Wow. Congrats.

No sir. Every simgle fish in the lake has been grown from a fingerling in the lake itself.

$1500 a day for two guys. All catch & release unless you want to buy them to take home.

Not that is the berries and service with a smile. I laughed until my sides hurt.

Thanks for the info. Even if price wasn't a concern they wouldn't like the weather where I live unfortunately.

I haven't heard anything about LaPerla Ranch. It's supposed to have the potential to be even better.

Fishing La Perla makes fishing Camelot Bell look cheap.

Camelot Bell is a Freak Show for big bass. No doubt about it. Is it worth $1,500 for two guys to fish all day? Maybe for some - Others maybe not. It's all about your priorities. I landed a 15.00 there on Jan 7, 2012 and it was the lake record for about a month!

For Rick Shipley and I on Feb 17th it was PRICELESS! Rick has fished Fork and numerous other big bass factories with guides all over this great state and had not landed a legit DD in almost 40 years of bassin (hope he doesn't mind me sharing).

We shoved off the dock at 8 am that morning and at 8:08 am I was netting his first fish of the day, a beautiful 11.50 pounder on a lizard that would start us off. A while later I landed a 9.5 on a big crankbait and jump another off about the same size in back 2 back casts.

We take a short break for lunch and hit it again about 1:00 pm. Right after lunch the big girls started feeding and Rick gets a 9.5 on a lizard near the dock. We move across the lake near a little point and Rick sticks a 10.5!! A few minutes later I catch a 12.0 on a lizard! Ten minutes after we get the 12 in the boat Ricks sets the hook on a MONSTER!! This fish comes up and wallows all over the place and he finally works her to the boat. I slide the net under her and she goes an even 13.00.

We now have a 10.5, a 12.0 and a 13.0 in the livewell. This all happened in about 30 minutes in a small area. I call Mike Frazier the owner and tell him about our catch and he heads down to the dock with a big ice chest on a four-wheeler. As we are heading over to the dock, Rick sets the hook on another fish in the same area where his 13 just came from.

I grab the net and ask, "Is it another BIGGUN??!" The fish comes up and jumps and Rick says, "Naww, it's just a little bitty one." He gets the fish to the boat and lips it. The fish pulls the Boga Grip to 7 pounds....

I ask Rick, when he decided that a SEVEN POUND fish was a "Little Bitty One" and we all laugh!! This lake will absolutely change your perception on what you think a Big Fish really is.

So at the end of the day I asked Rick if it was worth the money he paid to fish. How do you put a price on a day of a lifetime, at least to us bass fishermen? No offense to anyone on here because some of my best friends are LF guides. Rick has fished with most of the good ones at Fork and his biggest bass up to this day was 9.25 pounds. He's hooked them. He's been in the boat when someone else caught a 10+ but he had never landed one himself until Feb 17th. Rick weighs all of his fish so he is not one to catch a fish and let someone call it a 10+ without him weighing it himself.

Not to mislead you guys about the fishery. It is not a place where you catch a 100 bass a day. We had ten fish all day on this day, But the top five went 56.5 pounds and was the lake record for best five until Justin Furnace from Cypress Texas hit the lake last week. I will let him tell you all about his day.

All I can tell you is that is was nothing short of INCREDIBLE!!

True dat! Plus you gotta drive all the way to Zapata.

Yes it is. For now. I doubt it will stand long. He stocked rainbow trout for the first time on Feb 15th and the fish are heavier this year than ever.

I always wonder if the guys who compare private waters to high fenced hunting have ever done either. I've hunted in a high fenced place - I hate it. It's not the same as hunting on my land. I think it's too easy. Plus you're paying $1000 to go pull the trigger one time.

Fishing private lakes. . .not so much. The fish do NOT come to you. You still have to find them and convince them to bite. And once they bite you still have to get them in the boat, which is no easy task when your hands are shaking and sweating and you're scared that every second shes gonna come unbuttoned. It's still fishing just like anywhere else, just the fish on the other end are bigger.

Good afternoon fellow TFF's-

I debated on whether to chime in at all on this thread as a result of being bashed on previous threads I have joined, but was asked to share my story by several friends, so I am going to share. I am the blessed angler that caught the 15 1/2 pound bass. I want to first say I am not bragging, trying to sell anyone, or anything else. I am simply sharing my story. I have to believe many of you, just like myself, get on this forum daily hoping to see pics of big fish and read stories about great days. I do not get to fish nearly as much as I would like and live vicariously through this forum most days. I also am not rich, work 100 hour weeks, and have 3 young boys at home. I do not even own a boat. I only have a certain budget to fish, and therefore choose my trips to suit my goals. I only share that as I am an average joe. I am not a pro, nor am I a great fisherman. I just know there is a lot of controversy over Camelot Bell being a "rich guy's" lake. I probably spend less money on fishing than many on this forum. I have been an avid bass fisherman since I was old enough to hold a pole. That said, I am a trophy bass fisherman. What I mean here is that I look for BIG fish, I will fish all day for that 1 bite. I am not concerned with how many fish I catch. I want THAT fish when I am on the water. As a result of my constant pursuit of giant bass, I only fish in places where I believe my odds are good for catching a big one. When it comes to public lakes, I spent most of my time on Falcon and Choke Canyon when they were so good. Nowadays if I am on a public lake, it is usually Sugar Lake in Mexico. I usually fish with guides as I do not own a boat currently.

A brief rundown on my history with Camelot Bell.........I had the pleasure of meeting the lake owner, Mr. Mike Frazier, back in 2012. He is a friend of my brother's as they are both in the scientific deer breeding industry. After a couple of phone conversations with Mike, I quickly realized that not only was his lake the real deal, but also that he had more passion about growing and catching giant bass than anyone I have ever met. Luckily, he is also a heck of a nice guy and we have become great friends. This man knows what it takes to grow giant fish, and is happy to share as much of his priceless knowledge as you care to hear. I like catching giants, therefore I listen. I can tell you that CB was built specifically for the purpose of growing giant fish, and he nurtures it like it is his baby. While the TPWD would cringe at some of his managing practices, I can tell you first hand that it works. My first trip to the bell was in March of 2012. It was at that time a trip that I could have never imagined. I was with a great friend of mine who is a much better angler than myself. Over the course of the 2 days we were there, we had 52 lbs for our best 5 the first day, and 54 lbs our second day. It took us a while to figure them out, but we did and it was nuclear. We both landed our personal best at that time which was a 12 pounder each. The memories are still vivid.



So I fast forward to 3/8/16. I have learned that weather is so very critical to this lake. The fish in this lake are pure Floridas. Therefore they are very smart and very finicky. I knew there was a terrible front coming in and the weather was going downhill on Thursday for sure. I decided to roll the dice knowing that it would likely be feast or famine. The pressure was dropping and I thought it my be a special day before the front blew in. I woke up to a steady, pouring rain and stiff 20-25 mph winds. I put on my rainsuit, rolled up my sleeves, and went to work. I had caught a 13, an 11, and several other good fish 2 weeks prior to this trip there on a particular color lizard. This day, they would not touch it. After some experimentation with colors and weights, I finally found what they wanted that day and started catching some fish. Fighting the trolling motor in the wind and blinding rain, I did scratch out a 12, an 11, and couple of other solid fish before the lightning shut me down at about 11:00. I had to get off the lake and wait out the heavy thunderstorms until the lightning moved out at about 1:00. I got back on the water about 1:00 and went back to work. I had them figured out at that point. After the heaviest storms blew through, the fish went on a frenzy. I wound up with 59 lbs on the bogas that day for my best 5. Likely I had over 60 as there were no ounce marks on the bogas so I just used half pound increments. I had (6) DD's that day. I wound up with my best 5 being a 15 1/2, 12, (2) 11's, and a 10 pounder. What was more amazing to me was that I had behind that best 5, another 10, and (6) 9's on the bogas. I honestly probably threw back some more 9's without weighing them as it was so silly that I was not even weighing fish at that point that I did not think might hit 10. I threw back at least 12 fish that were in the 8-9 pound range.

I will end my novel with the details of my 15 1/2 as I know I personally like reading big fish stories on here. Through the years, I have caught a lot of DD fish off this lake, probably 30ish if I was to give it my best guess. While I have caught a 13 on a chatterbait, and a couple of DD's on a spinnerbait and squarebill, the majority of the big fish on Camelot for me have been on a T-rig soft plastic. The key is usually a VERY slow presentation, usually with a very light weight pegged with a bobber-stop. This trip was no different, until I stuck the big girl. There is a particular area on the lake where the bluegill congregate. While I have always thought that would be the spot to find a giant, I had never even gotten a nibble there until this day. While fishing in the highest winds that morning, I had caught an 11 pounder about 20 yards down the bank from that spot. So I had a little more confidence in the spot that day. At 3:47, I came down the West bank of the lake, downwind from the spot and made a long cast that landed 18" from the bank in a little opening in the reeds. Before I could even snap the reel, I knew something special was happening. I must have literally dropped that lizard on her nose. The instant my lizard hit the water, it was like someone had dropped an anvil from 100 feet in the sky into that exact spot. I swear water exploded 20 feet in the air. My stomach literally dropped and I snapped the reel and reeled down until I felt weight and set the hook with all I had. To say that she was not a fan of that 7/0 hook going into her head would be an understatement. She literally cut down about 7 foot of reeds as she headed to deep water running horizontal with the shore and off the end of the point. I had the drag cranked all the way down on my Curado and she was peeling it off and there was nothing I could do to stop her. I finally got her turned an when she did, she came to the top of the water and was sideways to me and I got my first good look at her. My heart was pounding out of my chest. She did get her head out of the water twice, but was so fat, she literally could not get her body out. That head shaking at me on both trips to the surface is something I shall not soon forget. Her head was just enormous. After playing her out for about 45 seconds, I finally got her to the boat and the fella fishing with me got her netted for me. When that fish hit the boat, I quickly realized I had caught THE fish I have been after my entire life. I cant even remember what all I was spewing at the top of my lungs, but do know I was hoarse the rest of the day. That was the fish of my dreams and I am grateful that Mike has chosen to share the most special lake in the State with me. He has graciously offered it up to fisherman like myself to make their dreams come true.

Again, I am not telling this to brag, simply to share a story that I know I personally would love to read on TFF. I hope some of you enjoy the read.

I hope everyone has a great Sunday!

Justin

Very good point Tim.

I own probably 3 dozen guns and I hit what I aim at so hunting has never presented the challenge to me that fishing does.

I've taken clients to the YO Ranch and had them shoot axis deer & black bucks so they could take them home and hang them over their fireplaces. It's not the same to me. At one point on one particular hunt, our "guide" kept having to back the jeep away from the herd because it was the same jeep he used to pull the feed wagon around the ranch. LMBO!!

If this is what floats your boat then that's cool by me. I could have killed any animal in the herd with a sling shot BUT were my clients stoked about killing a big axis deer? You bet they were!! Didn't matter that we have to back the jeep away from the herd 50 yards so it wouldn't be a point-blank shot.

Fishing Camelot Bell is much like fishing a small cove on any body of water. It has a lot of structure and brush piles. The water color is very stained to dingy due to the fertilizing he does there to keep his baitfish population high so sight fishing is pretty much out.

I have heard the analogy many times that some guys will use referring to high-fence hunting. Really?? If you could see the fish and actually pick out the one you wanted, then dip net it up I suppose it would be like high-fence hunting. It's not like that at all. You still have to use the right bait and make them bite.

What makes Camelot Bell so special is the fact that EVERY single bass in the lake started off their lives as a fingerling years ago when the lake was new. There are no crappie, no catfish, no rough fish whatsoever. Nothing to compete with the bass for their forage. Mike built the lake and addded coppernose bluegill, threadfin shad and waited a full year before he added only 250 very special Florida bass fingerlings that he got from the late Harrell Arms, a Florida biologist.

These fish behave much like other Florida bass at other lakes to the weather and barometer. When a cold front come through, they get lockjaw. In a bad way. If you fished the lake after a cold front on a bluebird day you might think it was a dead sea.

Mike manages the lake like no other lake I have ever fished. He takes EVERY fish of 7# and down out. That is his culling method. He knows that to grow truly gargantuan fish you have to have small numbers of bass and massive quantities of bait fish. He stocks tilapia every fall to help boost the baitifsh population. As you know tilapia start to die off when the water cools down into the 50's so the bass can feed on these very easily as the winter approaches.

This year he did something different. He added 6,000 rainbow trout in February. These fish as you probably know thrive in the cooler water temps and will start to die off when the temps get into the 70's. His hopes are that the trout will add a bunch of weight to some already giant fish in hopes of producing a 20 pound fish this year. Has it been successful? Only time will tell.

Mr. Kilpatrick's 16 pounder from earlier this week was most likely on a bed when he caught her. He could not see her. A fish of that caliber only needs to eat a few 8" trout to gain a couple pounds.

Is fishing at Camelot Bell like high fence hunting? It's all a matter of opinion. Are you increasing your odds of catching a true giant when you fish here compared to Fork or one of the other noted big bass lakes? Absolutely! That's why the price of admission is what it is.

Some of you may ask, Is it worth it? That's a question you will need to answer yourself. My guess is that most of us would jump at the chance if money were no object. We all have something that we do that someone else would most likely consider excessive or unnecessary. It is really Uncool to criticize how someone spends their own money.

Food for thought....

Nicely put Ken.

And thank you to the folks that congratulated me. I appreciate it. I was lucky and feel beyond blessed to have caught the fish of my dreams.

Great story and congrats on the fish of a lifetime. It's your money, your life and most importantly your memories. Don't ever apologize to people on here who seem to think their opinion on your business matters at all.