Patrick Hildebrand ties Andrew Kartesz’s 1995 state record with an 8-pound, 4-ounce smallmouth bass.
Patrick Hildenbrand, age 37 from Red Hook, New York, ties the New York Smallmouth record while participating in a NYTBF bass fishing tournament at Cape Vincent, New York sponsored by the Cape Vincent Chamber of Commerce.
Patrick’s smallmouth was initially reported as 8.15 pounds. The tournament scales were sent out for a recertification due to the possibility of a state record fish. After getting the recertified scales back, Patrick’s fish actually was found to weigh in at 8 lbs. 4 oz. This tied the New York state smallmouth record set in 1995 by Andrew Kartesz. The fish measured 21 ½” long and had a girth of 20 ¾” around. After weighing, measuring, and photographing the fish, it was successfully released back into the river alive to continue to grow.
Patrick will be receiving from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation a custom engraved plaque, certificate of achievement, and a lapel pin. Pictures of his record fish have been circulating around major sources on the Internet. He will be featured in an upcoming article from FLW Outdoors.
Patrick ended up second in the tournament and received the big bass award from the Cape Vincent Chamber of Commerce.
The fish was caught around 7 a.m. on Sunday morning August 28, 2016 in the St. Lawrence River near Cape Vincent. At the time the conditions were calm with overcast skies and 70 degree air temperature and a water temperature of 74 degrees. Patrick saw a large fish arch in 35 feet of water on his Humminbird fishfinder and was able to mark the arch and maneuver back over it, enabling him to catch the fish using the dropshot technique. Unfortunately, he did not have his GoPro camera turned on during the catch. Patrick used T-H Marine G-Juice Livewell Treatment and ice to make sure the fish would stay healthy during the day.
Patrick used a medium-light, 7-foot Dobyns Fury Series FR 702SF dropshot rod paired with a Lew’s Team Pro Speed Spin spinning reel. For line, he used 15-pound test Gamma Torque braided line with a Gander Mountain Flourocarbon Line 6-pound test leader. His rig consisted of a goby colored Berkley Powerbait Dropshot Minnow, 1/0 Gamakatsu TGW Drop Shot with a 3/8-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten Pro Drop Shot Weight.
what’s up with that gut?!
Too much Budweiser
There could be a two pound perch in that belly.
It’s the wrong time of year for it to be a pregnant female. Really weird.
I like to read that the fish was released !!
That fish is not normal and if it were it would be around 4 1/2 pounds/.
Glad to see released….guess couch taters come in all shapes and sizes
Did he catch it on lettuce? was APbassin right?
Not lettuce- lettuce head! Either that or the fish swallowed a cantaloupe. (or he stuffed one in before the weigh-in 🙂
I read an artical the other day about this. They were saying they think the fish might have been sick or it’s a deformity of some kind
A fish doesn’t haven’t to have a tumor or growth or have a cantaloupe stuffed down its throat to look like that. Fish of all species have an amazing ability to swallow things far larger than should be possible, and their body morphology can adjust to accommodate prey items that are huge. If you want to see an example of this in action, watch this YouTube video of a catfish enough another catfish the same size in an aquarium. Check out the size and shape of the “winner” at the end of the video. My guess is that this smallmouth bass had just gorged on something huge, or a large number of smaller items all at once.
Forgot the YouTube link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NU0Mv_bKtU