spectr17
03-05-2004, 07:32 PM
Doing it right
Longtime angler helps her niece follow the rules to make certain her giant bluegill is a record catch
By ED ZIERALSKI, San Diego Union Tribune Staff writer
February 7, 2004
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/outdoors/images/040207bluegill.jpg
Heather Keznetzoff (right), a freshman at Granite Hills High, and her aunt Lori Signs show off Keznetzoff's IGFA certificate for her junior world-record bluegill. ED ZIERALSKI / Union-Tribune
Lori Signs has been around the world 11 times, worked as a road manager for the likes of Paul McCartney, Madonna, George Michael and ZZ Top.
A woman does all that by the time she's 40, and it's a good bet that it takes a bunch to impress her.
But then, this is the same Lori Signs who learned to fish and hunt from her father and is passing on the great traditions of fishing and hunting to her 14-year-old niece, Heather Keznetzoff.
Leaha and Javad Trew, Paul Duclos, all you world-record bass chasers out there, listen up. Keznetzoff and Signs followed all the International Game Fish Association's rules to the letter, and now Heather has a junior world record for bluegill, a 2-pound, 2-ouncer caught last year at Lake Barrett.
Keznetzoff and Signs were fishing from a rental boat at Barrett last April 27 when Keznetzoff hooked what she thought was one of Barrett's famous largemouth bass. A huge bluegill will do that, and this one was gigantic. It attacked a yellow Mister Twister with all the vengeance of a big bass.
"I thought it was a bass by the way it was fighting," Keznetzoff said.
Added Signs: "I thought it was a bass, too, because of the way it fought, and when we saw it, it was so black-looking."
Soon, Keznetzoff had the fish aboard, and that's when her aunt went to work.
"I've been going for a world-record fish for 10 years, so what happens, my niece gets lucky and pulls one in," Signs said, laughing. "It was really hard to let it go, but all fish have to be released at Barrett, so we weighed it, got some witnesses, took lots of pictures and released it."
Signs has two BogaGrip scales that have been certified by the IGFA. She weighed it in front of a couple of fishermen who motored over to witness it. She got their names and phone numbers. She took countless pictures of it with a tape measure alongside it and around its girth. It was 11 inches long, but sported an amazing potbelly that stretched the tape 13 inches.
Had Leaha Trew done all those things with her supposed 22-pound, 8-ounce largemouth last year at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa, or had Duclos done similar things with the reported 24-pound bass he said he caught at the same lake, the bass fishing world would be a lot different right now.
The difference here is that Keznetzoff had all the documented proof of her catch. The difference is she had a very organized aunt in Signs, a woman who is focused on catching world-record fish. One of her BogaGrip scales goes to 120 pounds, "just in case I get a big flathead catfish," Signs said.
Signs finds it inconceivable that people like Trew and Duclos can fish for world records and then not follow all the IGFA's steps to document their catches for world-record consideration.
"If you're going to contend, you have to go by the rules," Signs said.
Keznetzoff, a freshman on the golf team at Granite Hills High, is no newcomer to fishing. She's been going to the Colorado River with her aunt since she was 3 years old.
"I remember her fishing for bluegill with her Snoopy rod and reel," Signs said. "Once, as she was reeling in a bluegill, a bass came up and ate the bluegill."
Heather's best bass is an 8-pounder, and her aunt has cracked the 10-pound barrier for largemouth bass.
Signs was introduced to hunting and fishing by her late father, Phil. She feels his presence when fishing and has done everything she can to pass the traditions on to her niece.
"My dad would come by school and pick me up and take me fishing at the bay or one of the lakes," Signs said. "Whatever was on, he was there fishing for it. He loved it and passed that passion for it on to me. It just became part of my lifestyle after a while."
Signs took her father's early fishing lessons and turned them into a lifetime of adventure. She has caught 76 marlin, including a personal best 320-pound blue marlin. She finished third in the women's Bisbee billfish tournament.
"I'd rather go to the tackle store than Nordstrom's," Signs said. "I fly to Florida just to go to the Bass Pro Shop and the IGFA Museum in Dania Beach."
Signs said she was considered a "tomboy" growing up, and now hears her niece say the same things.
"I hear it, too," Keznetzoff said.
They not only share an interest in fishing and hunting, but golf, too. Signs also surfs and rides a Harley-Davidson.
As a former road manager, Signs accompanied Paul and Linda McCartney on their World Tour. She worked McCartney's Rio de Janeiro concert in 1990 that drew an estimated 180,000-184,000 fans, still the world record for concert attendance. Signs filled a thick scrapbook of pictures from her World Tour experience.
These days, Signs fishes every chance she gets. She's off to the Colorado River this weekend, hoping to catch that record striped bass that has been eluding her.
Signs gladly gave the stage to her niece for her record, but knows her time will come. And if it doesn't, she'll have the reward of passing on her love of angling to her niece.
And it's refreshing to see this woman – someone who once escorted actor Jack Nicholson to Paul McCartney's backstage dressing room – get so excited and be so proud of her niece's 2-pound, 2-ounce bluegill.
Ed Zieralski: (619) 293-1225 or ed.zieralski@uniontrib.com
Longtime angler helps her niece follow the rules to make certain her giant bluegill is a record catch
By ED ZIERALSKI, San Diego Union Tribune Staff writer
February 7, 2004
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/outdoors/images/040207bluegill.jpg
Heather Keznetzoff (right), a freshman at Granite Hills High, and her aunt Lori Signs show off Keznetzoff's IGFA certificate for her junior world-record bluegill. ED ZIERALSKI / Union-Tribune
Lori Signs has been around the world 11 times, worked as a road manager for the likes of Paul McCartney, Madonna, George Michael and ZZ Top.
A woman does all that by the time she's 40, and it's a good bet that it takes a bunch to impress her.
But then, this is the same Lori Signs who learned to fish and hunt from her father and is passing on the great traditions of fishing and hunting to her 14-year-old niece, Heather Keznetzoff.
Leaha and Javad Trew, Paul Duclos, all you world-record bass chasers out there, listen up. Keznetzoff and Signs followed all the International Game Fish Association's rules to the letter, and now Heather has a junior world record for bluegill, a 2-pound, 2-ouncer caught last year at Lake Barrett.
Keznetzoff and Signs were fishing from a rental boat at Barrett last April 27 when Keznetzoff hooked what she thought was one of Barrett's famous largemouth bass. A huge bluegill will do that, and this one was gigantic. It attacked a yellow Mister Twister with all the vengeance of a big bass.
"I thought it was a bass by the way it was fighting," Keznetzoff said.
Added Signs: "I thought it was a bass, too, because of the way it fought, and when we saw it, it was so black-looking."
Soon, Keznetzoff had the fish aboard, and that's when her aunt went to work.
"I've been going for a world-record fish for 10 years, so what happens, my niece gets lucky and pulls one in," Signs said, laughing. "It was really hard to let it go, but all fish have to be released at Barrett, so we weighed it, got some witnesses, took lots of pictures and released it."
Signs has two BogaGrip scales that have been certified by the IGFA. She weighed it in front of a couple of fishermen who motored over to witness it. She got their names and phone numbers. She took countless pictures of it with a tape measure alongside it and around its girth. It was 11 inches long, but sported an amazing potbelly that stretched the tape 13 inches.
Had Leaha Trew done all those things with her supposed 22-pound, 8-ounce largemouth last year at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa, or had Duclos done similar things with the reported 24-pound bass he said he caught at the same lake, the bass fishing world would be a lot different right now.
The difference here is that Keznetzoff had all the documented proof of her catch. The difference is she had a very organized aunt in Signs, a woman who is focused on catching world-record fish. One of her BogaGrip scales goes to 120 pounds, "just in case I get a big flathead catfish," Signs said.
Signs finds it inconceivable that people like Trew and Duclos can fish for world records and then not follow all the IGFA's steps to document their catches for world-record consideration.
"If you're going to contend, you have to go by the rules," Signs said.
Keznetzoff, a freshman on the golf team at Granite Hills High, is no newcomer to fishing. She's been going to the Colorado River with her aunt since she was 3 years old.
"I remember her fishing for bluegill with her Snoopy rod and reel," Signs said. "Once, as she was reeling in a bluegill, a bass came up and ate the bluegill."
Heather's best bass is an 8-pounder, and her aunt has cracked the 10-pound barrier for largemouth bass.
Signs was introduced to hunting and fishing by her late father, Phil. She feels his presence when fishing and has done everything she can to pass the traditions on to her niece.
"My dad would come by school and pick me up and take me fishing at the bay or one of the lakes," Signs said. "Whatever was on, he was there fishing for it. He loved it and passed that passion for it on to me. It just became part of my lifestyle after a while."
Signs took her father's early fishing lessons and turned them into a lifetime of adventure. She has caught 76 marlin, including a personal best 320-pound blue marlin. She finished third in the women's Bisbee billfish tournament.
"I'd rather go to the tackle store than Nordstrom's," Signs said. "I fly to Florida just to go to the Bass Pro Shop and the IGFA Museum in Dania Beach."
Signs said she was considered a "tomboy" growing up, and now hears her niece say the same things.
"I hear it, too," Keznetzoff said.
They not only share an interest in fishing and hunting, but golf, too. Signs also surfs and rides a Harley-Davidson.
As a former road manager, Signs accompanied Paul and Linda McCartney on their World Tour. She worked McCartney's Rio de Janeiro concert in 1990 that drew an estimated 180,000-184,000 fans, still the world record for concert attendance. Signs filled a thick scrapbook of pictures from her World Tour experience.
These days, Signs fishes every chance she gets. She's off to the Colorado River this weekend, hoping to catch that record striped bass that has been eluding her.
Signs gladly gave the stage to her niece for her record, but knows her time will come. And if it doesn't, she'll have the reward of passing on her love of angling to her niece.
And it's refreshing to see this woman – someone who once escorted actor Jack Nicholson to Paul McCartney's backstage dressing room – get so excited and be so proud of her niece's 2-pound, 2-ounce bluegill.
Ed Zieralski: (619) 293-1225 or ed.zieralski@uniontrib.com