State Youth Record Bluegill Caught at Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center

Twelve-year-old Kaylee Nicholson of Athens (right) will long remember National Free Fishing Day 2009. Fishing at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens with her best friend, Sidney Bruyere of Blooming Grove (left), Nicholson caught a 1.14-pound, 10.5-inch long bluegill that qualifies for four records: (1) Lake Zebco water body record, (2) junior angler state rod and reel record, (3) catch and release water body record for Lake Zebco, and (4) big fish award for catching a fish over the required minimum length of 10 inches. Lake Zebco is the stocked casting pond at the fisheries center. Nicholson and Bruyere were among approximately 800 people who turned out for a day of free fishing and food in celebration of the start of National Fishing Week.