On a rising tide, the remaining brown shrimp and growing white shrimp that fuel the Louisiana marsh ecosystem are scattered throughout the skinny-water marsh ponds, enjoying the hours of relative peace and quiet that accompany high water levels. To be sure, some get picked off by marauding hordes of redfish that scavenge around every grass bed, searching for any living morsel that might provide an appetizer before the entree really arrives.

That happens when the tide turns. As water levels begin to fall, tides stack the hapless shrimp on the conveyor belt of death, dragging them from back waters to the bigger lakes and bays. Redfish know this, of course, so they camp out at marsh drains, and let the food come to them. This puts the fish in an aggressive, feeding frame of mind, and makes them particularly susceptible to lures you’d find in the tackle box of a guy hoping to win the Bassmaster Classic.

One of my favorites is a Bill Lewis Echo 1.75 crankbait, a lure that’s obnoxiously loud and has more action than a salsa dancer. That’s what I had tied on during a trip in July that began just three hours before the sun would cross the western horizon. I intentionally started late, partially to avoid the suffocating heat but mostly because that’s when the tide was falling. While working the shoreline of a large marsh lake, I came upon a drain that was dumping gorgeous water from a pond choked with hydrilla and coontail. It certainly looked like a place that might hold a feeding redfish or two.

Not all my casts are perfect, but this one was, landing just at the opening of the drain. I wouldn’t have to wait long to see if any feeding reds were there. I don’t think I got two full cranks on the reel before something clobbered the hard-plastic bait and I instinctively set the hook. The water erupted in a froth of copper-tinted foam as a 27-inch redfish became enraged at the baitfish that seemed to have otherworldly power. The fish thrashed its head back and forth, and in the process managed to dislodge the hooks from its gaping maw.

The lure flew through the air, reentering the water about 5 feet away. I was disappointed at having lost the fish but, as always, impressed by the power and tenacity of these trophic marsh dwellers. Then something crazy happened. Apparently super annoyed that its easy meal had gotten away without providing a little corner of contentment in its belly, the redfish charged at the bait and absolutely obliterated it while it was resting motionless on the surface. I again set the hook, and this time, the fish wouldn’t get so lucky. It would never again get to swim where it wanted without a yellow tag near its dorsal fin.

Would the ubiquitous soft-plastic paddletail have elicited the same reaction from this redfish? Who knows? But it’s not for novelty that my favorite redfish lures this time of year would work equally well on a cypress-peppered flat of an impoundment. Redfish just can’t seem to resist them.

In addition to the crankbaits, I also regularly throw a gold-bladed spinnerbait teamed with a ¹⁄₄-ounce jighead and soft-plastic paddletail as well as a ribbed worm fished Texas-rigged below a ¹⁄₄-ounce tungsten bullet weight. The crankbait is my go-to in waters devoid of submerged aquatic vegetation or where there’s a hard edge to the grass that the fish use as a shoreline. When the grass is scattered, I’m more likely to reach for the spinnerbait, and in areas with drop-offs and ledges, the worm is hard to beat.

All are proving particularly effective this year. After a few meager seasons, the spawn of 2021 was especially robust, and those fish are all now in the 18- to 22-inch range. The marshes are absolutely crawling with redfish.

The post Bass Fishing for Redfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

As we all know, everything is bigger in Texas. This includes slabs of slow-smoked brisket, NFL stadiums, and largemouth bass. The Lone Star state boasts many blue-ribbon bass fisheries. Still, over the last few years, O.H. Ivie Lake has risen to the top of the heap thanks to a reputation of Jurassic Park-sized bucketmouths. A big part of that are the innovative fisheries management techniques used by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

The History of O.H. Ivie Lake

Created in 1990 when the S.W. Freese Dam was erected to impound sections of the Colorado and Concho Rivers, the 19,149-acre lake is the primary source of drinking water for the nearby city of San Angelo, Texas.

Once the lake began to fill, aggressive amounts of fry and fingerling-size Florida strain largemouth were stocked in addition to bluegill, crappie, and species of catfish. For those not aware, Florida strain largemouth are the fastest-growing variety of largemouth, capable of hitting the 14-inch mark in two years. Under the right conditions, they can add up to a pound of additional mass every season. Today, it is estimated that 75 to 85 percent of the bass in O.H. Ivie have Florida strain genetics.

There is no doubt the lake was already on its way to being a productive fishery, but in 2018 a very wet fall season after an intense drought brought the lake up over 30 feet. This expanded habitat gave bass practically endless forage and room to roam, resulting in a turbo-charged period of growth.

How the Bass Factory is Created

As if Florida strain largemouth and an intense growth cycle were not enough, Texas Parks and Wildlife have been busy behind the scenes ensuring that bass fishing in O.H. Ivie (and throughout the state) will be world-class for years to come.

Built on a base of scientific research, the Toyota ShareLunker program partners with Texas anglers to enhance and promote bass fishing throughout the state. The program relies on fishermen donating DNA scale samples of bass over eight pounds for genetic analysis. This process gives fisheries biologists a glimpse into the genetic diversity, lineage, and reproductive patterns of trophy-class largemouth. To add incentive to the project, anglers who opt to register their trophy catch receive a prize package depending on weight class and entry into a prize package drawing.

Still, it gets better. During the spawning season of January, February, and March, anglers who catch a female bass weighing over 13 pounds can donate the specimen to state biologists and qualify it for the Lunker Legacy Class. From there, the fish is brought into state-of-the-art labs where it breeds with a male originating from two prior ShareLunkers. Since spawning is done in a controlled environment, more eggs hatch than they would in the wild. Once the fry grows to stockable sizes, they are returned to the lake the female was caught from, continuing the spread of trophy genetics.

So far in 2024, O.H. Ivie has produced 35 bass of ShareLunker status with 12 breaking the 13-pound mark needed for donation. The largest bass weighed in this year was a staggering 15.82 pounds. During the 2023 season, the lake was responsible for 75 entries in total, with 15 fish earning Lunker Legacy status. Full insight into ShareLunker archives can be found in the archives.

Techniques for Largemouth Bass on O.H. Ivie

Interested in the best techniques to land big bass at O.H. Ivie lake? Listen to Rick Harris, a staple in the Texas bass fishing tournament scene and a seasoned guide running the bulk of his client trips on O.H. Ivie. Harris encourages folks to swing for the fences when planning a trip to the lake. That means to steer clear from ultra-finesse presentations known for producing numbers of bass, instead focusing on keeping everything big and bulky. Baits like magnum swimbaits, heavy-cover jigs, and plus-sized crankbaits all have their place and can be fished effectively through the standing timber that holds bass throughout the lake.

The best time to visit the lake in pursuit of a giant is in early spring as the bass transition from pre-spawn into the spawn. During the spawn, classic sight-fishing tactics are brutally effective for hunting down the large females guarding their nests along the shorelines. The only issue with this plan is that it hinges on the weather, as chop-producing winds and dirty water conditions can make fish impossible to spot. During these times, Harris utilizes forward-facing sonar in perspective mode as it allows him to scan likely spawning zones for active beds when they cannot be spotted due to water clarity issues.

The post The Best Big Bass Lake in the Country appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Lea Anne Powell’s already extensive resume has a new entry. Along with race car driver, TV host, competition angler, and cover model, she is now an official International Game Fish Association largemouth bass record holder.

Powell, of Lake Jackson, Texas, received official certification as the women’s 12-pound class record, having caught (and released) a 12-pound, 3-ounce jumbo at O.H. Ivie Lake in late February. The bass was her second personal best in 15 hours; she boated a 10.6-pound largemouth the previous evening.

Powell was fishing with her friend Dalton Smith, owner of Dalton Smith Guide Service, on his time off.

“We just planned on hanging out and having a good time,” she said. “We didn’t plan on breaking any personal bests.” Tossing a Strike King 10XD crankbait, Smith caught a bass they guessed was around seven pounds, then handed the rod back to Powell, who was soon connected to a 10.6-pounder.

“When she hit, the line just went soft,” Powell said. “I started winding and then felt pressure. I’m pretty sure everyone on that lake heard me, because I lost my mind. I was yelling and jumping.” Her previous best bass was 7.8 pounds.

The pair were back on O.H. Ivie the next morning. An impoundment of the Colorado and Concho rivers about 200 miles west of Dallas that gave up a 17-pounder this winter, the lake is stocked and fished hard. This time, Powell was using an Ugly Stik spinning rod, an old reel spooled with Seaguar Red Label 10-pound fluorocarbon, a Damiki jig head, and a small 6th Sense soft plastic swimbait (white with a chartreuse tail).

“We showed that bass a very small presentation, compared to what most people are throwing at O.H. Ivie,” she said. “It is stocked, but it is a giant body of water that is highly pressured.” Using a Garmin LiveScope from Smith’s tournament boat, the two could watch educated bass reject baits and then sidle up alongside some cover, seemingly spooked by the lure and finished feeding for the time being. “These big fish didn’t get big by being stupid,” she said.

The record fish put up the kind of tussle you would expect, forcing Powell to tighten and loosen drag during the fight as the bass bulldogged among sunken saltcedar trees. When it was finally in the net, the hook fell out of the fish’s mouth.

“We put her in the live well and had to take her to Elm Creek RV & Campgrounds, which had the certified scale,” Powell said. The bass went to the scale in a weigh bag, was measured and weighed, returned to the livewell, and back to O.H. Ivie. “She was released cleanly, and goes back to torment people who don’t know how to finagle big ol’ fish,” Powell recalled with a laugh.

Auto racing takes up much of Powell’s bio, but she’s also a self-described fishing fanatic. After losing both of her parents and a close friend in late 2014 and 2015, she took up fishing in, of all places, the Middle East, where she worked as a driving coach at the Yas Marina Circuit Formula 1 facility in Abu Dhabi.

“I met some locals and started fishing,” she said. “I had a natural knack for it and I just homed in on it. I don’t do much in moderation. I found both peace and excitement in it.”

The post Another World Record Bass Out of Texas appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Locating River Smallmouth Bass

Smallmouth bass are found throughout the river, but because of the number of people who float the river every summer, I recommend fishing in the spring, or above the put-in spots and below the take-out locations of the float companies near Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

You can also use one of these float companies to your advantage. Rent a vessel from one of them if you don’t have your own. You can still catch plenty of bass in the more crowded portions of the river; just know that you might have an audience when you hook a smallmouth in the summer months.

The old cliché is true: You never fish the same river twice. But I’ve found that you can take a similar approach to the river. The deep holes with brush always seem to hold fish. I rarely spend time fishing anything that doesn’t break the current. Sometimes, this means I’m casting at a single large rock in the middle of the river. Other times I aim for the laydown on the bank’s edge.

Smallmouth bass use current breaks to rest while waiting for their next meal, so if you cast your lures in these areas, you’ll get more bites.

Wade fishing is possible on a lot of the river, but the best approach is to use a fishing kayak. I love the agility of a kayak over a canoe. Once I thoroughly fish a hole, I can quickly move on to the next spot easily. A full-size canoe simply doesn’t maneuver as well as a fishing kayak.

Smallmouth Bass Lures for River Fishing

Call me a minimalist, but I use just a few lures when fishing for river smallies. That might be because I’m in a kayak and can’t bring my entire collection of lures, but I prefer to believe it’s because I’ve found the baits that work best time and again.

Topwater Lures

A River2Sea Whopper Plopper, Berkley Choppo or similar style bait is my favorite topwater for river bronze-backs because it doesn’t take much to annoy them into biting. And it floats, so I can cast it in the shallows without getting snagged.

Moving Lures

I’m a power fisherman through and through, so moving lures are my go-to option. The lures I catch most of my smallmouth on in my plastic boat are shallow-diving crankbaits, swimbaits and inline spinners.

Finesse Lures

Even though I prefer moving baits, sometimes I have to slow down. That’s when I’ll tie on a Ned Rig or Wacky Rig. The Z-Man TRD CrawZ is my go-to soft plastic for a Ned Rig when river fishing. A Yamamoto Senko or Berkley Powerbait The General is a perfect wacky rig soft-plastic option.

Planning Your Smallmouth Fishing Trip

Growing up, we would haul our kayaks and canoes from home to fish the lower Illinois River for trout regularly. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) stocks it with rainbow trout every few weeks when the conditions are right.

However, many float companies, especially on the upper Illinois River, rent kayaks and canoes. Plus, they provide transportation to and from the river. This is an excellent option if you don’t own a small kayak or don’t feel like transporting it.

Another downside to bringing your boat is figuring out where it’s legal to launch and take out your vessel. The Illinois River has plenty of current, so you won’t be putting in and getting out in the same location. That’s why I recommend using a local float company if it’s your first trip to the Illinois River.

Best Time of Year for Smallmouth Bass

The upside to bringing your kayak or canoe is that the time of year won’t determine if you can hit the water. Most float companies are only open during the summer, limiting your opportunities to fish. The best fishing on the Illinois River occurs in the spring, early summer, and fall because you can avoid the crowds. That also tends to be when local smallmouths bite best.

The post A Float Trip for Smallmouths in Sooner Country appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

In Minnesota, Lake of the Woods will allow fish houses to remain on the ice until the end of March. But for many of us across the US, the ice is melting quickly. In fact, for some anglers, it’s gone already or was never cold enough this past winter. Open water fishing is back on the menu.

Time to get your tackle and gear ready to fish. One of the top species many freshwater anglers will be itching to target is bass — largemouths or smallmouths are favorites. Yes, catfish, walleye, trout, pike and panfish have fanatics too, but their popularity is nothing compared to bass fishing.

As proof, pro angler Jeff Gustafon recently won the 2023 Bassmaster Classic on the Tennessee River. He caught 42 pounds of smallmouth bass over three days of fishing to take home a check surpassing $300,000. He was quoted as saying, “This is my Stanley Cup.” That’s quite a statement from a Canadian.

Checkout this new gear for freshwater anglers. Will something highlighted below help you land a bass worth bragging about? Maybe it’ll even help you catch a tournament winner.

Daiwa Tatula Elite

Looking for a new baitcasting rod that allows you to cast far and work a jig deep? Daiwa’s Tatula Elite could be a great option ($189.99). When Daiwa created this series of rods — and there are a bunch of rod options — they asked bass pros their favorite techniques and optimal rod actions. Canada’s Cory Johnston prefers a specific Tatula Elite rod (Model: TTEL751MHRB) for football jigs. The 7-foot, 5-inch medium-heavy casting rod has a straight cork grip and is built from Daiwa’s X45 BIAS graphite fiber construction. He calls it his “everything rod” for bottom-bouncing techniques. Pair the rod with Daiwa’s Tatula SV 70 casting reel ($229.99) and a Daiwa + Ever Green International ¾-ounce Grass Ripper jig ($7.49). This quality setup will shine when fishing deep water or exploring shallow grass in the spring.

Berkley Scented Flicker Shad

There’s more to this lipped bait than meets the eye. Berkley Labs combined smell into its lineup of new Berkley Flicker Shad hard baits. Everyone knows about Berkley’s Gulp! soft baits and attractants, but the proprietary scent tech has now jumped to lures with trebles. Here’s how it works: The new Flicker Shads contain a scent pocket that holds and disperses Berkley’s Gulp! gel. A tube of Gulp! hard bait gel comes with new Flicker Shads (available in 10 colors), so you can apply the smell to a strip on the side of the lure over and over again. The scent disperses in the water as you troll or cast a lipped Flicker Shad. Reapply new Gulp! gel as necessary. The new Flicker Shads are sold as 1-packs ($9.99), 3-packs ($19.99) and 5-packs ($29.99) in 5- and 7-cm lengths.

H2OX Spinning Rod and Reel

What is the most common question you see on fishing forums and other online groups from new anglers? It’s almost always something along the lines of: “I’m new to fishing. What rod and reel should I buy?” To me, the answer is an affordable, easy to use spinning outfit that doesn’t have the barriers of sticker shock or a steep learning curve.

Check out these options from Academy Sports: The H2OX Mettle 30 spinning reel ($29.99) has a 5.2:1 gear ratio, 6 bearings, composite frame, and aluminum spool. Match the reel to a 7-foot H2OX Evo spinning rod ($99.99), with its medium-light power, moderate action, helical core graphite construction, semi-micro Kigan SiC line guides, Fuji PTS reel seat, EVA foregrip and carbon fiber rear grip.

To me, this setup with 10- to 15-pound line, works great for any bass angler looking to cast and retrieve lightweight soft plastics — the rod sensitivity is there to feel subtle bites. I tried out the rod-and-reel pair, and let me tell you, even catching 1-pounders on soft stick baits was a blast.

Orvis Pro Approach Hiker

Wading warriors, this one is for you — it doesn’t matter if you’re fishing the fresh or salt. The Orvis Pro Approach Hiker ($229) is one tough mid-height, wet-wading boot. Use the Approach Hiker in many applications, including river fishing, flats fishing or even kayak fishing. Included in the boot is a liner with substantial ankle support and foam foot bed, plus a soft EVA midsole. A Michelin outsole, similar to Orvis’ Pro Wading boots, means anglers can expect reliable wet and dry traction on slick or rocky terrain. The rubber toe helps too. A built-in, zippered gravel guard with hook-and-loop strap is the top layer of the boot, but just below is a lace-up interior that gives you that secure shoe feel. Easy access heel loops on the outer cover and interior help you pull the boots on snug quickly. Trek to the spot and then wade-fish all in the same footwear.

Abu Garcia Revo Rocket

Abu Garcia’s Revo casting reels have undergone a complete redesign with a new look and upgraded components. The Abu Garcia Revo Rocket ($329.95) casting reel now has an asymmetric body design to handle a larger spool for increased castability without growing the size of reel’s total profile. The reel’s Powerstack drag system delivers a surprising amount of stopping power, maxing out at 18 pounds. Other specs include an IVCB-6 brake system for controlled casts, 10 stainless-steel bearings (plus 1 roller bearing), a 95-mm handle with oversized knobs, and 10.1:1 gear ratio (about 43.5 inches per turn). Of note, Abu Garcia also makes a Revo Rocket spinning reel ($199.95) that’s hard to miss with its blazing red colors.

The post New Fishing Gear for March: Freshwater Edition appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Tournament angler Jacob Moore’s bass wasn’t noteworthy for its size or length. But its color? That’s a different story. Moore was tournament pre-fishing Virginia’s James River, near Chippokes State Park, when he hooked a 16.5-inch golden largemouth bass. The catch immediately went viral across social media. Was Moore’s bass piebald, albino or maybe even radioactive?

 “Golden largemouth bass are extremely rare and most anglers have never seen them, let alone heard of them before,” said Alex McCrickard, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources Aquatic Education Coordinator. “The fish is a product of a genetic mutation that alters the skin pigments called xanthism. Yellow pigmentation dominates in xanthism, as you can see in Moore’s golden largemouth.”

Moore took a couple photos of his unique catch before releasing the bass back into the water. But he’s not the first angler to catch a golden largemouth bass, and he likely won’t be the last. Anglers, with the pictures to prove it, have caught “golden” largemouths in Florida and Ontario, Canada, among other places.

What is Xanthism?

The yellow to orange-gold coloring that defines xanthism is a rare condition in nature, although it has been documented in a surprising number salt- and freshwater fish species. Sometimes, just parts of a fish are xanthochromic.

“Xanthism is caused by a mutation that depresses the presence of [black-pigmented] melanophores, thus allowing the [yellow-pigmented] xanthophores to be expressed,” the American Fisheries Society explains. “Generally, skin color in fish has a genetic base controlled by one or several genes, but may also be influenced by factors such as behavior, disease or physiological stress.”

The aquaculture industry has used xanthism to create golden trout, tilapia and catfish. Species such as smallmouth bass, peacock bass, crappie, gar, angelfish, triggerfish, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, tripletail, barracuda and longfin yellowtail have all been observed in xanthic yellow. Of note, palomino trout are not xanthic; that unique species is selectively bred in hatcheries to express a leucistic mutation. 

Studies have shown that fish in xanthic colorations are easier for predators to spot and kill, possibly explaining why xanthic fish are so rare. So keep an eye out on your next fishing trip for that yellow- to orange-colored fish that definitely shouldn’t be those colors — the catch could be one in a million.

The post Rare Catch: The Weirdest Looking Largemouth appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Texas is one of the few states where anglers have a legitimate shot of catching a double-digit largemouth bass. Part of that might be because of the state’s popular Toyota ShareLunker Program. As part of the unique program, recreational anglers can donate their heavyweight bass to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) for stocking efforts.

“If you catch a 13-plus-pound bass and loan it to us during the spawning period (January to March), you support our selective breeding program and will be recognized as a member of the Lunker Legacy Class,” says the program.

The idea is that if lunkers are spawned to help stock Texas lakes statewide, those genetically superior genes will be passed down to future largemouth bass and, hopefully, will produce more lunkers. The program definitely seems to be working as planned, with evidence spanning decades.

Two 13-Pound Bass Caught in Texas

This year’s first Lunker Legacy Class largemouth bass (weighing more than 13 pounds) was caught Jan. 15 by angler Tom Nilssen of New Braunfels, Texas, from O.H. Ivie Lake. His largemouth bass weighed 13.52 pounds.

“In the past two years, O.H. Ivie has been a top producer of ShareLunker bass, so it’s not surprising the first Legacy Class Lunker of 2023 was caught in this reservoir,” said Natalie Goldstrohm, Toyota ShareLunker coordinator. “This catch was a great way to start off the season — we are very grateful that Mr. Nilssen decided to loan his fish to the Toyota ShareLunker program. With the help of anglers like Mr. Nilssen loaning their catches to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, we can continue growing bigger, better bass for future generations.”

The second noteworthy ShareLunker bass of the 2023 season was caught at 2,200-acre Lake Nacogdoches in east Texas by Jack York. His fish weighed 13.51 pounds and is also a Legacy Class Lunker. York’s bass is the 634 entry into the program that started long ago in 1986 with Mark Stevenson’s then-state record 17.67-pounder from Lake Fork.

Texas Lakes Produce Big Largemouth Bass

Last year, 24 Legacy Class largemouth bass were caught from nine Texas waters. That’s the most recorded since 27 were caught in 1995. But there are plenty of Texas waters growing enormous largemouth bass. A remarkable 75 public lakes have given up 13-plus-pound largemouth bass to anglers since the program began.

Earlier this year, before the 2023 ShareLunker program started, Kentucky angler Dalton Smith caught a pair of 14-plus-pound largemouths on the same day from O.H. Ivie Lake, located east of San Angelo.

Some of the state’s top lakes that annually receive stocking of genetically-superior bass from the Toyota ShareLunker program include lakes: O.H. Ivie, Sam Rayburn, Conroe, Austin, Travis, Palestine, Coleman City, Fork, Eagle Mountain and Tyler.

“It’s always great to see our genetic analysis reaffirm the efforts,” said Tom Lang, director of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. “On the other hand, when ShareLunkers aren’t related to previous ShareLunkers, it’s also valuable because those fish add more big bass genetic diversity to the effort.”

State biologists have learned plenty from genetic testing lunker largemouths over the years — they’re even able to detect Florida-strain largemouths that have been spawned and stocked out of TPWD hatcheries. In 2021, the program took in 23 bass. Nineteen of those tested were Florida-strain bass and held for spawning, leading to 18 successful spawns producing an estimated 270,000 fingerlings. In 2022, 217,000 genetically-superior bass fingerlings were spawned and stocked by TPWD.

Record-Breaking Bass in Texas in 2022

The Toyota ShareLunker program produced lake records twice in 2022 for largemouth bass at 950-acre Lake Daniel near Abilene, plus a new record bass at Fort Worth’s Eagle Mountain Lake and one at O.H. Ivie Lake too. The record 17.06-pound bass caught from Ivie was the heaviest in 30 years from Texas. Additionally, in 2022, the state had three bass each weighing more than 16 pounds recorded, and two others over 15 pounds.

“Our plan is to stock over 50 different water bodies with fingerlings all over the state, including some small urban bodies of water,” says Brian Van Zee, statewide stocking coordinator for Texas. “We’re also stocking plenty of fingerlings into some of the famed big lakes like Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Lake Fork and others. Looking out three, five, 10 years, the possibilities of catching giant Texas bass as a result of this program are really exciting.”

The post Two Texas Anglers Catch 13-Pound Largemouths appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Texas’ O.H. Ivie Lake, located in central Texas east of San Angelo, is one of the hottest waters in America for producing giant largemouth bass. The 19,000-acre impoundment was the fishing destination between Christmas and New Year’s Day for a pair of Kentucky bass anglers who trailered their boat as part of a roadtrip to catch the lake’s legendary largemouths.

Cole Logsdon, of Brownsville, Kentucky, and Dalton Smith, of Columbia, Kentucky, drove 15 hours to Texas to chase famed double-digit bass on the plentiful waters. The reservoir was formed in 1990 after damming parts of the Colorado and Concho Rivers. The lake boasts depths of more than 100 feet.

“We worked the lake for a little over two days,” Smith said, in a Facebook video post from the lake. “We just sort of rode around and looked at the lake the first day. But the second day, Cole caught and boated an 11.11-pound bass.

“The next day we went back and busted them, went to a spot where I caught a 5-pounder the previous day and then had a crazy fish catch. I got a bite from a giant, but I didn’t hook her. Then about five minutes later I hooked the fish on a 7.5-foot finesse (spinning) rod using 8-pound fluorocarbon line with a 15-pound test leader and a 2.7-inch [swimbait].”

Read Next: A Record 9.1-Pound Smallmouth Bass from Idaho

While standing in his boat on Ivie Lake, Smith detailed the wild five-minute fish fight that ensued. He worked the bass toward the surface, he says, but then it fouled and hung in a flooded tree beneath the boat.

“That’s when my buddy Cole took the (landing) net, laid on the boat deck, and we could see her down in the water, and after about 10 minutes he scoped the fish up in the net and boated the fish,” Smith described. “It was crazy.”

The bass was quickly put in the boat’s livewell and the anglers raced over to the lakeside Elm Creek R.V. & Campgrounds. There, they grabbed a scale and weighed the fish at 14.69 pounds. The second big bass Smith caught that day scaled 14.27 pounds. In total, their top three bass of the trip weighed more than 40 pounds.

Smith’s Facebook video ends with him taking the lively 14.69-pound bass from the boat’s livewell, holding the massive fish out toward the camera and showing off his prize.

“We’re going to let her go, but we want to first shoot some more photos and get some measurements,” he exclaimed. “Let’s go baby — 14.69 pounds!”

Big Bass Highlights

• Dalton Smith caught 14.69- and 14.27-pounders
• Cole Logsdon boated an 11.11-pounder
• In total, their best three bass weighed more than 40 pounds

The post Two 14-Pound Largemouth Bass Caught in a Day appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

For decades Lake Erie on the U.S.-Canada border has been a hotspot for big smallmouth bass, The 4th largest Great Lake sprawling across the northern international border has lots of healthy and fat fish, and now it can boast of smallmouth bass of near world-record book proportions.

This was proven recently with a 10.15-pound smallmouth caught by angler Gregg Gallagher on Nov. 3 on the Canadian side of Lake Erie. Reportedly this is only the fourth smallmouth weighing over 10 pounds ever documented.

The IGFA All-Tackle record for the species is 11-pounds, 15-ounces from Lake Dale Hollow in 1955 by angler David Hayes. Only one other smallmouth over 10 pounds is recorded by IGFA in its record book, a 10.5-pounder from Hendricks Creek, Kentucky in 1986.

For largemouth bass fans, a smallmouth bass of this size is the near equivalent of catching a 20-pound largemouth bass (record weight of 22-pounds, 4-ounces).

“On Nov 3rd my son Grant and I, both teachers, woke up with a surprise day off due to fog,” Gregg posted on his son Grant’s Facebook page about their fishing trip. “The flat calm conditions were the perfect situation for our Bass Cat boat to travel wherever we desired on the western end of Lake Erie. The goal was to catch a giant smallmouth bass 7-pounds or better.”

The Gallagher father-son fishing team has spent lots of time learning about Erie’s smallmouths, their habits and locations.

“It all paid off when he located what we both knew was a unique and likely unfished spot,” said Gregg. “With an abundance of baitfish located and a unique bottom content found via long days behind the graphs, we dropped down our forward-facing sonar and was able to individually target these pelagic smallmouth.”

Gregg made a cast, and his lure was hit before hitting bottom. His rod doubled over battling the bass.

“I honestly thought I had hooked into a sheepshead and not a smallmouth,” he explained. “We quickly learned we had just caught the smallmouth of a lifetime.”

Scales in their boat showed the fish was at least 9 pounds, and after a series of phone calls they arranged meeting with Travis Hartman of the Ohio DNR for proper weighing and certification of the giant smallmouth. The fish weighed 10.15-pounds, with a 23.75-inch length and a 19.375-inch girth.

Gregg says once all paper has been filed, it will be the Ontario Province record smallmouth, breaking a 68-year-old Canadian record.

A video of the catch was made, and an interview with the anglers has been posted on YouTube.

“I think the video of both of us screaming like school girls over what ended up being the largest documented smallmouth ever caught on the Great Lakes says it all,” writes Gregg on Facebook. “The ability to do it with my son who has become the Captain of the boat and a much better fisherman than me, made it even more special.”

The post The Largest Smallmouth Ever Caught on the Great Lakes appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Lewis Smelcer is the leading angler in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) TrophyCatch contest that runs statewide through Sept. 30. Smelcer landed and released his giant 14-pound, 4-ounce largemouth on Mar. 5, from Porter Lake, located in Florida’s Panhandle, west of Tallahassee in the Econfina Creek Water Management Area.

While that fish is likely to win the top prize for biggest bass in the TrophyCatch contest, almost any bass weighing over 8 pounds that’s caught and released can be entered in the general event and is automatically eligible for winning a wide array of merchandise from Bass Pro Shops and other sponsors.

In addition to the usual TrophyCatch contest for big fish, the FWC also is running a special contest within the contest that awards anglers for catching special tagged lunker largemouths. Ten such fish have been fitted with pink dart tags by fisheries folks and released back into Florida waters.

Catching a bass wearing a pink tag and returning it to the FWC nets the lucky angler a $5,000 Bass Pro Shops gift card and $1,000 to shop at AFTCO, plus a chance at an additional $10,000.

Two pink tags already have been submitted to FWC’s TrophyCatch to claim prizes. But eight pink-tagged bass are still swimming in waters throughout Florida, as part of the 10-Tag Celebration to commemorate TrophyCatch’s tenth season.

Any bass caught in Season 10 (Oct. 1, 2021 – Sept. 30, 2022) must be submitted by Oct. 15 to qualify for prizes. The same deadline applies to the eight pink-tagged bass still swimming in state waters.

Florida’s TrophyCatch program rewards anglers who provide documentation of their catch and release of largemouth bass weighing 8 pounds or heavier in state waters. To be eligible for prizes, anglers are required to submit photos or videos of their catch to TrophyCatch.com, showing the entire fish and its weight on a scale, before releasing it back into the water.

Participants automatically are entered in a free boat drawing just for registering.

FWC biologists use TrophyCatch data for bass research to make informed decisions about the management of Florida bass fisheries and to promote the catch-and-release of trophy bass.

The post Catch A Trophy Bass in Florida, Win Up To $10,000 appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.