Chattahoochee River Bass Record Caught By Striper Fisherman

Dacula’s Kristian Pereira caught this Chattahoochee River largemouth and broke the river record. It weighed 7-lbs., 4-oz..

Dacula’s Kristian Pereira pretty much fishes only on Lake Lanier, so when a buddy offered him the opportunity of fishing on the Chattahoochee River for the first time, he jumped at the chance.

It was a trip the 26-year-old car salesman will never forget.

While stripe fishing, he caught a 7-lb., 4-oz. largemouth bass that was the largest ever for that stretch of the river.

“We were fishing for striper below Morgan Falls Dam,” he explained. “It had really rained a lot the night before, and there was a lot of current. The water was real murky.

“We were hanging into a lot of fish, but for some reason, we couldn’t keep them on the hook. I bet we lost 10 to 15 good fish. I saw a swirl on top of the water near the bank, and I threw my Fluke over there. Something hit it and took off downriver in the current.

“I didn’t know what it was. My buddy had told me besides stripe they catch a lot of gar and catfish.”

The last thing that Kristian imagined on the end of his line was a largemouth bass. When the fish surfaced a few times, he got a glimpse of it and could see that it was a big one.

“I was praying that this fish wouldn’t get off,” he said. “When we finally got it in the net, my buddy whose boat we were in said that it was a really good bass for the Chattahoochee. At the bait shop we went to that morning, they had told us if we caught a shoal bass around 8 pounds, we should report it, so we had that in the back of our minds.

“We were pretty sure that mine was a largemouth, so we looked it up. The record for the river between Morgan Falls and Franklin was just 5-lbs., 3-ozs. set in 2011, so we knew this one was bigger than that.”

It turned out that catching the bass was the easiest part. It was a Saturday and having the fish confirmed as a largemouth by a fisheries biologist and getting it weighed on certified scales proved to be a task.

“We took the fish to the WRD Fisheries office in Gainesville and the guy at the loading dock said no one was there, but he’d get an officer to call me,” Kristian said. “An officer did call and he had caught a lake record on Allatoona, so he was familiar with the process. I took it to three or four grocery stores to get it weighed, but they wouldn’t allow it. I finally took it to a meat market and got it weighed and it weighed 7-lbs., 4-ozs., on certified scales.

“I had to keep it on ice and take it back to the WRD Fisheries office on Monday to get it confirmed as a largemouth and that it was the river record.”

Chattahoochee River Record Fish

See all of GON’s official Georgia Lake & River Records here.

Requirements For Record Fish

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

• Catch must be weighed on accurate Georgia DOA certified scales with at least two witnesses present, who must be willing to provide their names and phone numbers so they can be contacted to verify the weighing of the fish.

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