ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 18, 1997 TAG: 9704180050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: KNOXVILLE, TENN.
SOURCE: WESLEY LOY THE WASHINGTON POST
A Kentucky man's 1955 catch landed in the record books. It still spawns investigations, polygraph tests and controversy.
There's Cal Ripken's unbroken streak. There's Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game. And, in these parts, there is David L. Hayes' 11-pound, 15-ounce smallmouth bass.
That was the seemingly unassailable world record for 41 years. But now, amid multiple investigations and lie-detector tests, Hayes has been stripped of the venerable title. And therein lies something of a fish story.
Hayes' trophy catch on Dale Hollow Lake, a pristine reservoir on the Tennessee-Kentucky line, bested by more than a pound any smallmouth caught before or since. ``Conceivably untouchable,'' Field & Stream magazine rhapsodized not long ago about the famous fish caught in 1955.
But the fish was a fraud, according to a long-lost document unearthed last summer. The big bass has been wiped from the record books by the top keepers of angling trivia, the International Game Fish Association and the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame.
Its fall from grace came to the dismay of Hayes, 72, a retired wholesale grocer who lives in Leitchfield, Ky., and displays the stuffed smallmouth on his parlor wall.
``How would you feel after 41 years?'' he lamented.
No one has accused Hayes of fiddling with fishing history; the story is more complicated than that.
Bass fishing is serious business in the South and, increasingly, the world. From $30,000 bass boats to lodging to lures, bass fishing is a $30 billion-a-year industry, according to the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society of Montgomery, Ala. The group runs a Tournament Trail where professional fishermen cast for $4million in prizes and often celebrity status.
Winners are routinely subjected to polygraph tests at many tournaments: Did they actually catch the fish? That day? On that lake?
It is a sport that always has put a premium on size - the bigger the better. And angling experts figure a world-record fish caught today - especially a largemouth bass, the smallmouth's more coveted cousin - would be worth at least $1million to its owner for endorsements and the fish itself.
Hayes' record came under scrutiny after the discovery of a long-lost affidavit that apparently languished for decades in an office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built and manages Dale Hollow Lake, about 100 miles northwest of Knoxville. The document was discovered by a corps employee clearing out old office files.
The unsigned affidavit purportedly was given by a fishing guide, John Barlow, who worked out of the boat dock where Hayes brought in his lunker smallmouth July 9, 1955. Barlow said in the affidavit he was instructed by the dock's owner, Richard ``Dick'' Roberts, to load the fish with lead sinkers to boost its weight - to ``fix it up good.''
Hayes, who drove home that afternoon, had left the fish in cold storage at the dock.
Barlow, with his brother, Ira, holding the bass, stuffed the sinkers Roberts gave him down its gullet, the affidavit says. He also crammed in two pieces from a boat motor, according to the affidavit. The smallmouth ended up three pounds heavier, the affidavit says.
The prize-winning catch brought substantial publicity to the dock. But, Barlow says in the affidavit, ``At the time I put the weights in the fish, I did not know it would rob someone of the world's record smallmouth bass, and I do not want to be a party to such a transaction.''
The affidavit drew the attention of Eldon Davis, an assistant high school principal and outdoor writer who lives near the lake. Davis said he began to doubt the fish a few years ago when Hayes and his world-record smallmouth were the guests of honor at his school's Big Buck deer show.
``There was just lots of people at the show who told me the fish just didn't look like it weighed 11 pounds, 15 ounces,'' Davis said.
Davis got Barlow to voluntarily agree to a polygraph test. Barlow appeared to be telling the truth about having tampered with the fish, as the affidavit alleges.
After Hayes lost his title, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency decided to launch a six-month probe. Ron Fox, the agency's assistant director, said he figured a legendary record that had stood for more than four decades deserved further investigation.
Fox also employed a polygraph test. He examined Barlow's brother, Ira, who seemed truthful when he said he ``knew for a fact his brother was not even present'' at the dock that fateful day. Fox tracked down a retired Tennessee fisheries manager in Colorado and a former dock employee, who both vouched for the fish's real size.
The dock worker, Bobby Stone, ``told me the smallmouth was huge and that there was no evidence of anything being stuffed in it, and that he never saw a lure inside the fish or noticed any weights,'' Fox said. ``He said he even slept on top of the freezer where the fish was stored the night after it was caught. He was adamant that no one could have tampered with it.''
Fox also contacted an Ohio expert in ``statement analysis,'' who concluded the affidavit showed signs of ``deception.'' And he consulted Dick Sternberg, a Minnesota fisheries biologist expert in assessing the weight of a fish based on old photographs and the fish's measurements.
The big smallmouth is legitimate, Sternberg concluded.
John Barlow, now in his 80s and without a phone, could not be reached. Ron Roberts, son of the late dock owner, said his father and John Barlow parted on bad terms when Barlow complained he wasn't getting enough work at the dock.
Roberts said he was ``pleased'' with the state investigation. ``It kind of clears our dad,'' he said.
The state will continue to recognize the fish as the largest smallmouth caught in Tennessee. Fox also sent the results of the state probe to the International Game Fish Association, but Hayes remains dethroned - for now.
As it turns out, Hayes got a lot of aggravation and precious little else for his famous fish: a $100 savings bond from Field & Stream, plus a few lures from the Bomber people. ``I'd say about $250 would catch it all,'' said the fisherman.
LENGTH: Long : 110 linesby CNB