Jefferey Hubbard was fishing with a friend on Cherokee Lake in East Tennessee on March 27 when he caught — and released — what likely would have been the state record Cherokee bass, a hybrid of striped and white bass. Though Hubbard knew the fish was probably a state record, he wanted to get the bass, plump with roe and shad, back in the water so it could live another day.
Hubbard, 38, from Carretta, West Virginia, was fishing with a friend in about 40 feet of water, working a rock wall that goes from 15 to 40 feet, fishing right on top of the big drop. They were fishing with artificials and bait when the water came alive. It was one of those moments anglers wish for, and Hubbard knew he was in for some action.
“Man, it’s gonna get real here in a minute. The bait kept coming up. And then stripers and hybrids and everything was just pushing that bait up on that ledge,” Hubbard told WIred2Fish. “And then finally, they just finally got them up, you know, on top of that 15 foot ledge. They started busting, you know? And it was on, the birds were hitting, and you know how it is.”
He changed gears, dug for an artificial, and tied it to the 12-pound-test on his Ugly Stik and Penn Slammer combo. “I had a big Rapala; I don’t even know the name of it. It’s like 8 inches long and looks like a big shad.”
Hubbard soon hooked up, and he was locked in battle with what he knew was a good fish. Once he got it boatside, his assumptions were confirmed. He knew the fish was noteworthy. They dug out a scale and confirmed their suspicions.
“I was like, ‘Man, that’s big.’ Then we looked up the state record, and it came back at 23 pounds, 3 ounces,” Hubbard said. “Our scale was reading 23 pounds, 5 ounces.”
The fish was absolutely stuffed with shad; there was even a shad hanging out of her mouth when he pulled her out of the water, and Hubbard could tell it was loaded with eggs. They weighed her again with another scale they had onboard, and called a buddy fishing nearby to bring another. One of the other readings said 23-3, the other 23-6. Hubbard knew the fish would likely take the record, but he wanted to get it back so it could spawn, and not kill it by taking the fish to an official scale.
He had three weights; all within 3 ounces of each other. It was time to let her go.
“She was like, ‘I’m tired of getting fondled and everything else,’” he said. “She acted weak. And I just grabbed her by the tail for a second, and she splashed me in the face, like, ‘Leave me alone,’ you know.”
Hubbard called the game warden later to see if he could have his scale certified, but he’s doubtful he’ll get the record. That’s okay, he says, because he wanted that fish to live.
As for the potential record hybrid?
“The fish is in the lake. She swam off like she was pissed, you know?”
Maybe Hubbard will find her again someday.
Cherokee bass are a hybrid between striped bass and white bass. They are stocked because they are more tolerant of warm water and low oxygen levels, providing additional opportunities for anglers in the warmer months. Though they have biological capability to reproduce, successful reproduction is unlikely outside of controlled laboratory or academic settings.
