Thomas Russell, of Albion, caught a new state record smallmouth bass Wednesday on Cayuga Lake. The super smallie weighed 8 pounds, 5.8 ounces, beating the previous state record smallmouth by almost two ounces.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has yet to officially announce the record, but we spoke to Russell earlier today after officials certified the scale used to weigh his fish.
“Unbelievable man,” Russell said. “When I first hit him I was like, ‘I think we got a giant!’ ”
Russell and his cousin, Eric Sullivan, were competing in the Finger Lakes Open trail bass tournament. Like most competitive anglers, Russell declined to give details that might give away the location of his honey hole, but he did say that he and Sullivan had caught “numerous” good-sized smallmouth before the lunker came along.
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