,'' Bill said. ``I couldn't do anything with it. Carson tried to net it three or four times. It would go down and eventually I would get it back to the net, but I couldn't keep it anywhere near the net for Carson to net it. It would just take off again and it was gone. It was hopeless.''
Bill decided to try towing the carp to the shore with his trolling motor where he and Carson could attempt to beach it.
``I was afraid it would get off and I would never know how big it was,'' he said.
While standing next to a golf tee, Bill continued to put pressure on the fish and instructed Carson to grab it by the mouth when it came into the shallows.
``I might ruin my shoes,'' Carson said.
``I will buy you some new shoes. I want to see it,'' Bill said.
The two anglers managed to wrestle the fish onto dry land.
``It was huge,'' Bill said. ``We didn't' know whether it weighed 50 or 60 pounds or what. It was 40-inches long and it was 371/2 inches around. That is bigger around than most men's waist. I mean it was awful.''
On bathroom scales, Carson figured the weight to be 55 pounds.
Bill called Mark Frank, of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and was told the state record for a carp is a Lake Prince fish that weighed 49 pounds, 4 ounces.
``I believe I got that beat,'' Bill said.
But when Bill weighed it, by holding it on the scales, then deducting his weight, he came up with a few pounds less than what Carson had figured. He decided not to take time to get an official weight.
``We really don't know what it weighed. ``It could have been a record. It was awful close.''
The fish was released in a small lake at the back of Bill's house.
``I wonder what the ladies swimming there this summer will think when they see it,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 linesby CNB