As the old saying goes: “Third time’s the charm.” That was certainly true when 58-year-old fishing guide Chris Senohl set out on May 23 on 4,900-acre Lake Sammamish in Bellevue, Washington.
Senyohl, his wife Lainey and friend Tom Wolf were after a heavyweight baiting smallmouth bass that Senyohl had already come to know very well.
“I first saw and caught the fish while fishing with Tom Wolf on May 12,” he says. outdoor Life. “It was near a bass bed in 7 feet of water and I cast it with a rabbit stripe sculpin minnow fly that I tied.”
The bass was very aggressive and slammed his sculpin fly. The bass jumped a few times and put up a good fight. Smallies over the 7-pound class were netted and Senyohl was stunned by the size of the fish, as he says Washington is not well known for lunker smallmouth bass.
“After it was released I checked the IGFA records and measurements and was amazed that the bass could have been big enough for the IGFA catch-and-release record,” says Senyohl, who runs it. Intrepid Fisherman Guide Service. “I knew his true total length from that first encounter with my measuring net.”
A week later he returned to the same spot with his wife Lainey in search of bedding smallmouth. Sure enough, he says, Bass was in the same bed. Using another rabbit fur sculpin fly he caught a very aggressive and active smallmouth a second time.
This time Senyohl had an official IGFA measuring board, and he photographed the bass. But the photos were poor, so he headed back to Lake Sammamish on May 23 in search of the same bass in the same clear-water spawning area. This time – his third attempt – he was with his wife Lainey and friend Wolf.
This time Senyohl also had an official IGFA measuring board and a small transparent container he created, which he calls a “photo box”. Senyohl says biologists use similar containers to observe fish, because it ensures that the fish are not injured for study.
Sure enough, the bass remains where it was during the last two trips.
Senyohl casts the same fly he calls “Senyohl’s Sculpin,” using a 9-foot, 6-weight Sage fly rod with a 15-pound test tippet.
Incredibly, the bass broke Senyohl’s streamer again, and soon the bass were in his landing net, and then in his “photo box” filled with water.
“He touched the glass at both ends of my photo box, which is 22.5 inches in diameter,” he said. “We had to bring him to the IGFA board and measure the length from the fork of the tail to his nose. We had to tape his mouth shut for that measurement, and he didn’t like that.”
After measuring the fish he released the bass once again in the area where it was caught.
Catching the bass for the third time came when Senyohl put together all the correct measurements and documentation to submit his catch to the IGFA. The World Records Agency in Florida has now officially recognized Senyohl’s fish as the all-tackle world record catch-and-release smallmouth bass of 53 centimeters (20.86 in).
His fish also qualifies for the fly-only, all-time length record. Both of Senohl’s bass records are tied with several other fish of similar length in each IGFA smallmouth bass category.
Senyohl returned to Lake Sammamish where he fished in late June.
“It was still there, even though I didn’t try to catch it,” he says. “I know it was the same bass because its rough pectoral fins are easy to spot and its color pattern is recognizable.
“I’m glad she’s safe, and next year I’ll go back and try to catch her again when she’s older and maybe break my own record.”
