Southeast Ohio’s Muskingum River flows deep and largely clear close to its confluence with the Ohio River. Keith Snider, 48, has fished this stretch of the Muskingum most of his life, and round noon on Apr. 22, the native farmer headed to the river to fish under a small dam close to the city of Lowell.
“I stay on the shore of the Ohio River, and commonly fish the Muskingum as a result of I’m constructing a cabin there simply 12 miles from my residence,” Snider tells Outside Life. “I used to be taking a break from constructing our cabin and went to the river with my spouse Nancy and good friend Brian Mofett.”
Earlier than casting a line, Snider climbed a concrete wall close to the dam so he might survey the scene.
“I might see a again eddy with shad [baitfish] holding there,” he says. “I watched one thing blowing up and consuming the shad, so I solid a fire-tiger coloured Rat-L-Lure.”
Snider received a success on his second solid as he labored the lipless crankbait by the eddy, however he misplaced the fish instantly. On his fourth solid, he watched an enormous bass surge on the lure and activate it.
Learn Subsequent: The Best Bass Lures for Summer of 2024
“I’ve caught plenty of massive hybrid stripers as much as 12 kilos,” Snider says, “however the fish I noticed and hooked I knew was a lot bigger than something I’d caught earlier than.”
The hybrid bass (a cross between a white bass and a striped bass) raced out to open water, taking 100 yards of line off the reel. The bass was swimming quick towards a close-by river island. Fortunately Snider was utilizing a heavy rod and reel, which allowed him to bear down on the fish.
Picture courtesy Keith Snider
“I put my thumb on the reel spool to cease it. I used to be both going to cease its run, break the road or pull out the hooks,” he says. “Luckily, simply 15 toes earlier than getting across the island, the fish stopped and I fought it again towards shore. Then it took off on a second run, about as far and quick as the primary run.”
Lastly, after 20 minutes or so, the fish drained sufficient for Snider to work it again towards shore. However as he stood on the concrete wall and fought the fish, he began to surprise how he’d ever have the ability to land it. The massive eddy under the dam was lined with floating particles and downed bushes.
That’s when his pal Moffet confirmed up.
“He advised me to deliver it in, and he’d use a rake to drag away the snags so we might land it,” Snider says. “Coming down from the wall whereas holding the rod and dealing it round snags was powerful. However Brian lastly grabbed the hybrid with two palms and snatched it out of the water. He yelled out, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s a super-size fish’.”
Snider says he considered letting the fish go after he snapped a couple of footage. However his companions requested him to maintain it as an alternative.
“They mentioned to not [release it] as a result of they hadn’t ever seen a hybrid that measurement.”
Snider weighed the fish on two hand scales, with certainly one of them registering slightly below 22 kilos. He then reluctantly slipped the fish onto a stringer and dropped it again within the water earlier than making one other solid along with his Rat-L-Lure. He says he received one other vicious strike in the identical eddy, however the hooks pulled earlier than he might see what it was.
Learn Subsequent: Michigan’s New Record White Perch Is So Big, It Was Initially Misidentified as a White Bass
When it got here time to depart, Snider loaded the hybrid bass right into a rubbish bag, then drove to his cabin in his truck. The fish was nonetheless on the stringer when he received there, and he left it in his pond in a single day. By the following morning, the bass was nonetheless alive however solely barely.
“There have been a few massive gizzard shad floating on the floor close to the hybrid that it should have disgorged,” Snider says, “as a result of I don’t have gizzard shad in my pond.”
He then put the entire fish in a deep freezer. And the hybrid bass doubtless would have stayed there it not for his good friend Moffet, who stopped by and advised him the bass might be a brand new state report.
Picture courtesy Keith Snider
Two days after catching the fish, Snider referred to as the Ohio DNR workplace, then introduced the hybrid striper to a UPS to make use of their licensed scales. He photographed the entire course of and received an official weight of 18.82 kilos, which beat out the standing Ohio report by simply 5 ounces. The fish measured 32 inches lengthy with a 25-inch girth, and DNR biologists confirmed that it was a hybrid striper round 7 years previous.
Snider says he’s satisfied the fish weighed extra when he caught it. He expects that it misplaced some weight when it puked up the shad and thinks it would’ve misplaced a couple of extra ounces whereas sitting within the freezer. Both means, he’ll be getting multiple duplicate mount product of his state-record fish.
“I’ll have one for my residence and one for my cabin. Nancy was insistent on that,” Snider says. “She’s the one who desires me to be outdoor, fishing and enjoyable from work. She’s the rationale I used to be there that day and hooked that hybrid.”
