CLUB STANDINGS
CLUB TOURNAMENT RESULTS
OPEN TOURNAMENTS
| SILVER LAKE RECORD MT ST HELENS BASS MASTERS |
| Saturday morning, June 5, 1971; the day of the Silver Lake Bass Club’s spring fishing derby. At 6:00 a.m., 22 year old Dale Sanders of Castle Rock signed up for the tournament and launched his 12’ wooden boat into Cowlitz County’s Silver Lake.. He didn’t realize that an hour later he would set a benchmark for Western Washington bass fishermen that has stood for over 37 years. The day was calm and the sun peeked intermittently through overcast skies. Dale rowed his boat to an area of clear water 4 feet deep and cast out his 7” purple Lindy Mama worm next to a stump in the dollar pads. The record fish hit immediately as the worm sank, Dale set the hook, and the fight was on. The bass headed for open water, ripping up the dollar pads with the line as she went; straining the12 lb. mono on Dale’s spinning tackle. After a lengthy fight, Dale brought the fish to the boat. She looked monstrous laying there in the net; 2 feet long, huge mouth, eyes as big as quarters. The bass later weighed out at 10 lbs. 2 oz., was 24 ½ inches long, and had a girth of 22 ¾ inches. Dale finished in 2nd place for the tournament, but of course, garnered big fish honors. The previous lake record bass of 9 lbs. 9 oz. was caught 5 years earlier to the day. Could there be an even bigger largemouth today in Silver Lake? In October 2007, Washington Fish & Wildlife biologists were conducting a fish survey in Silver Lake using an electro-shock boat. They brought up a huge bass, measured and weighed it, and released it back in the lake. The current record for the State of Washington is 11 lbs. 12 ounces. The fish the biologists captured was over 12 pounds. |
