When 13-year-old Julian Her returned to school for the first day of class, the Northern California eighth-grader had a thrilling tale to tell about his summer vacation.
Her wrote his name into local fishing lore and potentially the record book as he landed a 63.7-pound white sea bass while on a family trip to Tomales Bay, about 30 miles southwest of Santa Rosa, on Aug. 10.
“I feel like a star,” Her, a student at Riverside Meadows Intermediate School in Plumas Lake, said about his myriad interviews with friends and media alike.
“The thing that’s been cool about catching this fish is so many people come up to you and ask you, “Where did you catch this fish?” Or they say, “That’s an amazing fish.”
The youngster weighs only about 15 pounds more than his famous catch. His previous best was a 10-pound catfish he snagged in May, according to his father, Rinna Her.
“I don’t know how to describe it at the moment,” said Rinna Her, who lives with his wife and three kids in Rio Oso. “It was so fun, a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and I think we know that my son, myself or anyone in the party will never catch a fish like that again.”
The Hers are documenting their trophy fish and attempting to verify its status with the Florida-based International Game Fish Assn.
To verify a record catch, the IGFA asks applicants to document their catch, weigh the fish on certified scales on solid ground and save and submit the tackle.
The fish was initially weighed at Bodega Tackle in Petaluma on Aug. 10. The shop is helping the Hers complete documentation and certification.
If the IGFA accepts the claim, Julian’s catch would break the previous junior world white sea bass record of 59 pounds, set in 2002. The 63.7-pound haul would also set the junior class record for that fishing line strength.
Bodega Tackle manager Angelina Love said white sea bass is a common catch in Tomales Bay.
The shop has also seen its share of massive fish, including when store owner Ken Brown hooked a 202.6-pound bluefin tuna in 2022.
What made the latest big haul so special, however, is the angler.
“There’s been a lot of attention,” Love said. “People have been asking who’s the kid who caught the giant sea bass.”
The temperatures on Aug. 10 hovered in the high 50s to low 60s for the better part of the day, making for ideal fishing weather, Rinna Her said.
Father, son and three other visiting family members arrived at 5 a.m., looking to catch area halibut.
Sometime around noon, Julian’s rod, held in the boat by a holder, began to dip.
The youngster, who was eating a sandwich, was alerted by his uncle that he had a bite.
Julian initially struggled to hold on, leading members of the fishing party to believe he was fighting an area bat ray.
It wasn’t until Julian’s uncle helped the youngster reel in the monster fish that they realized it wasn’t a ray.
“I’m thinking, ‘I don’t know if this is real, I didn’t know if it was real,’” Julian said. “Did I really pull that massive sea bass in?”
The fish was eventually dragged onto the boat, photographed and then taken to be weighed.
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