http://CBAClientEngagement.com/blog/categoryname_lake-living/sort_entrydatetime-desc/ Thanks to his beloved Lake Gaston, Zakk Royce is living his dream. “Growing up, I spent every free moment I had fishing with my dad,” says the 25-year-old native of Murfreesboro, N.C., located about an hour east of the lake. “We’d often spend whole weekends at a time on the lake fishing.” His practice paid off: In December, Royce caught a 91-pound record-setting blue catfish. And then he caught another one, just 18 hours later, that weighed in at 105 pounds to break his own state record. “It was simply unbelievable all the way around,” Royce says. “This is a dream come true for me. Memories I will never forget.” Royce’s fishing approach is a characteristic one at Gaston, rooted in a love of wildlife and watersports. He was on the water on December 20, 2015, a Sunday morning ripe with big catfish catches. “I was catching fish up to 30 pounds as soon as I started fishing,” Royce remembers. “About an hour or two into fishing that morning, suddenly, my rod off the port side of my boat bent completely over.” He knew he needed help, and recruited a friend fishing from a kayak nearby. Once they reeled the fish in, the two friends thought they might have a state record-setting catfish on their hands. But a state biologist must weigh and certify the fish to officially set a state record, and state departments are closed on Sundays. So Royce, his dad, and his friends took care of the fish. “We managed to babysit the fish all night in a special custom-built tournament live well, pumping fresh water every hour into the tank to keep him alive.” First-thing Monday morning, December 21, 2015, Royce’s catch was certified at 91 pounds to break the state record. He was thrilled, but his main priority was to release the fish back to its natural habitat. Royce says they returned the animal to the same area where he was caught; and then Royce decided to fish just a little bit more. After a few small catches, the rod on the exact same side of the boat as the previous morning again bent over. “What I felt on the other end of the rod compares to goliath groupers I’ve caught saltwater fishing,” Royce says. Royce had a 105-pound blue catfish on his hands, breaking the record he himself had set just hours earlier. It was like Christmas came early to Zakk Royce. But for him, that’s not what the records were about. “The best part of all was releasing the magnificent creatures back into the lake to grow and get bigger,” he says. Now, Royce spends much of his time in Wilmington, N.C., where he’s studying marine technology at Cape Fear Community College. He’s never away from Lake Gaston for long, though: His main gig is leading chartered fishing trips through his company, Blues Brothers Guide Service. “Fishing has, for the most part, become a full-time thing for me,” he says, which is his dream career. Royce is optimistic about setting another record in the future. Until then, he’s charting the course for conservation-oriented watersports. He says catch-and-release fishing is an important part. “The fact is: Bigger fish keep the overall fish population healthy.” Healthier fish mean more fishing, and Royce hopes everyone can experience his favorite pastime. “Lake Gaston is on the map as a fishing destination.” http://CBAClientEngagement.com/blog/423/legendary-catches/ Wed, 24 Aug 2016 12:00:00 -0500