Zac Mickle caught a massive size redear sunfish at Arizona’s Lake Havasu. The sunfish measured 16-1/4 inches and weighed 5.07 pounds. Mickle said on a Meta/Facebook post “by far the greatest fish I have ever caught.”
Mickle told FTW Outdoors that he was fishing near submerged timber, using a nightcrawler as bait when he caught the massive sunfish.
“I casted to the timber and let it drop to the bottom,” he recalled. “Seconds later I felt just a couple little taps on my line, which is exactly how these fish hit. You never know if it’s 4 inches or 5 pounds. I set the hook with my ultralight rod and the fish didn’t move. I knew it was big! I just didn’t know how big.
“She stayed deep for a long time not really doing much. With only 4 pound test I couldn’t do much. They usually go for runs but I think she was just so round that she couldn’t do that.
“When I finally started lifting her off the bottom I saw that she was giant. I ran to the back of the boat to grab the net and luckily she went right in. This is when I could finally see exactly how big it was and I freaked out!”
Mickle said he keep the sunfish in order to have an exact replica made.