BY MIKE STEVENS
ROOSEVELT, Ariz. – A monster largemouth caught during a local tournament on Arizona’s Roosevelt Lake could stand as a new lake record for that species. The beast weighed 16.57 pounds and was caught by angler Steve Jenkins
Jenkins was working a 6-inch straight-tail Roboworm in Morning Dawn Hologram, and he released the bass after weighing in on a certified scale. Jenkins and his partner Mike Selvage finished in second in the tournament, and obviously, he took big fish honors in the event.
Western Outdoor News reached out to the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) to see where it stood on the catch and what needs to happen for it to be certified as the new state record for largemouth bass in Arizona.
“Arizona has two categories for state record fish,” said Curt Gill og AZGFD. “One is by weight for kept fish and requires the fish to be weighed on a certified scale and verified by a biologist. The other is a catch-and-release category by length that requires a picture of the fish on a measuring board or tape measure for verification. Since the fish in question was released, it would be eligible for the catch-and-release state record if it beat the old record by at least an inch.”
Jenkins indicated he was very concerned with keeping the fish alive and ensuring a successful release, in fact, it sounded as if he was more concerned with that than grabbing the record. That being said, he is submitting it for the record and he intends to get a mount of his bass of a lifetime.
The current, state record is 16 pounds 7.68 ounces, caught on Canyon Lake in 1997. When converted to ounces, Jenkins’s fish weighs 16 pounds, 9.28 ounces.
Roosevelt Lake is located about 80 miles norteast of Phoenix, and it stands as the largest reservoir located entirely in the state of Arizona. The lake is 22.4 miles long and 2 miles wide with a max depth of 349 feet.
