Girl Catches South Georgia Giant Bass

If you see Jordan Rousey, of Byron, strutting around town in the next few weeks, you’ll know why. His wife, Alicia, 23, recently caught the largemouth of a lifetime in a 5-acre private pond in Perry.

“A family friend owns a house on this pond and allows us to fish there whenever we want,” said Jordan. “This was probably our sixth or seventh time fishing at this particular location, and we had no idea there were even fish of that size in the pond.”

Jordan said divine intervention may have played into Alicia catching the fish.

“The craziest part of the whole thing is that when I was purchasing medium-sized shiner minnows from a bait-and-tackle store, I had the strangest feeling telling me to purchase a net,” said Jordan. “We did not have one up until this point, so I bought a $16 fishing net because of my gut feeling.”

Alicia was fishing with an H2O XPRESS spinning rod and reel combo. The reel was loaded with 12-lb. test monofilament, a medium-sized bobber and a shiner threaded onto a No. 3 offset shank hook.

“I remember thinking, ‘Grab the net,'” said Alicia. “I knew it was something bigger than I normally catch. The fish didn’t fight all that much, but it dove under the dock and had a lot of force behind it. At one point I thought the line was going to break, but we were able to get the net down and secure the fish right before the pole bent all the way over from the fish pulling.”

Jordan said the fish is the largest caught from the pond, which happens to be shared by a few other homeowners.

“Since this fish was caught, about three docks are in the process of being built by other homeowners on this pond,” said Jordan. “This pond has trophy fish, and now the residents know it. The rule there is that any thing over 6 pounds must be released back into the water. As you can see in the video, Alicia had to watch the fish of a lifetime swim away but was happy we didn’t kill it.”

The bass weighed 11-lbs., 3-ozs., was 26 1/2 inches long and had a girth of 20 1/2 inches. Alicia is going to have a replica made to match the exact measurements and weight.

“It’s very exciting to know I caught a fish of a lifetime,” said Alicia. “I’ll never forget how big that fish looked in person, or how heavy it was when I was holding it. Pictures just don’t do a fish that size justice.”