Bass Fanatic Lured To California

Porter Hall’s life has revolved around bass for more than 30 years. His quest to catch the big one lured him from Alabama to Florida. In the spring of 1991, California’s Castaic Lake surrendered a largemouth that topped 20 pounds - the closest any fish has come to topping the 22-pound, 4-ounce world record set in 1932.

Considering his track record, Hall’s friends weren’t surprised to hear that he had resigned from his job in Florida, and packed his wife and belongings to a rented house on Castaic Lake.

“We came out and fished our butts off for five months,” he said. “We didn’t know how to fish here in all this deep water. We really put in a lot of hours. I had five fish over 10 pounds in five months of steady fishing. But the last one weighed 15-1/2 and that was enough to keep us coming back. It wasn’t a great year, but that one big fish was enough.”

While fishing alone on Feb. 3 this year, Hall used a live crawfish as an attractor and a 12-inch Arbogast A.C. Plug (a monstrous wooden lure) to hook and land a lunker largemouth weighing 18.35 pounds - the largest bass recorded by an angler in America since 1992.

His wife videotaped the fish, then they released it into the lake.

“From what I understand, it was the third- or fourth-biggest largemouth ever released,” Hall said.

The National Taxidermy Association smiled on the lifelike work of two Spokane-area pros from Custom Wildlife Art during the group’s annual convention in Spokane last month.

Scott Brewer of Spokane received a best-overall whitetail and national champion award for his work on a big buck from Saskatchewan.

Gary Blew of Post Falls received a national champion award for his presentation of a 5-pound, 2-ounce smallmouth he caught himself at Potholes Reservoir.

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