New York Man Breaks Bass Record

Pennsylvania bass fisherman Jim Brittenbaugh was in his twenty-one foot boat about five hours from his house earlier this week in New York’s Cayuga Lake.

He wasn’t there to make any great strides in terms of bass fishing.

In fact, he was just there for practice. You see, Jim was there to practice for a two day long bass fishing tournament later in the month.

He had no way of knowing that while he was on a practice run with a friend that he could set a New York state record.

“I launched my boat and tried some spots not far from the boat ramp,” the 38-year old angler recounted. “I was waiting for my good friend [and top fisherman] Dave Ruark, who I was going to meet at the lake about 11 a.m. so we could fish together.”

After spending several hours on the lake in practice, he caught his hook on one that was giving him a good bit of a fight.

However, he kept the pressure on and the friend that was with him eventually scooped it up in a net.

“We were flabbergasted,” says Brittenbaugh. “We’d never seen anything nearly that big. My best bass before that was a 7-pounder from a farm pond. We knew it was at least 10 pounds.”

Feeling that they had a record breaking bass on their hands, Jim and his friend phoned the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and met them at a nearby boat ramp.

“It officially weighed 12.35 pounds, and was 25 inches long,” says Brittenbaugh. “It’s not yet officially the state record, because the scales they used have to be examined for accuracy, and paperwork for the record has to go through channels at DEC.”

Either way, once the scales are tested for accuracy I am sure that Jim will have his name etched in the record books in terms of this astoundingly large bass.

It just goes to prove that no matter how long a record stands, that someone will eventually come along and break it.

Jim’s definitely got to be pleased with this one, especially since it was just a practice run.