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.
