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Marianna Woman Snags World-Record Bream

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

A 33-year-old Marianna woman is putting Jackson County on the map by landing an unofficial world record fresh-water fish. Twila Gates landed the “flier bream” in a tiny, Jackson County Cyprus pond.

Gates was on her cell phone in a john boat with her teenage son and his friend a week before Mother’s Day. She says the fish, also known as a “cheeky pin,” nearly pulled her rod and reel off her lap.

“We were out there about 30 minutes and I started catching some bream and then shortly after, I caught the cheeky bream and the boys were just ecstatic," Gaets said.

The 12-inch fish weighed in at 1 pound, 5.6 ounces, the largest catch in Florida. Gates is waiting for federal wildlife officials to confirm it tops the world record of 1 pound, four ounces shared by anglers in North Carolina and Georgia.

A Miami native, former WFSU reporter Jim Ash is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience, most of it in print. He has been a member of the Florida Capital Press Corps since 1992.