Justin Riley Breaks Maryland State Record For Largemouth!

If you could pick the conditions under which to catch a new state record fish, you’d be hard pressed to top the real-life set of circumstances under which Justin Riley broke Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay largemouth bass mark.

For starters, the Woodbine, Md., angler was fishing with his father, Ed. For another thing, he was fishing a team tournament, so there were plenty of witnesses, a set of scales nearby and money on the line. Finally, it was under super-tough conditions that few would have picked to produce a trophy bass.

January 26th started slowly for the Rileys. They had decided to fish a section of the river called “the Spoils” and found their favorite spot covered with ice. Relying on their boat to break up the thin sheet of ice and the river’s currents to carry it away, they soon had water to fish, but nothing was biting.

Justin realized the most productive spot in the area — that key spot within the spot —was still covered by ice, so he backed their boat into the ice to break it up.
“I was looking at my electronics and saw some fish on it as we backed into the ice,” he said. “When we pulled forward, I pitched my bait (a 1/2-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS Lazer Blade in chartreuse and lime) back to the spot and let it fall to the bottom.”

Special to Bassmaster.com/Clifford Magnus
Justin and his father, Ed Riley, landed a limit that weighed better than 26 pounds to win the tournament.
Riley lifted and dropped the blade bait twice, then let it sit still on the bottom. That’s when the big bass decided to make a meal of it.

“She picked it up off the bottom, and I set the hook,” Riley said. “At first I wasn’t sure it was a bass, but after several minutes she surfaced and turned so I could see the lateral line. Even then I had no idea how big she was.”

With Ed Riley manning the net, Justin led the fish to the boat. She came aboard at about 8:15 a.m.
“I still didn’t know I had a record fish,” Justin said. “I had caught a nine-pounder from the river a couple of years before and knew this fish was much bigger but didn’t know how much bigger.”
It didn’t help that their on-board scale was malfunctioning in the cold or that it didn’t register weights over 10 pounds. So, with a very big bass in the livewell, the Rileys kept fishing.
And they proceeded to fill out a tournament limit that weighed better than 26 pounds. It was good enough for the win and, naturally, Justin’s lunker took big bass honors.

Special to Bassmaster.com/Clifford Magnus
Riley at the tournament scales.
On the tournament scales, Riley’s bass weighed 11-9, but they weren’t certified. Once he realized the fish might exceed the state record, Justin and his dad went looking for some certified scales. They found them at a UPS shipping center where the bass weighed an official 11.18 pounds.

For most trophy catches, the story would end there. The fish would either be taken to a taxidermist or released in the waters from which it came, but the Rileys contacted the Bass Pro Shops store in Hanover, Md., and asked if they’d be interested in the fish.
They were, and after an hour-long drive to the store, the Rileys and store manager Aaron Frazier spent the next three hours gradually warming the water the bass was in to the same temperature as the store quarantine tank — a 35 degree difference!
After a quarantine period, visitors should be able to view the state record in the store’s aquarium.

Technically, although Riley’s catch is the biggest largemouth ever certified in Maryland, it’s not the freshwater record. Because his fish was caught in tidal waters, Riley’s bass is the Chesapeake Bay (or tidal waters) record for the state. The previous tidal waters record was caught in 1975 from the Pocomoke River and weighed 9-1. The Maryland freshwater record largemouth weighed 11-2 (about an ounce less than Riley’s bass) and was taken from a farm pond in 1993.

Justin Riley is no stranger to tournament competition or fishing success. For three years he fished the Bassmaster Opens series before an automobile accident sidelined him in 2007. Now he’s ready to get back on the trail and try to qualify for fishing’s big time, the Bassmaster Elite Series.

“My dream is to become a professional bass fisherman,” Riley says.
In the meantime, he’s pretty happy with his state record.

Angler: Justin Riley, Woodbine, Md.Date: Jan. 26, 2008Species: Largemouth BassWeight: 11.18 poundsLocation: Potomac River, Md. (“The Spoils”)Bait: Bass Pro Shops XPS Lazer Blade (chartreuse and lime)Rod/Reel: Shimano Curado and medium-heavy Shimano casting rodLine: 12-pound-test Berkley Big GameDetails: The bass hit at about 16 feet deep on a drop that fell from 11 to 19 feetStatus: Maryland state record for tidal waters

To read more about this and other bass fishing stories and participate in great tackle contests visit BASSFISHINGSTORIES at http://delawaretrophybass.com

StevevonBrandt Big Bass World Champ/NAFC Hall Of Fame angler

Top Delaware Ponds

Some of the best ponds during the heat, day or night, have been Millsboro, Killens, and Canal pond. Millsboro pond pictured above has an island and can be a good spot at night.

First of the closest ponds to both upper and lower Delaware is Killens in Dover.

Killens is located right off rt.13. Turn left onto State Park Road, follow the road around the curve, past the main park entrance, and about a mile and a half down the road is the pond. It has parking for about six to eight trucks with trailers, with an adequate launching ramp. Killens is a state park, and they also rent boats and cabins, but you will find little competition for bass except on the weekends.

Most of Killens is one to five feet deep at the shoreline, except in the extreme upper end, where it is just inches deep. The lake has an Island in the center with some wood cover and grass. It drops off to six feet quickly on the channel side (main lake), and is about three feet on the right side. This is a particularly good area to work in the day with “Senko’s” in four and five inch sizes in black and watermelon on a 3/0 WG hook, with eight and ten pound test line. In addition, clacker type buzzbaits produce bass in the three to six pound range many times in this area, even in the bright afternoon sun.

A Tournament Frog, or “Sumo Frog” is a good choice for the pads especially in the daytime heat. The action will be slower, but you can connect with some big explosions through the grass and pads at times. A Tournament Frog is the best choice of topwater, and a 1/2 ounce in black works best all around. Vary the retrieve, both day and night, sometimes letting the frog sit after hitting the water, as long as thirty seconds, then use a few quick hops. If this doesn’t produce, try working it very fast and pausing only once, on the way back to the boat. This is especially effective in large pads.

Jigs in black and blue take their fair share of nice bass from here also, but you must be extremely accurate and quiet in your presentations or you will not connect. The bass will be in the heaviest of cover, lying in wait for a slow moving, crippled bait to come overhead.

“GO AT NIGHT”

Fishing at night when the water cools to seventy or seventy-five degrees, is the best time to connect with bigger bass now. Explore the shallow water right at the drop-offs on the left side of the lake with buzzbaits cast to the main channel edge. Do not be afraid to experiment with some older, forgotten baits, such as a “Devils Horse”, or similar prop baits. They work wonders sometimes in highly pressured lakes.

MILLSBORO POND

Millsboro Pond is in Sussex County, Delaware, in the town of Millsboro off Isabella and Main Street. It has room for only a few boats, and the launching ramp is very shallow, you can get off all right, but getting back on the trailer can be real tricky. Most of the lake is shallow, with lots of grass. It has several Islands, but the bass go to shallow water at night in the upper end. Buzzbaits are best, but Tournament Frogs work well also, in the day and night. Several bass have been caught in the three to six pound range in the past at night, using the frog and Senko’s mostly in the day. Cast the buzzbait wherever possible at night, it is worth removing the grass. Use Senko’s by the lower end of the lake in deeper water in the day, and do not forget to let them sit a long time, raise the pole once or twice, and then cast again. Use these techniques and bring plenty of insect repellent, and you will connect with some lunkers, and many others in the two to three pound range.

CANAL POND

Canal Pond is located by the railroad bridge in the C&D Canal area. Turn right under St.Georges Bridge and follow the road to the pond. It has beautiful structure, pads, and has a deep shoreline with a deep hole. This was where a few years ago, the thirty pound landlocked striped bass was caught. There are some real Lunker largemouth’s still there also. You will need a small cartop boat to fish it, but it is worth the trouble of getting in. It is about thirty acres of real good drop-offs, and structure, where bass up to nine pounds have been caught. Please remember to practice Catch, Photo, and Release so we can all enjoy the bass fishing there for a long time to come. Senko’s and four inch straight tailed worms work best throughout the year in watermelon and green. At times spinnerbaits and frogs will work, but this is a plastics lake.

Noxontown Lake

Noxontown has long been known for producing big bass. In the late seventies and early eighties largemouth of seven and eight pounds were not uncommon to hear of each week.
Since that time, with all the recreational and tournament pressure, its big bass numbers seem to have declined, or have they?

The answer is no! They are still there, just older and wiser. This was proven when I caught a 10.16 pound largemouth bass in 1999 in Noxontown, just ounces short of the state record.

That bass pictured below was featured in a full page article in the News Journal paper, in Bassmaster Magazine Lunker Club, North American Fisherman, and Bass Pro Shops Master catalogs.

The trick to getting these larger bass to strike is to fish the lake at low pressure times during the weekdays, and employing some western techniques such as swimbaits off the deeper points. Just because they are northern strain bass and aren’t 20 pounds, it doesn’t mean they don’t want a big easy meal.
Follow these tips and tactics in these Delaware Lakes and Ponds this year, and you will catch the trophy of a lifetime! More detailed information on these and other lakes, ponds and rivers in Delaware and Maryland are available at http://bassfishingstories.webs.com/

StevevonBrandt Big Bass World Champ/NAFC Hall Of Fame angler