IONE, CA, JULY 3, 2007:  Congratulations to  Harold Hardin of Stockton CA for crushing the  California state smallmouth bass record by nearly 3/4 of a pound.   Harold Hardin, a Stockton fisherman who has been fishing Pardee Lake for the past 40 years did something that no other angler in the State of California has been able to do in 31 years: He caught a 9.83 lb. Smallmouth Bass that eclipsed the current state record by nearly ¾ of a pound.

 The old record of 9.1 was caught by Tom Brady in 1976 at Trinity Lake. Mr. Hardin was fishing just off of Leveque Point at the mouth of the Mokelumne River using charcoal colored swim bait. According to Mr. Hardin, shortly after landing the big fish, he hooked into another Smallmouth and just before he was about to land the 2nd fish, it made one last dash for freedom and snapped the line. “The one that I lost was definitely a larger fish than the one I landed” stated Mr. Hardin. Harold estimated that after seeing the 2nd fish up close to his boat that it was at least 11+ lbs. Mr. Hardin stated that there are Smallmouth Bass in Pardee Lake that are substantially larger than his record Bass.

Current World Record

On July 9 it will be 50 years since D.L. Hayes caught the world-record smallmouth bass, weighing 11 pounds and 15 ounces, while trolling a pearl-colored Bomber at Dale Hollow Lake that lies along the Tennessee-Kentucky boundary.  Of course, this record, as with most that survive such a test of time, has been contested. (It also has been largely overlooked by the more famous world record of its bigger cousin, the largemouth bass.)  Many people have contested the legitimacy of this record because it has not been broken in 50 years. However, with Pardee Lake delivering larger and larger smallmouth bass every year  lends credibility to Hayes's record.

Pardee Lake is proving to be California's finest Smallmouth bass fishery in the state.  Many local Bass anglers believe Pardee will deliver the next world record smallmouth.  Only time will tell, and if you want your name in the record books fishing Pardee Lake may be the key.