One of Georgia’s most sought-after and prestigious lake records, the mark for striped bass on Lake Lanier, almost changed hands last month.

David Heidler, of Cumming, caught a 47-lb. Lake Lanier striper at 9 p.m. the night of April 10. According to GON’s official Lake and River Records, the best striper ever recorded from Lanier weighed 47 3/4 pounds. David’s father, RC, said he believes they actually had the new official lake record striper, but there was no place to get a certified weight on a fish that large at that hour.

“We did all we could to keep it alive, but it died overnight before we could weigh it. It was probably the lake record if we could have kept it alive,” RC said.

They were fishing with Scott Pass when the 46-inch-long striper hit a 10-inch gizzard shad.

The Lanier lake record striped bass is a 47-lb., 12-oz. striper caught on April 3, 2010 by Ward Schanhals. Ironically, Ward was fishing for spotted bass when the record striper hit a plastic Zoom finesse worm.