7-year-old lands fish nearly as big as her

Circe Bailey with her massive mackinaw and Andrew Lubrano, the boat’s captain. Photo/Provided

A fisher girl did on her first outing what some veterans have never done – catch a mackinaw weighing more than 15 pounds.

“I think she wanted to cry she was so exhausted,” Capt. Andrew Lubrano of Nor-Cal Charters told Lake Tahoe News.

Seven-year-old Circe Bailey had a single minnow on the other end of her line that was about 150 feet down in 300 feet of water when the fish bit on May 24.

The Carson City youngster was fishing for the first time with her dad, brother and sister. The excursion started at 6am. They were close to Ski Run Marina when the fish took hold.

Circe said the captain was giving her direction and her sister helped a bit with reeling it in. It took about two hours to land it.

There was nothing easy about getting that fish to cooperate. Just when it was near the surface Lubrano would try to net it. But this fish wasn’t going to come aboard that easy. It dove and Circe kept hanging on.

“(It’s) one of the nicest fish I have seen working at Nor-Cal Charters,” Lubrano said. “There are fishing guides who have been on the lake for 20 years and have never caught a fish that good.”

About two hours after catching it, it was weighed – 15.1 pounds. Lubrano said fish lose about 10 percent of their muscle mass when they get in the boat, so the fish was closer to 17 pounds.

Usually the mackinaw pulled from Lake Tahoe are in the 3- to 5-pound category.

Fish tacos have been served now multiple nights in the Bailey household. Circe said they taste great.

— Kathryn Reed