In Mr. Cleveland's March 23, 2008 article in the Clarion-Ledger, he points to a error at callingpantherlake.com concerning the weight of the bass caught at Calling Panther Lake by Evan Slay on 2-23-2008.  Even though I find it a little interesting that Mr. Cleveland has suddenly started showing an interest in the fishing at Calling Panther Lake this year, I appreciate his effort to help me correct a mistake on callingpantherlake.com regarding the weight of Evan Slay's catch.  Unfortunately, mistakes are made and I made one when I posted the wrong weight of Evan Slay's bass.

Mr. Cleveland and his associate decided that they want to use a public forum to disclose their examination of my website's content, so Mr. Cleveland, Outdoor Sports Editor for the Clarion-Ledger, shouldn't run crying to the Clarion-Ledger's attorney as I use the same forum to disclose my examination of his article and reporting on this subject.

About two years ago I started posting the record largemouth bass caught at Calling Panther Lake.  This was part of an effort to let fishermen know the weight of the largest largemouth bass caught and to encourage more fishing at this lake.

Prior to Evan Slay, two fishermen have held the record.  Until now there have been no mistakes. Two other fishermen have also caught record bass at Calling Panther Lake, but no one that I know of was able to confirm the weight, so I didn't post their catch as records.

One of the two was Brandon Clements that caught a 10-pound bass last year.  The other is said to be a young fisherman that caught a 13-pound bass earlier this year.

My regular practice is to comfirm the weight of the catch with a picture and a weighing.  On one occasion I did this by finding the weight of a bass on another website.  After seeing Evan Slay's picture in the Meteor newspaper on 2-27-2008, showing him holding his catch weighing 12 lbs. 6 ozs., I immediately went out to the lake to see if I could confirm the weight before posting it.

It was not until the publication of Mr. Cleveland's article of March 23, 2008 that I discovered that I had posted the wrong weight, not the correct weight that was published in the Meteor on 2-27-2008, 25-days earlier, more than enough time for Mr. Cleveland to learn about the weight of Evan Slay's bass through another source other than callingpantherlake.com and more than enough time for anyone to contest its weight, including Mr. Cleveland and his associate on this Clarion-Ledger story.

I don't know of anyone that Mr. Cleveland contacted to inquire about the weight of Evan Slay's bass or the weight I had posted on callingpantherlake.com prior to writing this article.  I know that he didn't contact me. Of course, that would have kill his story and the spotlight to contact me about a mistake on callingpantherlake.com, but in hindsight he might see that it would have been a more prudent thing to do.  It appears to me, that a Little  Rascals in Outdoor Sports saw the error on callingpantherlake.com, told Mr. Cleveland, and he ran with this story as fast as he could to catch the public spotlight regarding a couple of large bass caught at Calling Panther Lake.

If you would take a look at the photo below that appeared in the Meteor on 2-27-2008, you can see that Evan Slay's bass was reported as weighing 12-pounds 6-ounces, not the 12.58 pounds I had posted on callingpantherlake.com and not the 12.58 pounds reported in Mr. Cleveland's article, a weight that Mr. Cleveland and his staffer saw on callingpanthelake.com and used in his article.

Could there be better story here?  Has Mr. Cleveland become the story?

Let's look at Mr. Cleveland's article to see what he has accidently disclosed in his rush to get this fish story to the press.  Keep in mind if you would, that Mr. Cleveland and his associate are very likely to be college graduates, and that could make what I have to disclose to be very disappointing.

In the second paragraph of Mr. Cleveland's article he writes, "Confusion over conversion of pounds and ounces to decimal numbers," and in the sixth paragraph he writes, "according to a computer conversion chart."

Mr. Cleveland didn't write, "according to my calculations (with pencil and paper, or a calculator),"  he wrote in his article, "according to a computer conversion chart."

Mr. Cleveland had to have the assistance of not only an associate to tell him there was an error in the weights on callingpantherlake.com concerning two bass, he had to have the assistance of a computer, a conversion chart and most likely the Internet, to convert the decimal number of ".58" to ounces, and this man is a college graduate if my assumption is correct.  From my perspective, Mr. Cleveland needs to work on improving his own math skills before he writes any more articles in the Outdoor Section about weights.  It clear to me, that Mr. Cleveland couldn't do the math with pencil and paper or a calculator - himself, and he's a college graduate and a newspaper editor.  If he couldn't do the math, he couldn't have discovered the error at callingpantherlake.com, because he wouldn't have known it if he had seen it.

The next time any of you go fishing with Bobby Cleveland, and he wants to weigh the fish, make sure he has his laptop and a wireless connection (so that he can get to a computer conversion chart), or a night school certificate from Hinds Community College (one of the best schools in the state) stating that he can convert a decimal number to ounces. Otherwise, you had better weigh you own fish.

What was not written in the Meteor or Mr. Cleveland's article, is that Evan Slay won $100.00 and a new Hookhider 7' MH graphite fishing rod that I offered as a prize for breaking the lake record.  I also sent Audie Hebert a 6'6" MH Hookhider Rod when I learned that he had also caught a record bass at Calling Panther Lake, and I was glad to give away a couple of rods to fishermen that came out to the lake to have a good day fishing.

If there is any way I can help to encourage fishermen to give Calling Panther Lake a try, I'm going to do it.

Johnny  Griffin
callingpantherlake.com
April 29, 2008