THE BASS COLLEGE

Thought I would post this even though it is old, just to remind everyone what some people try to get away with. This mother and son are flat out liars!

Are you kidding me?

After six days out of the office I've spent a good part of the last day wading through a backlog of e-mails. One came from someone criticizing me for a column I did back when Leah Trew put forth that claim in 2003 to have caught and released a world record largemouth bass in California's Spring Lake.

In short, she said it was weighed on a certified scale, in front of a witness, and then released. Her son Javad took one picture before the camera conveniently ran out of film. In the picture Leah Trew held the bass in front of her at arm's length, which we all know is the oldest trick in the book to make a fish appear larger.

The Trews said they released the fish because they didn't realize it was a record. Which is amazing because Javad Trew, who no doubt has caught some big bass in his day, was a regular poster to world record bass.com and had applied for line class records with the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame.

Despite the aforementioned Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame approving the catch as a 12-pound line class world record, the claim was so weak I can't believe anyone other than the Trews would still be trying to push it. Which makes me wonder if I know who sent that e-mail...

The Trew-th shall set you free

Six and a half years later, on the very same body of water that produced Duclos' catch, a 45-year-old woman named Leah Trew caught a bass she claimed weighed 22 pounds, 8 ounces — a new world record, right?

Of course not! By now you know better. But for a while it seemed the only people who believed her story were the ones in charge of the record books.

She weighed the fish on Boga Grip scales, which were certified for accuracy, took one photograph of the bass and then she released it. The fish allegedly measured 29 inches in length and 25 inches in girth. No biologist or park ranger saw it. In fact, the only reported witnesses were a man on a family picnic (where was the rest of his family?) and Trew's son Javad. Better yet, the first witness was believed to a friend of Javad.

There were other issues, too. Trew ignored repeated calls from the media and would not answer questions about her catch. The fish's dimensions (which were controversial to begin with and unsubstantiated by photographs that might give the bass some scale or measurement reference) were smaller than the current world record, the California record and a 22.01-pound fish claimed by record-hunting legend Bob Crupi in 1991.

And then there's Trew's son. Exactly a week after his mom's catch, he would claim an 18-8 from Spring Lake and apply for a line class record with both the IGFA and the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame. Many assumed mother and son were using the same fish.

Ultimately, prudent heads prevailed ... at least at IGFA. It issued a news release rejecting Trew's application, noting that her catch "was not documented to IGFA's satisfaction." Rob Kramer, then president of IGFA, was quoted as saying, "In this case there were too many unverifiable factors, so we had no other choice."

The Hall of Fame was less skeptical, and, though it never listed Trew as the all-tackle record holder, for a while it did call her the "unofficial" record holder and gave her the line class record for 12-pound-test.

Today, Leah Trew holds no titles with any major record-keeping organization. Javad, on the other hand, holds numerous records with the Hall (sigh), but — despite numerous applications — none with IGFA.

Thank God the IGFA has their sh_t together.

lol  yeah:wink:

hey give them some credit they tried and lied lol ha ha