Cool! I had never seen that video before. For sure that bass was a giant. That net job would haunt me for a lifetime. I would have beat my buddy with my rod then chucked him in the lake. SHAME!

I was sitting in the restaurant at Rainswood Marina eating a burger. It was just before dark and I had been on the water with clients all day. I saw this older boat pull into the gas dock and tie up. These two guys fumbled around in the boat and pulled this fish out of the livewell. He starts walking up the bank toward the store.
I run over to the front of the store where Bill Kells is sitting at the cash register and tell him, "A new state record is about to walk around the corner!"

About that time Jerry New & partner rounds the corner carrying this fish and walks into the store.

Lake Fork 17.63 26.25 8/29/1990 Jerry L. New

We go out into the little room where the live minnows were kept and instruct Jerry to put his fish into a bait tank to keep it cool until the GW can get there. Bill and I both agree this fish is well over 17 pounds and could very easily eclipse Stevenson's State Record. Bill calls Gary Duggan and asks him to come witness the catch.

Gary shows up about 30 mins later and Bill & I pull this massive fish out of the bait tank and sit her on the scale. She misses being a new state record by less than one ounce! Being that this was a late summer fish, there is no telling what she would have weighed in Feb but she was STACKED!!!

your talking about "Carol"!

My dad, J.E. Hamm, was the guy who had taken Jerry fishing that night. He missed a bite and told Jerry to throw in behind him, and well the results of that cast will live in history forever. She was so big that she wouldn't fit in the net so dad had to lift her in the boat! They did a local TV show that showcased Jerry and my dad releasing her back into the lake a few months later.

I can't tell you the number of double digit fish that my dad pulled out of that lake and several were caught off of that spot. I enjoy looking through his old pictures of all of them and I can remember one instance we had just launched the boat into Little Caney and he caught one that was between 14-15lbs. I asked him if he was going to keep it and turn it in and he smiled and said "After you have lipped a 17lb+ you only have one goal while fishing", he then said "thank you" to her and put her back in the water. I thought the other guys who were in another boat but fishing with us were going to come unglued because they saw the size of it and couldn't believe he released her lol.

That lake was an amazing place back in those days and I was blessed with a dad that would drive 3+ hrs one way 2 times a week with me in tow to fish it. He spent years driving around that lake with paper graphs gathering information, bringing it home and studying it! I swear he knows almost every bend in every creek out there, but that was his way of doing things. It is and always will be a special place and I have revisited the spot several times where "Carol" came from in hopes history will repeat itself!

Jerry and dad were partners for a long time and both were given replicas of "Carol".

Here is the picture of "Carol" held by Jerry New and J.E. Hamm



Thanks for sharing that story!
I didn�t know anything about it but always see that name on the top 50 list.

your talking about "Carol"!

My dad, J.E. Hamm, was the guy who had taken Jerry fishing that night. He missed a bite and told Jerry to throw in behind him, and well the results of that cast will live in history forever. She was so big that she wouldn't fit in the net so dad had to lift her in the boat! They did a local TV show that showcased Jerry and my dad releasing her back into the lake a few months later.

I can't tell you the number of double digit fish that my dad pulled out of that lake and several were caught off of that spot. I enjoy looking through his old pictures of all of them and I can remember one instance we had just launched the boat into Little Caney and he caught one that was between 14-15lbs. I asked him if he was going to keep it and turn it in and he smiled and said "After you have lipped a 17lb+ you only have one goal while fishing", he then said "thank you" to her and put her back in the water. I thought the other guys who were in another boat but fishing with us were going to come unglued because they saw the size of it and couldn't believe he released her lol.

That lake was an amazing place back in those days and I was blessed with a dad that would drive 3+ hrs one way 2 times a week with me in tow to fish it. He spent years driving around that lake with paper graphs gathering information, bringing it home and studying it! I swear he knows almost every bend in every creek out there, but that was his way of doing things. It is and always will be a special place and I have revisited the spot several times where "Carol" came from in hopes history will repeat itself!

Jerry and dad were partners for a long time and both were given replicas of "Carol".

Here is the picture of "Carol" held by Jerry New and J.E. Hamm