I still look pretty dazed in that picture (on top). As a matter of fact, I am pretty dazed right now. The state finally showed up at about 12:15 a.m. this morning to get the fish. I wanted to wait and send her off, so the good folks at Grubbs fed me coffee for 7 hours while we waited. Both fish seemed in great shape as the TPW truck left the lake last night. The guy driving the truck said that both fished were in better shape than most. I have the phone number to the hatchery, and I am going to call later and check on their status as of today.

As far as the story goes, it was about as good as it could get--a 13 in a tournament. I was fishing the ABA tournament and had seen one of the 13s caught on Saturday after I was done prefishing. I had a few fish located and was fairly certain about the depth and lure. By 10 a.m. I had a five pounder and two quality fish right around 16 inches long. On Alan Henry, you can only weight two fish under 18 inches, so I had culled through 5 or 6 other fish to get to my best 3 fish. The fish I caught in the morning were holding on a ledge that dropped off into a creek channel. So at about 10:30 a.m., I remembered a spot that had a similar ledge falling into a channel. Went in there and found a ton of fish in water that was about two degrees warmer than the main lake (49.3 degrees). At straight up noon, I threw a chartreuse/green back DD22 onto the top of the ledge and the bait never made it to the deep water. The fish made about three short bursts but never really got out of control. On the second pass by the boat, the non-boater I had drawn for the tournament very causaully scooped the fish into the dipnet. I knew she was big but wasn't sure how big. I weighed her on an old set of Berkley scales I have and the readout went to 12.5. So me thinking that other people may also be on good fish, I tossed her in the livewell and kept fishing. It wasn't until the tournament director's scales at the weigh-in read 13.1 that I even thought about a Share-a-Lunker. As soon as I knew she was that big, I lost all interest in the tournament and just wanted to get her in the program. Ended up with 20.4 pounds to win the the tournament and big bass. As much as I have dreamed about catching a Share-a-Lunker, it never crossed my mind about having it happen in a tournament. I guess all of us get lucky every now and again. Thanks Curtis for posting the pictures, and thanks to my non-boater (who was from Colorado and thought that my five pounder was a monster) for net duty.

Squib--Congrats again.

Brad

Congrats Squib!!

How long do you guys think the wait on the ramp will be this spring?

All you East boys just keep fishing Fork....there aren't any good fish in this part of the state.

Just got off the phone with the folks in Athens. I was told they were working up the fish this morning and they were very pleased with the shape all the fish are in. All four are alive and well. The director told me that often times the fish are pretty beat up when they get to Athens and that these four had no scrapes or cuts and no fin injuries. The director said he had just seen them work my fish up and that it was nice that I didn't yank it through the brush when I caught it. I wanted to tell him that I had no control over that--the fish pretty much went where she wanted and I just held on and prayed.

There was some concern that one of the fish caught on Saturday was not going to make it after being caught out of 40 feet of water. There were several attempts to deflate the air bladder at the lake and the fish was in pretty bad shape when it was picked up. Apparently that fish has made a full recovery and is doing fine. I know Ben will feel better knowing that.

Man, that is just awsome. Conragulations on your sharelunker and winning the tournament. What a day indeed.

beautiful fish,man would i love one of those!

Fantastic !!! Congratulations squib. Some guys get it all. Win the tournament, big bass and share-a-lunker all in one day. Thats incredible.

Sweet!!!!

Squib, there's nothing more to say than Sweet. That is great man. I'm smiling ear to ear just hearing the story.

Maybe some day that could happen to me.

I still dont think that these are the best days at AH, we will see. As for the increased pressure, it hopefully will help the city and lake authorities improve the facilities at the lake and ramp. the portapotties just wont do for much longer especially after lubbock has continually promised full restroom facilities. also, no complaining about pressure on the lake, this is a sport we take part in, so it will only raise the bar. it will never see the pressure that Fork draws based soley on the fact that the closest "large" city to AH is lubbock and that is an hour away. fork has NEVER had that luxury. so perhaps we are looking at the new big bass lake in texas.

Congratulations, squib. The only thing that could have topped the day off is if you had been standing on the deck of a Triton instead of a &#@(^#.

Squib

Congrats on your win and Share-A- Lunker. You achieved in one day what most of us dream for in a lifetime. You do realize that it is all down hill from this point on.... LOL Just kidding. Hope you get many more. This should be a good advertisement for ABA. Have you e-mailed or called David Hagood. This is something that National Headquarters needs to post on the ABA Page. Send the pictures as well. Also tell Joe that he needs to get the results posted I want to see how many anglers he had and how everyone dd. Again Congrats on you fantastic win.

Robert Rose
Director District 84
American Bass Anglers

Congrats again to you guys. Hopefully I will get one soon as well. Rick, we didnt know you were a TFF member. Lets here the story. Speak up.

If anyone knows how they can get a digital picture of Ben's fish (if there was one taken) let me know. It would be nice to see all 4 up there.

BSM, It was good to draw a boater that was also a TFF member. Had fun fishing with you; you know your stuff. We were fishing the right pattern, just wasnt in the right spot at the right time I guess.

Ain't this pretty: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/infish/hatchery/tffc/entries.phtml

congrats squib, that is an incredible day!

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