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Giants amongst us #11714771 07/10/16 01:25 PM
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Jpurdue Online Content OP
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I got this pic from Mike Frazier over at Camelot Bell. This is a 15lb+ fish caught earlier this year by a fellow TFFer "Bassbuster". Since Justin caught the fish, Mike has had it in a small brood pond with another similar class fish also caught earlier this year. Even in the small brood pond he was unable to entice this fish into biting again and had to remove it via sein to relocate it to a larger body of water. He successfully bred one or both fish this spring and now has fingerlings. Talk about genetics!! In any case, I thought I'd share the picture of this rare beast. To the best of my knowledge only a few fish of this size are caught annually across the globe, and a large percentage of them are coming right from our own backyard!



"Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley." -A.L.

www.LunkerLore.com

Moritz Chevrolet - 9101 Camp Bowie W Blvd, Fort Worth, TX - Monte Coon (817) 696-2003
Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11714786 07/10/16 01:34 PM
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grout-scout Online Sleepy
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I wouldn't have guessed that it weighed 15lbs by looking at the pic. Smart fish to not get caught twice.

Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11714811 07/10/16 01:54 PM
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This is a recent picture, so I doubt it weighed 15 in this picture. When it was caught this spring pre-spawn it was over 15lbs. I used to believe that it was possible for big fish to eclipse pre-spawn weight during the summer peak binge. Doug Hannon claimed to have observed that. Recently I've come across several data points that call that into question. Maybe the heat here in Texas drives metabolic rates too high for that to happen??

Last edited by Jpurdue; 07/10/16 02:02 PM.

"Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley." -A.L.

www.LunkerLore.com

Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11714817 07/10/16 01:57 PM
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Ahhhh, I thought that they had weighed it before being re-released into the main lake/tank. I wonder what caused it's red belly, possibly from the spawn???

Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11714875 07/10/16 02:38 PM
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I doubt many fish in Texas reach or exceed their pre- spawn weights in the summertime. It can happen of course but the odds are against it. That colder water and winter/pre spawn feeding packs it on.

Congrats to Mike Frazier on a great brood pond spawn- like I said on the other thread, what a great opportunity to put some GIANT bass genetics into a private body of water. Hopefully one without other predators and great water quality with lots of food sources.

Btw-That was a very finicky fish. Congrats again to Justin, the angler who caught her.

Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11714882 07/10/16 02:43 PM
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If conditions are ideal, i feel that a bass can certainly get close to pre spawn weight. Obviously lots of variables here but we caught some fish last summer in lake nacogdoches that you couldn't tell the difference in February versus July body structure and gut.

Last edited by Jaret Latta; 07/10/16 02:43 PM.
Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11714888 07/10/16 02:53 PM
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red dot probably comes from just rubbing bottom over time that it just creates a sore maybe from rubbing the slime coat off in that particular spot or her belly just itches that she scratches it red...

Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11714970 07/10/16 04:01 PM
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Check out #71 in this list. Jerry New from Marshall Texas with his 17.63.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/spdest/visitorcenters/tffc/sharelunker/archives/index.phtml?wcode=0433

I was sitting at Rainswood Marina when Jerry and his partner came walking up with the fish. It was August 28, 1990 about 7:30 pm. I had been out on the lake with customers and was eating a burger when I saw these two guys come into the dock and pull out this gigantic monster of a bass. I ran around to the front counter and told Bill that a new state record was about to come around the corner.

About that time Jerry walked into the store. Bill, the owner of the store and I both knew the fish was a potential state record. Bill called Gary Dugan, the game warden that lived nearby to come witness the catch. As we watched the fish swim around in the minnow vat waiting on Gary to arrive, Jerry and his buddy told us about the catch.

He even went down to the boat and brought the rod & reel to show us the bait that was still curled up on the hook. It was a 12" generic Gator Tail worm in black neon. The worm was mangled up and hanging off the Tru-Turn hook that he had caught her on a few minutes earlier.

We are congratulating Jerry while we wait on the GW to arrive and I tell Jerry that his fish could be the ONE. He looks at me like Huh?? He says, "What do you mean, by that?" I said, "Buddy, that may very well be the new state record!" He looks at me in disbelief...

A few minutes later Gary shows up and we all gather around the scales to see what happens. Bill gets the fish by the mouth and I hold her tail and put my other hand under her belly. We lift her out of the minnow vat and gently set her on the scale. The scale reads 17.63. She is 0.02 of a pound from being a new state record. Mark Stevenson's 17.64 was the record at the time.

The moral of the story is this:

I believe it is POSSIBLE for a fish to weigh as much in the heat of summer as they do in the spring just before they drop their eggs but maybe for only small windows of time after a feeding spree.

Fishing guide, Tony Clark brought a fish to Rainswood one evening that spit up a 2 pound plus crappie while in the minnow vat overnight. His fish went from 12 pounds to 14 pounds in ONE BITE!! And get this - The fish was still feeding when it bit his lizard!

The great thing about bass fishing is there are no absolutes. There are no hard fast rules.



Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11714975 07/10/16 04:04 PM
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Ken A. Offline
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If you want to start your own trophy fishery or just want to boost the genetics in your current lake:

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...GS_ARE_R#UNREAD



Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11715056 07/10/16 04:48 PM
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Incredible.... Mike is a wealth of knowledge, love listening to him do is thing on the water. The scary thing is to think of how big of a bass he actually has swimming around in there.... one day shes gonna bite!




Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11715065 07/10/16 04:51 PM
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Kens story is probably the most notable exception on the list, a few others you can look up and see as well.
It's a great sign of a productive fishery if fish at their pre spawn weight are caught this time of year.

Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11715161 07/10/16 05:52 PM
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Mike Frazier truly has produced a special fishery. It is arguably the best trophy bass fishery in the country at this time. He told me he was receiving his second load of 40K Rio Grande Prawns later this week to supplement the bluegill and shad buffet his bass already enjoy. He planted 10K rainbow trout back in Feb of this year.

I have never seen a land owner that managed their lake so intensively for trophy bass. He still removes EVERY fish of seven pounds and down in order to reduce the numbers of predators in the lake. Mike understands what it takes to grow gargantuan bass better than most. He knows that you have to remove LOTS of fish and pump the feed to them if you want to sustain the growth rate.

The other thing Mike understands is that the bass has to be the apex predator in the lake in order to grow to mammoth sizes. There is nothing in his lake to compete with the bass for forage. No crappie, No catfish, No rough fish. There is no grass in his lake. This goes against conventional thinking of what most of us believe. Mike wants his fish to be able to feed "unimpeded" meaning he wants them to be able to eat dinner with the least amount of energy expended for their meal.

Add it all up and you get a formula for a lake that produces 10-15 pound bass with a regularity that I have never seen before. While this may sound like a plug, I am simply detailing some of the efforts this man has taken to raise numbers of the biggest bass I have ever seen or heard of. The number of fish that are caught from his lake over 10 pounds is staggering.

Call it what you will. Camelot Bell has to be experienced to be believed.

Last edited by Ken A.; 07/10/16 09:53 PM.


Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11715590 07/10/16 11:11 PM
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There's a who's who of land owners around the Athens area where you can hear story after story of guys money whipping a lake, literally sparing no expense, and you still don't get the results Mike has gotten.

Love the lake or not, you can't argue with the results that have been documented here on the TFF.


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Re: Giants amongst us [Re: Jpurdue] #11715710 07/11/16 12:53 AM
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Nice fish! cheers


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IGFA World Record Rio Grande Cichlid. Lake Dunlap.

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Re: Giants amongst us [Re: JacksonBean] #11715755 07/11/16 01:21 AM
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Originally Posted By: JacksonBean


There's a who's who of land owners around the Athens area where you can hear story after story of guys money whipping a lake, literally sparing no expense, and you still don't get the results Mike has gotten.

Love the lake or not, you can't argue with the results that have been documented here on the TFF.



About a fourth of the fish landed at the Bell are reported on TFF. I have been blessed to go to CB five times this year. In those five trips the following have been boated by myself or the guys with me, (mostly the guys with me)

2 - 9.5#
1 - 10#
2 - 10.5#
1 - 11#
2 - 11.5#
1 - 12#
1 - 13#

I posted pix & wrote about my Feb 17th trip with Rick Shipley because it was an exceptional day even by CB standards. We had five that went 56.5# with Rick's 13 being the biggest that day. My friend Justin had a day the next month that eclipsed that by far & away. I didn't post about my other four trips.

Donald Harper and I went on April 14th and the biggest fish we landed that day was 7 pounds. However, we saw a fish twice that would push 15 pounds resting, sitting motionless with her back and top of her tail out of the water. She spooked as we got closer and casted to her.

That was the only trip I have been this year when someone in my boat did not land one over ten pounds. When I tell you it is an exceptional fishery for giant bass, I am not embellishing. Is it worth $1,500 a day to fish?

You tell me. I'll admit it is a little exorbitant but then again if it wasn't, it wouldn't be as special as it is. I don't long-arm seven pounders and call them Tens and I don't post about CB to boast. I simply want you guys to know what this man has created just 90 miles south of DFW.

Like Jackson said, there have been a bunch of well-heeled folks attempt to build a trophy fishery the likes of Camelot Bell but in my opinion, they are playing catch-up.

Last edited by Ken A.; 07/11/16 03:07 PM.


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