jackieblue
Well-known member
This appeared in the Sept 12 edition of Lone Star Outdoor News
https://www.lsonews.com/images/stories/issues/sep1208.pdf
Guide sets state, lake records at Fairfield Lake
BY MARY HELEN AGUIRRE
Lifelong fisherman and guide
Jackie Kennedy of Gun Barrel City
had a good summer. In August, he
caught a state record freshwater
catch-and-release red drum just a
few months after he hooked a water
body record blue catfish in Fairfield
Lake.
“There is not a spot in it that I
haven’t fished,” he said of the 2,400-
acre power plant lake located in
Freestone County. “If you’re not
fishing where the fish are, you might
as well be fishing in the bath tub.”
Kennedy has been a full-time
guide for several years and works out
of Fairfield Lake and Cedar Creek
Lake.
Kennedy said clients he’s guided
either hold and or have held eight
water body records and seven state
records.
This year, it was Kennedy’s turn to
net some records of his own.
On Aug. 1, Kennedy went out by
himself on Fairfield Lake for some
evening fishing.
He had six rods with live shad set
out when, at about 6:30 p.m., a
school of red drum swam close to
the boat, many picking up bait.
“I got that one, plus two more,” he
said of the record fish.
Most of the rods went off.
Kennedy managed to lock down two
of the rods, lost two fish and managed
to reel in a 42-inch-long, 31.7-
pound red drum — a state freshwater
catch and release record.
The previous record holder was
Jason Ensign, who on Jan. 5, 2008
caught a 40.5-inch-long red drum.
Kennedy asked two women fishing
nearby to take a picture and witness
the measuring.
But that wasn’t all for Kennedy. A
few months earlier, on May 15, he
was on Fairfield with a friend,
Charles Burks of Fairfield, and he
was experimenting with Berkley
Gulp! minnow.
At about 10 a.m., a fish started
pulling hard. “It was pulling so hard,
I thought it was a red,” Kennedy
said. He said to his fellow fisherman,
“Get the net, this is a big fish.”
It was more than big: It was a
water body record blue catfish
weighing 47.05 pounds and measuring
43.13 inches.
The previous record holder in
that category was Dallas Taylor,
who on Aug. 16, 2003, at the age of
13, caught a 26.37-pound, 38.5-
inch-long blue cat.
The news isn’t all good at
Fairfield, though. On Sept. 4, dead
fish were found along Fairfield
Lake’s upper shoreline from a cove
immediately northwest of the dam
to the spillway. The majority (51
percent) were large red drum. A
smaller kill (involving primarily gizzard
and threadfin shad) was found
in a cove about a half-mile south of
the main kill.
The TPW’s Inland Fisheries management
and Kills and Spills Team
biologists conducted water quality
and other field observations, but
weren’t able to conclusively identify
the cause of the kill, which took
place no earlier than Sept. 3.
Initial estimates show about
7,345 fish died in the two locations.
Species involved included red
drum, bluegill, largemouth bass,
gizzard and threadfin shad, channel
and flathead catfish, tilapia and
gar.
TPW officials said water quality
field data collected indicated a
localized area of high oxygen and
abundant phytoplankton in the
larger of the two areas where the
fish kill occurred, indicating
extreme fluctuations in the oxygen
level. During the day, photosynthesis
by the abundant phytoplankton
increases oxygen concentration.
But during darkness, respiration by
the phytoplankton reduces oxygen
concentration.
TPW has stocked over 5.3 million
red drum in Fairfield Lake since
1984, and the estimated 3,750 red
drum lost in the present kill is
unlikely to permanently impact the
popular fishery.
https://www.lsonews.com/images/stories/issues/sep1208.pdf
Guide sets state, lake records at Fairfield Lake
BY MARY HELEN AGUIRRE
Lifelong fisherman and guide
Jackie Kennedy of Gun Barrel City
had a good summer. In August, he
caught a state record freshwater
catch-and-release red drum just a
few months after he hooked a water
body record blue catfish in Fairfield
Lake.
“There is not a spot in it that I
haven’t fished,” he said of the 2,400-
acre power plant lake located in
Freestone County. “If you’re not
fishing where the fish are, you might
as well be fishing in the bath tub.”
Kennedy has been a full-time
guide for several years and works out
of Fairfield Lake and Cedar Creek
Lake.
Kennedy said clients he’s guided
either hold and or have held eight
water body records and seven state
records.
This year, it was Kennedy’s turn to
net some records of his own.
On Aug. 1, Kennedy went out by
himself on Fairfield Lake for some
evening fishing.
He had six rods with live shad set
out when, at about 6:30 p.m., a
school of red drum swam close to
the boat, many picking up bait.
“I got that one, plus two more,” he
said of the record fish.
Most of the rods went off.
Kennedy managed to lock down two
of the rods, lost two fish and managed
to reel in a 42-inch-long, 31.7-
pound red drum — a state freshwater
catch and release record.
The previous record holder was
Jason Ensign, who on Jan. 5, 2008
caught a 40.5-inch-long red drum.
Kennedy asked two women fishing
nearby to take a picture and witness
the measuring.
But that wasn’t all for Kennedy. A
few months earlier, on May 15, he
was on Fairfield with a friend,
Charles Burks of Fairfield, and he
was experimenting with Berkley
Gulp! minnow.
At about 10 a.m., a fish started
pulling hard. “It was pulling so hard,
I thought it was a red,” Kennedy
said. He said to his fellow fisherman,
“Get the net, this is a big fish.”
It was more than big: It was a
water body record blue catfish
weighing 47.05 pounds and measuring
43.13 inches.
The previous record holder in
that category was Dallas Taylor,
who on Aug. 16, 2003, at the age of
13, caught a 26.37-pound, 38.5-
inch-long blue cat.
The news isn’t all good at
Fairfield, though. On Sept. 4, dead
fish were found along Fairfield
Lake’s upper shoreline from a cove
immediately northwest of the dam
to the spillway. The majority (51
percent) were large red drum. A
smaller kill (involving primarily gizzard
and threadfin shad) was found
in a cove about a half-mile south of
the main kill.
The TPW’s Inland Fisheries management
and Kills and Spills Team
biologists conducted water quality
and other field observations, but
weren’t able to conclusively identify
the cause of the kill, which took
place no earlier than Sept. 3.
Initial estimates show about
7,345 fish died in the two locations.
Species involved included red
drum, bluegill, largemouth bass,
gizzard and threadfin shad, channel
and flathead catfish, tilapia and
gar.
TPW officials said water quality
field data collected indicated a
localized area of high oxygen and
abundant phytoplankton in the
larger of the two areas where the
fish kill occurred, indicating
extreme fluctuations in the oxygen
level. During the day, photosynthesis
by the abundant phytoplankton
increases oxygen concentration.
But during darkness, respiration by
the phytoplankton reduces oxygen
concentration.
TPW has stocked over 5.3 million
red drum in Fairfield Lake since
1984, and the estimated 3,750 red
drum lost in the present kill is
unlikely to permanently impact the
popular fishery.
