Arkansas bass records old, tough to break

April 20, 2001 • Jeff Schroeder • Archives

Spot record the one to watch at Beaver Lake

It’s been 25 years since an angler pulled a state-record largemouth bass out of Arkansas waters. In that time, thousands of bass fishing tournaments have taken place and millions of recreational anglers have vigorously plied the waters of the Natural State in search of big ol’ bucketmouths. Yet no one has been able to beat the whale caught by a humble, regular, beer-drinking Tennessee guy way back in the spring of 1976.

Like Ahab

In late February of that year, Aaron Mardis was fishing the secluded waters of Mallard Lake a few miles north of Memphis, his hometown, when he hooked onto a huge largemouth bass. Unfortunately, the fish broke off after an extended battle. Mardis, an unknown and normally unassuming angler, showed some tenacity by returning to the area with his johnboat a week later to chase the massive fish.

“He was a good ol’ boy fisherman,” said Jim Spencer, spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. “He was the kind of guy who’d go out to drink beer and make a cast every once in a while.”

Still, like Ahab and the White Whale, Mardis pursued the black bass relentlessly. On March 2, he hooked it again, and this time he brought it into the boat.

But Mardis, the legend holds, didn’t rush straight in to have the big fish weighed and certified.

Explained Spencer, “No. Instead, this guy just put it on his stringer and kept right on fishing,” Then, after a long day of fishing and dragging a world-class largemouth bass around Mallard Lake, he did what any other red-blooded fisherman might do: He stopped for a bump at a bar on his way home.

According to Spencer, Mardis told some buddies in the bar that he had a pretty big fish sitting in the icebox out in his truck. They took a moment to weigh it. The fish weighed in at a massive 16 pounds, 4 ounces and eventually became certified as the Arkansas state-record largemouth bass.

While the impressive fish – which was the product of a Florida-strain largemouth bass genetic stocking program in Mallard Lake – has lasted 25 years as the record, it could have been even bigger. Mardis caught the fish around 8 or 9 o’clock in the morning and subsequently hauled it around with him for 12 hours before taking any weight measurements.

“At 9 p.m. it still weighed 16-4,” said Spencer. “We’re talking about an animal that probably weighed over 17 pounds before he got through dehydrating it.”

Just as many spots

While Mardis’ largemouth is a pretty old record, the Arkansas state smallmouth bass record is the oldest of the three tournament bass species records sought by FLW Tour anglers and fans participating in the Visa $2 Million Challenge. It was set April 1, 1969, by Acie Dickerson of Lakeview, Ark., on Bull Shoals Lake – which, like the Wal-Mart Open’s Beaver Lake, is part of the White River chain of Arkansas lakes.

However, FLW competitors’ chances of snagging that record bass are nearly nil since the smallmouth population in Beaver Lake is negligible.

Still, watch out for the spotted-bass state record next week. Last year while pre-fishing for the 2000 Wal-Mart Open, pro angler Tom Mann Jr. of Buford, Ga., landed a spotted bass that weighed just over 6 pounds – and would have broken the 5-pound, 5-ounce Beaver Lake record had he not released the fish instead of taking it to shore for official measurements. The 6-pounder wasn’t too far off the state record either, a 7-pound 15-ounce spotted bass that was caught by Mike Heilich of St. Louis, Mo., on March 26, 1983, also in Bull Shoals Lake.

Plus, the tournament fish will be up on the beds in the spring-fed, clear waters of Beaver Lake for spawning season, making the big ones visible and accessible to the FLW Tour’s sight-fishing specialists.

“Beaver’s got some big bass in it,” Spencer said. “I expect (FLW competitors) to weigh in just as many spots as largemouths.”

***

For the record, here are the Arkansas state bass records that Wal-Mart FLW Tour pros need to shoot for next week (in pounds-ounces):

Largemouth: 16-4, caught 03/02/76 on Mallard Lake by Aaron Mardis of Memphis, Tenn.
Smallmouth: 7-5, caught 04/01/69 on Bull Shoals Lake by Acie Dickerson of Lakeview, Ark.
Spotted: 7-15, caught 03/26/83 on Bull Shoals Lake by Mike Heilich of St. Louis, Mo.

Click here for the Visa $2 Million Challenge.