Does anyone have a picture of the bass Jerry L. New caught on lake Fork on 8/28/1990? I've tried googling it and came up with nothing. She weighed 17.63 just 0.04 lbs shy of Ethel. I found it interesting because that is the only fish caught in the month of august on the whole list (maybe at night?) and was half a shad away from being the second biggest ever caught in the state.

I don’t think there is a fish on the list that was as pretty as the one Earl Crawford caught out of Pinkston. That fish has stuck in my brain ever since I first saw it when I was a kid.

It was a daytime catch. 10 inch worm if I remember correctly only 10-12 ft.

Lights on docks were not as common as now and not many docks at that time either.

I may have a picture of it but it would be in a ton of pictures to look through. Look under Lake Fork News they did a cover story on it pretty sure.

Jeez o peez. I never caught that date on that one. Maybe could’ve gone 19.5 lbs during prespawn.

i googled a bit and couldn't find anything about the fish at all

Another one kinda like that is the Sam Rayburn lake record.
16.80 on 5/31/97.
Not as notable as August, but still post spawn.
I guess a few fish are just genetic aberrations.
They tend to weigh the most in winter up until they first lay eggs, so yeah 16.80 in June, 0.4 shy of Ethel in August?-really big and what would they weigh late January through mid March??? Maybe over the current record.
As we know, weight varies quite a bit based on their biology and what they just ate as well.

Would be interesting to see a picture. A long fish may weigh more than a shorter fat fish, but often doesn’t look as big in pictures.

I had just ended my day with clients on Fork that day. It was 8/28/90. It was a typical August day, hot and sunny. I was sitting at Rainswood eating one of their famous cheeseburgers. Rainswood was one of the only places on the lake were you could tie to the dock and see your boat while you were at the restaurant.

At about 7 pm this small bass rig comes into the dock and ties up. I could tell the two anglers were very excited as they fumbled around in the boat. This guy opens the livewell and pulls out a giant bass. Turns out to be furniture salesman Jerry New from Marshall TX and his buddy. When I saw this fish even from 200' away I knew it was GIGANTIC. He started walking up the bank with it.

The owner of Rainswood was up front at the cash register reading one of his Louis Lamour novels. I ran up front and I said, "There is a guy with a new State Record walking up the bank!" About that time Jerry round the corner and walked into the store holding this giant of a fish.

Rainswood kept a minnow vat full and bubbling for fish to be held so they could recover between being weighed and photographed. We told Jerry to put his fish in the vat. She was absolutely enormous. Bill and I both knew she was a potential state record so he called Gary Dugan, the local game warden that lived close by. We wanted him to witness the weighing of the cath so there would be no speculation as to the legitimacy of the fish. Gary said he would be there in 20 mins so we all went inside the store to get a drink and cool off as we waited.

I was congratulating Jerry on his catch and asking him questions. Jerry is a very friendly, likeable guy so he starts telling the story. He tells us right where he caught her. He even goes down to the boat and brings the rod & reel he had used. The 11" black red flake sickle-tail worm was still wadded up on the hook. I could see the teeth marks on the worm where the fish had bitten it. It looked like an old-school 5/0 Eagle Claw sproat style hook with about a 3/8 oz lead weight on the Tx rig.

As we chatted I made a comment about his fish possibly being THE ONE. He looked at me and said, "What do you mean The One?" I said, "Jerry, I think your fish is a new State Record - I think that fish will beat Mark Stevenson's 17.67". He looked at me in disbelief. He was thinking she was between 10-12 pounds!!

A few mins later Gary the GW pulls up and we all go into the minnow bait room where the scales resided. Bill grabs the fish by the lower jaw and I grab her tail and put my hand under her belly. I recall looking at her in the vat thinking she looked like she was a foot wide across the back.

We picked her up and sat her on the scales. It flickered a bit and settled on 17.63! About half an ounce under the state record! In the heat of the summer.

Jerry still lives in Marshall. I texted him while ago and asked him if he would send me a pic of her. We took a bunch of pics with a Polaroid camera (I know its hard to believe there was a time when iPhones didn't exist) I will post it when he sends it to me.

Awesome story Ken !!!
Polaroid lol!

Wow Ken what a story and experience! I've been curious about this fish but like others have mentioned there isn't much to be found on the internet since she was before its time. If you get that picture, I would love to see it!

I also assume she wasn't donated to Texas Parks and Wildlife since it was august, right? Was she let go after that or mounted? I know replicas weren't as common as they are now.

I texted Jerry while ago and he was in Waco getting his deer processed. He told me he would text me a pic of a pic when he gets home. I will post it here.

Wasnt there also a giant 16-17 pounder caught from the bank at Fork? I seem to remember one that was caught from the bank that was a top 10 all time fish.

Yes #6 on the top 50 is a 17.08lb fish caught by Troy Coates from the bank at Fork.

Yes it was 17.08 on 2/26/1991 and the angler lived in Emory. Joe Axton was night fishing from his boat and saw Troy catch the fish off the culvert in back of Boardtree, throw it in back of his pickup truck and take off.

Troy called Linda (owner of Star Mart) about 11 pm and asked her to open up so he could weigh the fish. He thought this fish may be a new state record. He had caught a 13 pounder off the bank a year or so prior so he was not a stranger to giant bass.

I say "Lived" because it appears he was killed in a head-on collision as he was driving the wrong way on George Bush Tollway just a couple months ago. The driver of the other car was also killed. Sad news.