Same here, Ken!

I got these pics from Jerry himself today and he gave me permission to post them. In case you missed the story here it is again with a few more details that he gave me of the day he caught the BIGGEST BASS ever from Fork in the Summer.

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.

About 8 pm this bass boat idles 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 Goliath bass - as he pulls it out it just keeps coming. Turns out to be furniture salesman Jerry New from Marshall TX and his buddy from Louisiana.

When I saw this fish even from 200' away I knew it was GIGANTIC. He started walking up the bank toward the store 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 rounded the corner and walked into the store holding this monster 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 us weighing Jerry's fish 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" tequila sunrise 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 worm hook with about a 3/8 oz lead weight on his 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 Stevenson's 17.67". He looked at me in disbelief. He was thinking she might go 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. At the time the biggest bass I had ever held was 12 pounds and this fish made that fish seem like a minnow!

We picked her up and sat her gently 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 and is doing well. He sent these pics to me this evening. He was interviewed by The In-Fisherman Magazine and his pic made the cover.

I am also happy to say he turned the fish over to David Campbell of TPWD that night and she was taken to Tyler (Athens did not exist yet). After about 4 months David met Jerry at Fork with the fish and they took her back to the spot where he caught her. Jerry released her and she swam away. Barry Stokes made a show with Jerry the day he released her.



*notice the vintage Jawtec WackyCraw hat

With you clearly being one of our older more season veterans on this thing, we need those stories...it's like grandpa telling fishing stories back when I was a kid

Buy my lunch and I'll tell ya!

I can do that, just let me know when you will be out there. I don't need to know the place he caught her, I would just like to touch base with you again. I haven't talked you in person for quite a while now.

Awesome thread. Enjoyed pictures and stories. Thanks Ken and all for contributing to this thread and the great pursuit of giant bass fishing.