Eric Mayo takes his fishing seriously with both a fly rod and conventional rod and reel tactics. He’s an avid angler, manages a family farm pond to grow big panfish. He not only broke the longear sunfish record earlier this month, but he actually now holds 9 state records for fish on both fly rod and rod and reel categories. While he just claimed the rod and reel record for longear sunfish this month, he also holds it for the fly rod in the state of Mississippi.
His most recent record was a longear sunfish measuring 8 3/8 inches long and weighing 0.51 pounds.
“I started trying to break records 4 years ago when I inadvertently caught my first record, a brown bullhead on the fly rod,” Mayo said. “After looking at the record list, I realized I could break a lot of records. I was able to get the fly rod record earlier this year, and now I have both the fly rod and rod and reel record. I also have the hybrid bluegill and the redspotted sunfish fly rod records from our family pond. But I put 4 years of work into making this a great fishery and managing the fish.
“This was my first year to use Z-Man Micro Finesse baits, as I couldn’t stand the thought of my trophy panfish having a belly full of regular plastisol (after tearing off and swallowing regular plastic grub tails). So I tried out the Z-Man Micro Finesse baits, and they are truly a game changer for panfishing. Being able to catch dozens of fish from one bait is insane and gives me peace of mind that it’s the healthiest way to fish with soft baits.
“This was also the first state record that I’m aware of taken on BFS gear, which I love to use.”
Mayo caught his fish on a Z-Man Micro Finesse LarvaZ in Red.
Amazing catch, Eric! Congratulations. Here’s a few more pictures he sent of his awesome catch!
