Update on World Record LM Fraud

[Skipper]

Want to see red, read this.  This woman and her stupid son should be prosecuted for perpetrating a hoax, fraud, and being ignorant.

 

The Hawg's Nest by Javad Trew
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Early one morning, I set out to fish with my mother on Spring Lake in Santa Rosa, California. I was hoping to spot some big bass so I could show her how to fish the spawn.

We started around the small lake looking for visible bass in the shallows, but I couldn’t find any of the size we were after. We continued on to an area where I know there was little foot traffic (which is rare on Spring Lake). We eventually came to a spot where the shoreline was dense with lots of cattails and overhanging trees. We could hear a faint splashing in the water up ahead, so we slowed down our pace a bit, and there she was-the biggest bass I had ever seen.

The monster largemouth was hovering in about a foot of water next to another, much smaller bass. As I approached, I know my cover had been blown because both fish looked up at me and swam away. I quickly hit the ground so that the big female wouldn’t see me if she returned to the nest. Sure enough, she came back a few minutes later.

So there I was, crouched to the ground with adrenaline racing through my veins and the fish of a lifetime just a few short feet away. I pitched a black emerald Baby Brush Hog into her nest and slowly twitched it to stir up the sand bottom. To my disappointment, she wouldn’t strike and instead just kept backing up into the cattails that surrounded her nest on all sides.

After more that a few unsuccessful attempts, my mom whispered, "You’re never going to catch her; let’s just call it a day."

"Oh yeah? Just give me some time," I whispered back. I had to figure out what I was doing wrong.

Then it dawned on me that the splashdown from the bullet weight on my rig might be spooking the bass. I took off the weight and resumed pitching and twitching the bait. I must have been right about the weight because she started to take great interest in my offering. With each cast I made, the huge fish swam a little closer to the bait.

I turned my head to whisper to my mom that the fish was definitely over 10 pounds. When I glanced back at the bass, she was opening and closing her mouth like she was yawning. She was trying to cough up my plastic! I set the hook and the monster bass instantly came to life, dancing across the water and soaking my face in the process.

She headed for the cattails and I had to tighten down my drag because there was only about an eight foot wide pocket of open water. I couldn’t afford to give her any slack, or she’d wrap herself up in the cattails and break my line. My only choice was to grab the pole with both hands and walk backwards until I had dragged the fish up onto shore.

When I grabbed her lower lip, I was hoping she was out of energy. I was wrong! She whipped her tail, and I backed away from the water just in time before she slipped from my grasp. I barely touched the hook and it popped right out. The barb hadn’t even penetrated her mouth, so it’s a good thing I didn’t give her any slack.

"I can’t believe you caught her," my mom yelled. "She’s huge!"

We took a quick photo and put the bass on a scale, which registered a little more than 16 pounds. Since she wasn’t the world record, I put her back in the water. The fish of a lifetime swam away. Since the, I’ve showed a lot of people the photo and most of them say, "You’re too young to have caught a bass that big."
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WorldRecordBass Hall Of Famer Javad Trew, age 20, lives in Petaluma, California. He regularly fishes Spring Lake for monster bass like this 29-inch, 16 pounder described in the story above. Find out more about Javad at the WorldRecordBass Hall Of Fame.
     

This story is on several internet sites, do a Yahoo search and you'll find it listed about 30 times.  This paticular copy came from:

 web page

Skipper

[Skipper]

BTW:  The original version of this story had the picture of the now submitted world record fish.  That picture was removed after the mother complained to the webmaster.

Skip

[shb]

Skipper, fill me in a little more. I haven't heard any of this story. Whats the fraud part? Im totaly ignorant about he whole thing.

[Lawdog]

Skipper,

Would you like a picture of this bass to post here?  Lawdog

[Skipper]

A picture would be great.  I've seen it several times various places, but hesitated to post it since I don't have written permission.

The more you read about this, the more you get the impression something just isn't swimming right with it.  Fortunately IGFA saw the light on it last week and put the hammer down.  She will not be awarded the world record because of the poor documentation and inconsistent proof.

The inconsitancies were the measurements of the fish, witness credibility, documentation, released fish, 1 and only 1 photo, and multiple stories.

Skipper

[Lawdog]

Skipper,

Since they have posted the picture all over the area, I have seen it in three different bait shops around Spring Lake, and on the net it implies consent.  PM me an e-mail address and I'll send the picture to you.  Like I have said there are some BIG bass in Spring Lake and no doubt there, more than likely, could be the next world record swimming around there(as in many other lakes around the country) but the one they caught doesn't measure up.  Lawdog
 

[1911crazy]

The Trew story is on the page 111 of the B.A.S.S. magazine february's edition see the pic between the two bass and pic the fraud??? These people should be banned from fishing!!!!!  What do you think that bass weighs honestly??   I say maybe 15lbs??  Its not even close to the size of the other bass thats 21.11??  Skipper thanks for first bringing the story to us.                                                                    BigBill

I sure would love to be the one to catch the world record large mouth??
For the new boat, the truck, the tackle too??? Its not about the cash "$$$" its the all the free stuff!!!!!