Area man catches state record smallmouth bass on Pardee Reservoir
By Matt Brown
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
On a fishing trip at Pardee Reservoir recently, Harold Hardin caught the biggest smallmouth bass of his life. It was also the biggest smallmouth in state history.
In the early morning of July 3, the 62-year-old retired hospital maintenance worker from Stockton was using charcoal-colored swim bait and casting from his old aluminum bass boat. After the fish struck on the bait, Hardin reeled in the beast that was later weighed at 9.83 pounds.
An average smallmouth bass typically weighs between one and two pounds.
Hardin was fishing off Leveque Point, where the narrow Mokelumne River canyon spills into the deep blue waters of Pardee.
The catch bested the 31-year-old record held by Tim Brady of Weaverville by almost a half-pound. Brady's 9.1-pound smallmouth was one of the longest standing records in California fishing history. Hardin's haul has made him a local celebrity and even earned him mention on ESPN.com.
Rose Polte, manager of the Pardee Marina, was there when Hardin weighed his fish on the marina scales.
"I was really impressed," she said. "He let me hold it. It was a beautiful fish."
Hardin, a longtime angler, has been fishing on Pardee for the past 40 years.
He has caught some large fish on Pardee and has had some big ones get away.
On his next cast after landing the record fish, he hooked another large smallmouth.
Before he could reel it in, the fish snapped his line and swam to freedom.
Hardin could have had two records in one day.
"The one that I lost was definitely a larger fish than the one I landed," he said in a statement.