A Mississippi teen and his fishing partner were determined to win a bass fishing tournament on Ross Barnett Reservoir.
The prospect of that didn't seem possible with the day they were having, but with only minutes left to fish, not only did they win the tournament, the teen caught what may be the second-largest tournament bass at the lake.
"With less than 20 minutes left, I caught this fish," said Finn Norsworthy, 17, of Brandon. "I was freaking out. Once we got him in the boat, we were thinking it was a 14 or 15-pounder. It was the craziest thing."
And crazy it was. It was a complete turnaround from how their day had been going. The tournament ended at 3 p.m. and with 30 minutes to go, the two didn't even have their average sack of fish, much less enough pounds to win.
"We fished all day, and we probably had only 12 pounds at 2:30," Norsworthy said. "Our day was rough. It was a really tough day."
It was March 23 and time was running out. Norsworthy, who was fishing with his father Mike Norsworthy, would typically have 14-15 pounds of fish in their live well. On this day, they were below their average and winning seemed out of the question.
Then Norsworthy got the big bite.
Fisherman catches 11-pound bass at Barnett Reservoir
"I was throwing a buzz bait, so I got to see him eat it and I knew he was a big fish, but I would have never guessed he was 11 pounds," Norsworthy said.
Norsworthy's father netted the fish and when they had it in the boat, they couldn't believe what they were looking at.
"I've never seen a fish that big," Norsworthy's father said. "I thought it was 14 pounds. After my 30 or so years of fishing up there, I've never seen that. It was a pretty exciting moment."
And it was about to get more exciting. When the two had their fish weighed, the big bass pushed the scale to 11.24 pounds.
"I couldn't breathe," Norsworthy said. "I was freaking out. I couldn't help but freak out at that point."
The two won the tournament. Norsworthy also caught the biggest fish. It was also the second-biggest bass recorded in a tournament at Ross Barnett Reservoir in over 20 years.
