It’s been round 5 years since an angler caught and recorded a bass higher than 13 kilos on Lake Fork Reservoir. And almost 19 years since native angler Dale Washington has held one which dimension. However on Feb. 28, Washington landed an enormous, 13.38-pound largemouth on the Fork, exhibiting that the famed reservoir near Dallas remains to be producing lunkers.
“I obtained on the lake about 9 within the morning from my lakeside camp on Lake Fork,” Washington tells Out of doors Life. “I attempted a number of locations and caught a number of bass as much as about 4 kilos. That afternoon I made a decision to maneuver right into a stump-filled creek.”
Washington has fished Lake Fork for about 40 years and is aware of it effectively. He says the creek he entered on the lookout for huge pre-spawn bass is a nightmare of stumps and snags, which retains some individuals from going again there.
“On my approach into the creek with my trolling motor I noticed my neighbor and good good friend Jimmy Singleton fishing along with his spouse, Paula,” says Washington, who lives in Godley. “They had been leaving the creek, and I went proper by them casting a 3/8-ounce red-chrome Hags Chatterbait.”
It was a peaceful afternoon, with air temps within the 80s and water temps round 63 levels. The water was barely stained, and Washington used the loud bait to probe the quite a few stumps within the creek.
“Pre-spawners in that creek like to carry across the largest stumps, and I despatched a forged to 1 facet of a three-foot huge one,” says Washington. “I introduced the lure in, then made one other forged to the opposite facet of the stump and felt a slight tick – nearly like a catfish or a redfish would hit the lure.”
The strike was solely 30 ft from Washington’s boat when he set the hook. When he did, he knew he’d caught an enormous fish. It boiled the water and pulled exhausting because it tried to wrap his 65-pound braid line across the varied snags, roots, and stumps.
“I used to be in a position to flip the fish rapidly and pulled it into an open water hole between stumps towards my boat,” he says. “It by no means jumped, simply wallowed on high a pair occasions.”
Washington obtained the fish beside his boat however had hassle becoming it in his web. Lastly, he obtained the fish’s head changed into the mesh, lifted the online, and introduced his enormous bass aboard his 20-foot bass boat.
“I sat down, shaking like a leaf, and as I did the lure simply fell out of her mouth,” Washington remembers. “I knew it was over 10 kilos and was so excited I instantly put it in my livewell. I known as Jimmy [Singleton] to inform him I had caught an enormous within the creek that he and Paula had simply left.”
The Singletons turned again towards Washington to see his bass, which he’d simply weighed at 13.65-pounds on the Bubba scale in his boat. Washington’s subsequent name was to his spouse, Daybreak. He requested her to drive their truck and boat trailer to the lake so they might load up his boat and take it to Lake Fork Marina for an official weight and measurement.
Quickly after assembly his spouse on the ramp, they headed to the marina, the place personnel from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Division’s ShareLunker Program had been ready. Officers weighed the massive largemouth at 13.38 kilos, with a 25.5-inch size and a 20.5-inch girth. From there, the stay bass was transported to a state fish hatchery, the place it’ll be spawned together with the opposite Legacy Class ShareLunkers donated by anglers this season.
Learn Subsequent: ‘It’s a Powerful Thing.’ Texas Fishing Guide Lands Another Lunker Bass, Sets a New Lake Record
As a reward for donating his bass, TPWD will present Washington with a reproduction mount of his 13.38 pounder. He’ll additionally meet with biologists later this spring, after the bass has spawned, so he can launch it again into Lake Fork.
Washington says it’s the second 13-plus-pound bass he’s caught from the 27,000-acre reservoir. His first Legacy Lunker weighed 13.05 kilos, and he caught it in April 2007.
“I’ve that first Legacy bass mount in my rec room, and that’s proper the place I’m going to hold this duplicate mount, too.”
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