Giant Bass May Have Been Caught Before

(CBS/AP)  A Southern California man has a fish tale which, if true, could give him one of angling's most cherished records.

Mac Weakley says he caught a 25.1-pound largemouth bass on Monday at Dixon Lake in Escondido, in San Diego County. After weighing it on a hand-held digital scale, he released it.

Weakley plans to pursue the record, even though the fish was foul-hooked, meaning the hook lodged in the fish's body, below the dorsal fin on the fish's side in this case, not in its mouth. He says it wasn't snagged intentionally.

Weakley also failed to measure the bass, another potential problem for Weakley officially being dubbed the record-holder.

But Jason Schratwieser of the International Game Fish Association said the group would consider the catch for a world record.

The biggest bass on record weighed 22 pounds, 4 ounces. It was caught in 1932 by George W. Perry at Georgia's Montgomery Lake.

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To watch Weakley describe how he did it, click here.

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According to CBS affiliate KFMB in San Diego, Weakley was fishing with longtime friends Mike Winn and Jed Dickerson. Dickerson caught a 21-pound, 11-ounce bass at the same lake in 2003. The men believe this is the same fish Dickerson caught, and that was also caught by another fisherman as a 20-pounder in 2001.

They say the fish has the same identifying black dot under its right gill plate.