Tyler shatters record with limit averaging 8-pounders

Brian Tyler caught 42 pounds in one day on the Cooper River, March 14.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. — Brian Tyler expected a good day of fishing on the Cooper River March 14 during the South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation state qualifier, but he never imagined catching a record-breaking limit of bass.

Tyler found a honey hole in practice where he knew he could catch a heavyweight bag if no one else found it.

“My goal was to break 30 pounds,” said the 45-year-old construction company owner. “I knew the fish were there, but I didn’t know they were that good.”

His prime spot yielded a five-fish limit of largemouth bass weighing 42.3 pounds, including a 10.87-pounder, which was the biggest bass Tyler had ever caught. That bag rivals Dean Rojas' catch from the Kissimmee Chain in 2001, when he caught the standing record of 45-2.

Jackie Stanford, South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation president, said he was unsure of the exact weight of the previous record, but Tyler’s catch broke the longstanding South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation five-fish limit mark of “29 pounds something.”

On the Wednesday before the tournament, Tyler found a nook in the river where he saw six or seven bass on his graph.

“I just found the fish staging up in the river,” he said. “The water temperature was 53 degrees and those fish were just getting ready to go in to spawn. There was a log that came out to the river and there was big matted grass that washed up on the log in 12 to 14 feet of water. It was a current break and the fish were sitting right in behind it.”

The Good Ol’ Boys Bass Club member fished the spot with crankbaits and jigs, but when he failed to get a bite, Tyler decided to throw a swimbait, a lure he had never tried on the river.

“I made one cast and caught one and threw in a second time and caught one,” he said. “Those fish were toads.”

Tyler left the spot but returned to it the day before the tournament and noticed 50 bass had moved into the nook.

The morning of the tournament started ominously for Tyler when he pulled up to his spot and saw a competitor’s boat sitting there.

“I had to wait an hour for them to leave,” he said. “I couldn’t think about fishing. I was fishing on the other side of the river waiting for him to pull out of that spot hoping and praying that he didn’t catch any fish. I knew if he caught one, it was going to be a good one and then he would sit there for a while.”

Tyler’s prayers were answered when the competitor failed to catch a fish and left the spot. When Tyler moved in next, he caught four keepers on his first four casts with the swimbait and missed a fish on his fifth cast.

“On the sixth cast I had my fifth fish and on the seventh cast I was culling,” said Tyler, who culled out a 6 1/2-pounder.

After catching the 10.87-pounder, Tyler yielded the spot to a friend who caught 25 pounds from the spot. He noted two other competitors also caught bass from the nook that day.

“We probably weighed in more than 100 pounds of fish from that one hole,” said Tyler, who went on win his first Nation state qualifier.