Crews Makes Most Of His Time, Catches Withlacoochee Redbreast Record

Jacob Crews sets the redbreast record bar a little bit higher with this Withlacoochee River fish that weighed 11.31 ounces.

On Sept. 1, Jacob Crews, of Waycross, punched the clock at work and headed for the Withlacoochee River near Valdosta. Jacob arrived at the river around 4:30 or so and quickly unloaded his kayak before beginning to fish.

“It’s a good little ride from Waycross, probably an hour and a half or so, and I didn’t have real long before dark, but I wanted to make the best of the time I had,” said Jacob.

Minutes after beginning his float downriver, Jacob connected with his first fish of the day.

“I was pitching a Swamp Spider, and they were hitting it or missing it every few casts. Most of the fish were on the small side, but I was catching some quality fish, too,” Jacob added.

A little before 5:30, as the sun began to sink into the treeline, Jacob made a cast to some visible wood structure along the bank.

“I gave it a few twitches, and that’s when he slammed it! I knew by the big hole he blew in the water and the flash of red I saw that it had to be a pretty good redbreast,” said Jacob.

After a quick but intense game of tug of war, Jacob boated the big rooster and felt confident it had a pretty good shot of making the GON Lake and River Records. Jacob quickly weighed the fish on his hand-held digital scales, and his suspicions were confirmed.

After putting the fish on ice to help preserve its current weight, Jacob continued fishing until just before dark, managing to catch nearly 20 fish in the process. Approaching the bridge where he put in, he fired a cast into the near darkness.

“I was kind of hurrying along, and I could barely see the bridge it was so dark. I was fishing a buzzbait and I slung it out into the middle of the river near some shoals and immediately hooked up with a really nice bass that was nearly 5 pounds. It was an awesome ending to a great evening of fishing,” said Jacob.

Jacob took the redbreast he caught to the Waycross Fisheries Office the next day to be certified. The fish pushed the scales down to 11.31 ounces, securing its place as the record for the Withlacoochee River in the process.

“I’m excited I caught it, but I know there’s more big ones in there. I hope to get back over there soon to do some more fishing,” said Jacob.

GON’s Official Withlacoochee River Record Fish

Catch A Lake or River Record? Requirements For Record Fish

• Fish must be caught legally by rod and reel in a manner consistent with WRD fish regulations.

• Catch must be weighed on accurate Georgia DOA certified scales with at least two witnesses present.

• Witnesses to the weighing must be at least 18 years old, and they must not be members of the angler’s immediate family nor have a close personal relationship with the angler.

• Catch must be positively identified by qualified DNR personnel. GON can correspond with DNR when high-quality, multiple photos are taken of the fish and emailed to GON. All record submissions and photos must be sent to [email protected].

GON’s records are compiled and maintained by GON, to be awarded at GON’s discretion. Additional steps may be required for record consideration.

View Benchmarks For GON Lake & River Records