RALEIGH, N.C. (Feb. 4) – Professional bass angler and guide, Eric M. Weir, now has one more fishing trophy to hang on his wall after landing the new spotted bass state record on Dec. 26, 2003. The Belmont angler reeled in his 6.5-pound, 22 ¼-inch long, record spot from Ramsey Creek on Lake Norman using a chartreuse pumpkin Zoom Finesse worm as bait.

The fish was weighed on certified scales at Jones Brothers Supermarket in Mount Holly and was verified by Lawrence Dorsey, a fishery biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

Weir, who has been bass fishing for more than 30 years and now runs a fishing guide service on Lake Norman and Lake Wylie, knows that most spotted bass are aggressive fighters when hooked. However, his latest and greatest catch proved to be the exception to that rule.

“We were fishing off a little point in about 13-and-a-half foot of water when I caught the big one,” Weir recalled. “I thought it was a catfish at first because it stayed down. My buddy hollered to me from the back of the boat that it was either a carp or a state record spot. He was joking, but it turned out to be true.”

Smaller than its popular cousins, the largemouth and smallmouth bass, a three- to four-pound spot is considered a nice catch by most anglers while a 6.5 pounder is almost unheard of. In fact, the previous North Carolina state record spotted bass, weighing 5.15 pounds, was caught more than a decade ago from Lake Chatuge by Kent Moffitt.

To qualify for a state record, anglers must have caught their fish on a hook and line, must have their fish weighed on a certified scale witnessed by one observer, have the fish positively identified by a qualified expert from the Commission and submit an application with a full, side-view photo of the fish.

See a list of all freshwater fish state records in North Carolina

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