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USA Bassin's OK-4 Lake Thunderbird Nabs State Lake Record

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

On November 1, 2008 USA Bassin made it into Oklahoma’s Lake Record Fish Program with the outstanding tournament performance by the team of Jeff Miller and his Jared Miller.  What is the biggest fish you’ve ever caught? A seven-pound largemouth, a two-pound crappie or a 45-pound blue catfish? While your fish may not have broken an Oklahoma record, it could very possibly be the biggest fish ever caught out of your favorite lake. Now thanks to new technology and a network of record keepers at 13 lakes around the State of Oklahoma, your next trophy could qualify as a lake record. The program was established in 2006 as a way to serve anglers and recognize big fish and the lakes they come from. 

Jeff Miller’s interview with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation: “My son and I were participating in the USA Bassin tournament on Lake Thunderbird on November 1, 2008. I recently had surgery and was not feeling up to par, so I drove separate in case I needed to leave early. The morning started off pretty well, Jared caught a good keeper on the second cast of the morning (a quality 3 pound fish). I caught a 14 inch keeper a short time later. We left that spot and hit a couple other places without much luck. Jared wanted to fish a spot that I did not care to try, he won the argument and he caught a couple of keepers there. Then I landed one that weighed around 5 pounds, the very next cast, I caught one that weighed over 7 pounds. At this point we had culled out one of our smaller fish and figured to have around a 20 pound bag. I called my daughter to see if she would bring me some pain medication, because I was really wanting to stick this one out. She met us at one of the boat ramps a short time later and even brought us a couple of hamburgers. After taking my medicine and eating our lunch, we moved down the bank a short distance and I flipped up to what appeared to be some artificial brush and set the hook on the big girl. We both thought it was not a bass, in that we each had caught a drum that easily weighed more than 10 pounds, plus a huge flathead catfish a short time earlier. When she finally came up, we could not believe it, another big one, even bigger than the last one. We culled out a 2 pounder with the 8 pounder and that put us at a little over 26 pounds for the day. All of our fish came on a homemade jig. It was a day that I will not soon forget. The quality of our fishery here in Oklahoma just seems to get better every year.” 

Congratulations to Jeff Miller and sticking out the day on the water and bringing in a USA Bassin record catch.