City's use of photo agitates fisherman

Image of bass was sold on T-shirts

August 4, 2007

The angler who unintentionally foul-hooked the heaviest largemouth bass ever caught is trying to put the city of Escondido on the hook for profiting off his fish photo.

John "Mac" Weakley claims that the city of Escondido did not have permission to make T-shirts using his photo of a massive bass he caught.
John “Mac” Weakley of Carlsbad says in a claim against Escondido that the city has made money from his photo of the massive bass, caught March 20, 2006, at city-owned Dixon Lake, and “violated the exclusive copyright” he holds.

The claim, which is required before a lawsuit can be filed, is the latest development in the fish story heard 'round the world.

The claim says the city “used the only known photograph taken by Mr. Weakley on his camera of the 25-pound, 1-ounce bass fish caught at Lake Dixon” to create and sell T-shirts for $20 to $22.

Weakley claims the photo was “altered to delete the image of Mike Winn, who was holding the fish for the camera, and the altered picture was placed on T-shirts for sale” without the permission of the copyright owners.

Mark Wagner, Escondido's assistant city attorney, said yesterday that “it's the city's policy not to comment on claims because they are usually the first step to litigation.”

Reached at his home, Weakley had no comment.

Weakley's attorney, Ken A. Cariffe of Solana Beach, said his client has no intention of suing Escondido but wants information about sales of the shirts. He filed the claim June 13, Cariffe said, and the city failed to respond within 45 days, which means the claim was automatically rejected.

“We don't even know how much money they made off the T-shirts,” Cariffe said. “It's clear they're hiding something.”

Cariffe said the city clerk's office reported that 110 T-shirts were sold as of July 12. They were for sale for more than a year on the lake's Web site, at the lake concession stand and ranger station, and at sport shows.

“They never asked for permission to sell the shirts, never asked to share the money, or if my client wanted to donate the money to the lake, which he might have done, I don't know,” Cariffe said.

Cariffe said Weakley, who released the fish after weighing and photographing it, gave a copy of the bass photo to supervising ranger Jim Dayberry “for his personal use.” Dayberry is listed on the claim as a witness, along with Weakley's fishing partners that day, Winn and Jed Dickerson.

Dayberry said yesterday that he was surprised to hear about the claim. All of the T-shirts have been removed from the concession building, and there no longer is any mention of them on the lake's Web site. A copy of the original photo – which includes Winn holding the bass – was on display in the lake's kiosk.

Breanna Wise, a city worker in the concession stand, was wearing a golf-style version of the shirt yesterday. “These are our work shirts,” she said.

The shirt is a collectors' item for bass fishing fans and celebrates the biggest day in Dixon Lake's fishing history. It would have been the biggest moment in bass fishing history had Weakley not unintentionally hooked the bass below its dorsal fin instead of in its mouth, considered “snagging” in fishing and illegal if done intentionally.

The story of Weakley's catch, and his misfortune of not being able to claim the world record, was carried in newspapers all over the world. Some said the record could have been worth $1 million or more in endorsements.

Two days after catching the fish, however, Weakely decided not to pursue the International Game Fish Association record because of the negative publicity he received about foul-hooking the fish. Earlier this year, Weakley said he never made a cent off the catch. He considered filing late for the record because there is no deadline for all-tackle catches, but to date he has not done that.