What am I missing here? Doesn't goat stand for The Greatest of All Time? Fork has 30 in the top 50 and Ivie has 1. Now we're talking about a 20 lber?

I would not call Ivie the GOAT lake unless it surpasses Fork for numbers of fish in the Texas Top 50. That remains to be seen and is unlikely. There are a few old timers on here that got to experience Fork in her heydays of the late 80's & early 90's. I recall fishing a tournament on Fork in 1988 where a guy caught a 14 and didn't win Big Bass. There were THREE fish weighed in that day over 14 pounds! Two in that tournament and another across the lake at Mustang Resort.

The big difference today is that we know about the fish 15 minutes after it is caught thanks to social media. So we see a FB post about two 14's and a couple of 12's caught in a one week period and the guys that weren't around Fork 30 years ago think Ivie must be the GOAT lake.

My comment about a 20 pounder potentially from Ivie was simply due to the shape of Tyler's fish. Many will remember there were two over 20# found floating dead on Fork in the late 80's. There is not a doubt in my mind there were multiple fish exceeding 20# swimming around in Fork 30 years ago. I fear that window for Fork has closed.

With the new technology of Live Scope and the increasing number of folks chasing deepwater suspended fish has opened up a whole new world we never saw on Fork way back when. I have always maintained there were schools of offshore fish that never came to the bank, even to spawn, that would live & die having never been targeted. Case in point are the giants that have been landed by crappie fishermen, including the current State Record.

Live Scope is changing the game and there are some talented guys out there chasing those offshore fish with technology we never had before. I believe these fish may have never seen an artificial lure.

Let's be honest here: How many of you have ever been in 40'-70' of water fishing for suspended bass in Jan or February?? Not me.

Whether or not Ivie or any other Texas lake produces a new State Record remains to be seen. There are only 3-4 lakes in the state I feel have the potential to do so and as each year passes that window gets smaller.

I realize all the merchants around Fork have a vested interest. I consider many of you friends and I want to see all the private businesses succeed.

I would also dearly love to see a Texas lake produce a 20+ pound bass and stick it in the face of the West Coast guys.

with the fish being released healthy, I wonder if maybe these giants can eventually get there? Did TPWD ever mention the estimated age of the ones caught last year? never really saw that mentioned, but I wonder how long itll take a 14/15 pound fish to get to 20. Then you wonder their age because if they arent old, you gotta figure theres other older fish who got a jumpstart on them and may be even bigger as these lunkers are being caught.

20 pounds is nuts to think about. All those giants all seemed to have very favorable conditions....like Ivie seems to have, just not sure its enough to get to 20 pounds. Thats a lot of meat! Im of the opinion the biggest fish in a lake rarely and probably never gets caught though...even with the current tech. Just like JJ and the others have mentioned, they dont always bite....maybe that lake giant has just always been smart enough to not bite when 99.9% of other bass would. I dont know, but like you mentioned the deep water and suspending I think people have a lot to learn about big bass behavior. Im pretty sure all anglers would say you were nuts if you told them teeners are suspending (and not deep from my understanding) over 50+ feet of water before last winter....but looks like thats part of the pattern.

This is great to follow and learn because this tech is, and should expand our knowledge a ton over what traditional thinking would dictate. I dont know about you all...but im still mind blown that they are catching them at/just after the coldest times of the year. Even the SAL guy mentioned that in the miliken video that he was surprised for the time of year. So traditional thinking says stay home and bundle up....but the DDs say its time to munch!!! Really is mind blowing and changing my thinking on bass fishing

Archie was the GOAT

I would not call Ivie the GOAT lake unless it surpasses Fork for numbers of fish in the Texas Top 50. That remains to be seen and is unlikely. There are a few old timers on here that got to experience Fork in her heydays of the late 80's & early 90's. I recall fishing a tournament on Fork in 1988 where a guy caught a 14 and didn't win Big Bass. There were THREE fish weighed in that day over 14 pounds! Two in that tournament and another across the lake at Mustang Resort.

The big difference today is that we know about the fish 15 minutes after it is caught thanks to social media. So we see a FB post about two 14's and a couple of 12's caught in a one week period and the guys that weren't around Fork 30 years ago think Ivie must be the GOAT lake.

My comment about a 20 pounder potentially from Ivie was simply due to the shape of Tyler's fish. Many will remember there were two over 20# found floating dead on Fork in the late 80's. There is not a doubt in my mind there were multiple fish exceeding 20# swimming around in Fork 30 years ago. I fear that window for Fork has closed.

With the new technology of Live Scope and the increasing number of folks chasing deepwater suspended fish has opened up a whole new world we never saw on Fork way back when. I have always maintained there were schools of offshore fish that never came to the bank, even to spawn, that would live & die having never been targeted. Case in point are the giants that have been landed by crappie fishermen, including the current State Record.

Live Scope is changing the game and there are some talented guys out there chasing those offshore fish with technology we never had before. I believe these fish may have never seen an artificial lure.

Let's be honest here: How many of you have ever been in 40'-70' of water fishing for suspended bass in Jan or February?? Not me.

Whether or not Ivie or any other Texas lake produces a new State Record remains to be seen. There are only 3-4 lakes in the state I feel have the potential to do so and as each year passes that window gets smaller.

I realize all the merchants around Fork have a vested interest. I consider many of you friends and I want to see all the private businesses succeed.

I would also dearly love to see a Texas lake produce a 20+ pound bass and stick it in the face of the West Coast guys.