Columnist Paula DelGiudice: More fishing records could fall this year

Paula DelGiudice

Friday, April 28, 2000 | 11:19 a.m.

Paula DelGiudice's outdoors notebook appears weekly. Reach her at PDelGiudice@compuserve.com.

There's something in the spring air that makes me feel like going fishing. Maybe it's the warmth of the sun coupled with the lightly blowing breezes that entice me out of roofed dwellings into the fresh air. Maybe it's the fact that fishing is one of my favorite pastimes, but one that gets shelved during the winter months, so I'm more than ready for it when the air and waters warm again.

If all those things aren't enough to make me feel like fishing this spring, perusing the Nevada Division of Wildlife's "Stream and Lake Records from 1968 to 1999" sure did.

Here are some highlights from last year:

The 27-year-old largemouth bass record was shattered when Michael Geary of Las Vegas caught his 12-pound, 26-inch lunker in the Virgin River Basin of Lake Mead.

While this was an amazing feat, John Hutchings, NDOW biologist at Lake Mead, reports that larger-than-normal sized largemouth bass are being caught at Lake Mead. So perhaps it won't take as long as 27 years to break the record again.

Besides the largemouth record, four other state records were broken and a new state record was established.

A five-pound smallmouth bass was caught by Mitch Geyer at Wildhorse Reservoir north of Elko; an eight-pound, 11-ounce wiper (hybrid of a white bass and a striped bass) was taken out of Lahontan Reservoir near Fallon by Scott Morton; a one-pound, eight-ounce redear sunfish was landed by Larry Cross in the Laughlin Lagoon near Laughlin (but connected to the Colorado River); and a two-pound 14-ounce mountain whitefish was caught in the East Walker River by Kiplan Lee.

An initial state record was established for spotted bass with a two-pound, four-ounce fish caught at Rye Patch Reservoir by Jay Powell Jr. The "spots," which resemble smallmouth bass, were stocked in Rye Patch in a cooperative effort among the Great Basin Bassers (a Reno area bass club), the Nevada Division of Wildlife and California Fish and Game.

Last year, Frank Walthers of Las Vegas caught a whopper of a carp at Sunset Park Pond. His lunker weighed in at 22 pounds, eight ounces.

For those who like to fish Lincoln County, let the eight-pound, five-ounce largemouth bass caught by Terry Bird of Pioche last July 3 serve as inspiration. The fish was 23 3/4 inches long.

While fishing isn't about catching record fish, NDOW's Trophy Fish Program is a good way of keeping track of those extraordinary piscatorial creatures that didn't get away. Keep the program in mind as you head out to Nevada's waterways this spring and summer. The requirements for documenting your unusual catches are listed in the fishing regulation handbook.

* KIRCH CLEANUP: Don't forget the cleanup and barbecue slated for Saturday at Wayne E. Kirch Wildlife Management Area in Nye County. Registration will be held that morning at the David Deacon Campground. Volunteers will be given trash bags and will be assigned an area to be cleaned of litter. The cleanup begins at 9 a.m. and will be followed by a free barbecue at 2 p.m. back at the campground. For more information, call Ivy Baker at NDOW at 486-5127, ext. 3863.

* POND STOCKED: Those looking for a new place to fish might try the pond just below the housing development at Cold Creek on Mt. Charleston. It was recently stocked with 200 rainbow trout by NDOW.

To reach the pond, travel north on U.S. 95 and turn west onto the Cold Creek Road at the Indian Springs Correctional Center. Drive 13 miles and turn right on Willow Creek Road, then take an immediate right and drive a third of a mile down to the lower pond. Anglers 12 and older are required to have a Nevada fishing license and a trout stamp when fishing in the pond.