State Record Shoal Bass Caught & Released

Editor’s Note: Below is the story of the catch—and release— of the new state-record shoal bass caught Dec. 23, 2021 on the Chattahoochee River near Columbus by angler Matt McWhorter. The shoalie weighed 8-lbs., 5-ozs. on certified scales in front of witnesses, including DNR Law Enforcement Cpl. Eric Isom. The below story is written by Everett Park, a close friend and fishing buddy of Matt’s.

Matt McWhorter with the pending state-record shoal bass caught from the Chattahoochee River near Columbus.

Local legend and dockside talk are always full of close calls and fish stories. Tales of the ones that got away and legends of monster fish that didn’t make it to a set of certified scales to claim the title of “State Record.”

To claim such a unique and sought-after prize is the dream of many anglers around the world but the reality of very few.

And while there’s something to be said for being in the right place at the right time, the best fishermen have learned to work harder and put in more time than everyone else. To improve the odds, they have sacrificed thousands of hours over many years, falling just short of their goal more times than they can recount.

And with every fish landed and every fish lost, they make one more cast farther upriver and inch closer to the pinnacle of their dreams.

For one fisherman from Lanett, Ala., the summit has been conquered…

Matt McWhorter has been fishing the Chattahoochee River and all the surrounding tributaries since he was a small boy and has gathered a wealth of experience perhaps only as impressive as his tackle collection.

Although many readers of GON have never heard of Matt, most no doubt have seen or even caught his favorite fish— the shoal bass.

Like a preferred snack of the shoal bass, hellgrammites, you would have to be living under a rock in Georgia to have missed the explosion of popularity and attention this incredible species has gotten recently.

Until 1999 shoal bass were treated by most as a redeye bass or a subspecies of the redeye. With tens of thousands never making it to maturity before being loaded on someone’s stringer and taken home to fry, many locals had not yet realized what an unusual thing it was to catch a big one.

In the state of Georgia, a trophy citation is now issued by the DNR when a shoal bass exceeds 20 inches in length or weighs 4 pounds, and many residents and visitors now have taken to treating this special native species with significantly more respect and care.

For Matt, the Georgia state record of 8-lbs., 3-ozs. established in 1977 by David Hubbard on the Flint River has long been a benchmark.

David Hubbard with his Flint River shoal bass that’s been the Georgia state record since 1977.

Living near the Chattahoochee his entire life, Matt has always believed that his local river had the potential to produce a new state record and has hooked several fish in recent years that will always leave him wondering. He will fish from the bank, his kayak or any boat available. He spends all his free time year-round on the river. Hot or cold, rain or shine, Matt is going to fish. Period.

On Dec. 23, 2021, near Columbus, Matt stepped onto his buddy’s boat with the same goal in mind that he always has on the river: Throw a BIG bait, and catch some BIG fish. With fellow river rats Jeremy Bagley and James Filyaw, Matt started making long, aggressive casts upstream and cranking his baitcaster as fast as the icy handle would turn. The conditions were far less than desirable, a damp and windy morning in the high 30s with heavy generation flooding the rocky shoals and eddies of the river.

As they continued to make their way from one ripple to the next, targeting structure of various kinds, they settled into a school of healthy striped bass and started ripping lips and tossing the usual friendly insults and general smack talk they have come to love on these trips. Jeremy, or JB as they call him, was chunking a big, jointed swimbait when he laid into a strong fish that felt different. As he got it close to the boat, they realized it was what they had secretly been hoping would show up, a MASSIVE shoalie! Unable to net it, the fish made a run beside the boat and the only hook attached to her turned loose, leaving them all stunned for a moment.

Before they had even processed what just happened, Matt had made a cast into the same current break. Within seconds his rod slowly doubled over into that familiar position many of us have come to hate. He was hung up on a piece of timber hidden in the swift generation current. Or so they all thought…

In the next few seconds, it all broke loose as they say. The “blowdown” battled back and the drag started screaming. The initial grin on everyone’s faces over Matt’s misfortune changed to mouths agape as he skillfully turned the strongest fish of the day in the direction of the boat. As anyone who has fought a big shoalie in heavy current will tell you, the intensity and raw power these fish display will test the steel of even the most experienced rivermen, like Matt.

JB told me later when I met up with them to witness the official weighing, “Everett, when that fish hit the deck, we all just sat down and stared at it. We knew it was the biggest one any of us had ever landed!”‘

But the story was far from over…

Matt called his buddy Jody Simms and asked if he could come find them on the river and keep this giant shoal bass in his livewell. Jody gladly agreed, and being a skilled photographer, he also grabbed some excellent pictures of what they all were beginning to agree was likely going to be a new Georgia state-record shoal bass.

It wasn’t until all of them began making phone calls that reality set in. It was a holiday weekend, and there was a skeleton crew working the WRD Fisheries Division.

Matt called or messaged everyone he could think of, including myself, in an effort to come up with some kind of plan to establish a certified weight. But sadly it was sounding more and more like the only solution would be to weigh the fish with witnesses at a set of USDA scales, then put her on ice until a DNR officer was available, possibly days later.

After getting my hands on an official record application, speaking with WRD Fisheries Region Supervisor Rob Weller in Albany and making stops everywhere we could think of, including the federal hatchery, JB finally got a return call from DNR Law Enforcement Cpl. Eric Isom, who agreed to meet us at a local market with a set of certified scales.

We were relieved, but the fact was this 12- to 15-year-old fish was riding a thin line, in spite of Matt’s best efforts.

Shoalies rarely survive in a livewell, and at this point out of necessity, Matt had to transport her quite a ways in a Rubbermaid tub with no aeration. The hours were starting to add up, and I realized the moment I saw Matt’s face that as badly as he wanted this record, his respect for this fish was weighing heavily on him.

Matt carefully removed her from the tub as all of us, including Cpl. Isom, looked on, placed her on the scales with tears in his eyes and stared, not at the digital display like us, but at her eyes looking back at him. He quickly picked her back up once the weight was registered and placed her back in the tub. Much to our surprise, she just casually turned her body a few times and waved her beautiful fins to the video camera.

As Matt placed the lid back on and gave the camera an emotional glance, the moment set in for all of us. Matt had broken the state record by 2 ounces and managed to keep the biggest shoal bass of his life alive for 10 hours. This is a fact that will always amaze me.

Cpl. Isom filled out the paperwork, JB and I witnessed Matt sign it, then we began feeling a deep sense of urgency to get her back to the water. As life changing as this experience was for Matt, he wouldn’t feel true satisfaction unless she lived to see the river again. We rushed to the trucks and then to the riverbank, where I videoed a humble man, with a mountain of weight lifted from his shoulders, open the lid to reveal a living legend looking up at him. She had made it!

Matt is a hard-working family man. He is a father to Jacob, AJ and Madelyn, and his wife Heather told me there on the riverbank that she didn’t regret all the time she has sacrificed so Matt could chase this record.

“He should have called ME first!” she said with a smile.

We all looked on with a quiet reverence as Matt gave the fish of many lifetimes a pat on the tail and watched her swim across a glassy pool on to her next season of life, one Matt believes will produce hundreds of babies, destined for the trophy class and maybe another record for his favorite fishery.

An emotional moment for Matt as reality sets in that he could be holding the next Georgia state-record shoal bass. Photo by Jody Simms.

What’s next for Matt?

As any of his friends or family will tell you, it won’t be a lifetime of bragging or bringing up this accomplishment. It won’t be a new social-media persona, as Matt rebrands himself as the undisputed king of the river. Matt won’t seek any special glory or fame, nor will he challenge anyone else who claims they have broken his record as often happens in these stories.

Matt’s a humble fisherman with one goal in mind. Keep fishing.

Along the way he will share, teach and celebrate with other anglers, as he continues to search for the next big one.

The IGFA world-record shoal bass is 8-lbs., 12-ozs. caught in northern Florida in 1995…