Well, I had the day right but the year wrong. It was April Fool's Day 1988 when Doc Pounds found this one floating dead near Val's Landing. Between 1988 and 1991 there were at least two other fish larger than Mark's 17.67 found floating dead. I don't have pics for those yet. This pic and the replica is at Oak Ridge Marina.

Lord have mercy, again.

Makes you wonder about all the Sals! Such a precious life! One of Gods greatest creations! All Fish Big or Little!

It really makes you think about what might be lurking out there that never even consider biting the ends of our lines. Plus pairing that with the science that says fish are getting harder to catch it makes you wonder what giants might really be lurking in areas they KNOW we wont bother them at! I know I talk to someone who fishes Ivie, and fished after the big flurries of giants.....and he didnt seem too worried about the lake record having been pulled out by the zark....but catching them bigs is a whole nother thing!

"Was" lurking.....19+ fish and some 15's are two different worlds

If only SAL was around back then. We would have 20 pounders swimming around everywhere!

True and I fear we may not see another 19+ in Texas in my lifetime

what about comparing a 19+ dead fish to an 18+ pounder that was caught? 🤔

its amazing how good some people are at omitting facts when they dont really like what they see 🤷‍♂️

In doing my amistad research I came across posts and even some video where Denny Brauer talked about giant bass....being deep in places no one can catch them. IN MY OPINION....there are huge amounts of hubris amoung bass anglers in that they think if they dont catch them that just means they arent there to be caught. Well these 19+ pound fish werent caught.....why cant there be giant bass that lurk in places where none of us fish at right now as we type?

Ivie locals can say whatever the hell they want....that 18+ has been there for years...and sure it wasnt 18+ its whole life, but figure it was 17+ last fall, summer, spring....and none of the locals could catch them. Why? Im of the opinon its because big fish are big for a reason....they know how to not end up at the end of someones line. That goes for falling for our baits....but even more so they know where to hang out where we wont even have a chance at them.......and I think a perfect example of this is Zark pulling out his 18 pounder.

If zark hadnt caught an 18 pounder at Ivie, and you posted a thread "are there any fish over 15, 16, 17 pounds in OH Ivie" I can almost guarantee eveyone would say no....because they never caught them. So yea, I feel there is a lot of hubris amoungst bass anglers.....and really we kinda gotta be over confident to go out there and think we can take a 3-5 inch piece of plastic or wood and be able to track down fish in hundreds of acres of water with just that little bait. But...the downfall is some of the type of opinions you see in regards to big fish and some of the animosity some have against the SAL program.

Like I said...i talk to someone from Ivie and they made it seem like that 18 might not be the only giant in that lake. Fish are a lot trickier than we think...yea they are stupid and pea brained....but what animal do you know that grows big for its species that doesnt have a killer instinct to eat, and also the right instincts on how to survive. Figure its tough making it to 7+ years old as a bass 🤔🤷‍♂️

Didn’t Zark catch a 16 pounder at Ivie?

In doing my amistad research I came across posts and even some video where Denny Brauer talked about giant bass....being deep in places no one can catch them. IN MY OPINION....there are huge amounts of hubris amoung bass anglers in that they think if they dont catch them that just means they arent there to be caught. Well these 19+ pound fish werent caught.....why cant there be giant bass that lurk in places where none of us fish at right now as we type?

Ivie locals can say whatever the hell they want....that 18+ has been there for years...and sure it wasnt 18+ its whole life, but figure it was 17+ last fall, summer, spring....and none of the locals could catch them. Why? Im of the opinon its because big fish are big for a reason....they know how to not end up at the end of someones line. That goes for falling for our baits....but even more so they know where to hang out where we wont even have a chance at them.......and I think a perfect example of this is Zark pulling out his 18 pounder.

If zark hadnt caught an 18 pounder at Ivie, and you posted a thread "are there any fish over 15, 16, 17 pounds in OH Ivie" I can almost guarantee eveyone would say no....because they never caught them. So yea, I feel there is a lot of hubris amoungst bass anglers.....and really we kinda gotta be over confident to go out there and think we can take a 3-5 inch piece of plastic or wood and be able to track down fish in hundreds of acres of water with just that little bait. But...the downfall is some of the type of opinions you see in regards to big fish and some of the animosity some have against the SAL program.

Like I said...i talk to someone from Ivie and they made it seem like that 18 might not be the only giant in that lake. Fish are a lot trickier than we think...yea they are stupid and pea brained....but what animal do you know that grows big for its species that doesnt have a killer instinct to eat, and also the right instincts on how to survive. Figure its tough making it to 7+ years old as a bass 🤔🤷‍♂️[/quo

WTH are you talking about. No one caught a 18 at Ivie. This is just a bunch of rambling that makes no sense

damn...i got caught exaggerating. In my defense im 3 shiners deep....

my opinion/point still applies...i feel there are giants out there that we will never even get our baits close too.

OK. i said 18. it was 16 and change. JL said "some 15s" we were both off with our accuracy. my point remains the same, but glad you can find something to invalidate it.

I can find stuff with everything you post.

Im sure you can and just choose not to. you dont seem to like to reply often and do more lurking 🤷‍♂️