Friday, September 19, 2008

GillBilly Chronicals: 97 Year Old Angler Catches the Big One

At 97, pardon San Diegan Dr. David Jessop for bragging a bit about a recent catch. Not only is Jessop still above ground at 97, but he's still catching big fish, too. Jessop was fishing with his buddy George Cowan, who is a youngster at 88, tussling with a black seabass he estimated to be well over 150 pounds. “It looked like it was 6 feet long and 500 pounds by the time I got it up close enough to see it,” Jessop said. “But George said it was more like 150 pounds. I was pretty excited.” Jessop hooked the protected black seabass on a lightweight bass outfit, using an anchovy pinned to a small No. 1 hook.

“We were just outside the Mission Bay Jetty, and I threw over to try and land a sand bass or something like that,” Jessop said. “It took me over an hour to get it to the boat, and the only reason I did is because George did such a masterful job running the boat. I could have been spooled a couple times there.”

Jessop is already a member of the San Diego Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in the Hall of Champions, but his legend continues to grow. It's safe to say he may be the oldest angler ever to catch and release a 150-pound black seabass.

Oldest anglers: Blanche Seccombe, 106, Montana's oldest angler. She participated in the 15th annual Fishing Without Barriers Day on Flathead Lake in Montana in July. Blanche, who lives in Bigfork, didn't catch any fish, but at 106, she's still getting around. Blanche's secret to longevity: “I eat bacon every morning,” she said. “Crisp bacon.”

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I didn't really say everything I said.

Yogi Berra

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