Biggest Bass You've Laid Eyes On

What's the biggest bass you've laid eyes on? The biggest I've personally handled is 10.5lbs. I hooked one I watched come out of the water I'm confident topped 13. She hit so hard it was nearly jerked the rod out of my hand and then she just started peeling drag. She came 2/3 the way out of the water trying to throw the hook then proceeded to wrapped herself around a post and snap my line before I got a chance to even really process what was going on. Heart-breaker. I had the GoPro going but all this occurred just off frame so all that was captured was the embarrassingly long tantrum I threw immediately after.

13-4 caught by guide on Fork
15-3 lawyer in Cuba

Dipped a 10.5 on Amistad his first over 10.... Richland Chambers ready to dip another that looked bigger than the 10.5 but something happened and it came unbuttoned. Fish swam away just out of dipping distance, never made an attempt to dip it as it was not ready.
Biggest one I caught was on Richland fishing for sand bass. I was the only bass fisherman on board all that was said was throw it back. I just wanted to weigh it but they would not dig out the scales. The eyes on that fish were as big as quarters. Guessed it around 11 #'.

I was sitting in the restaurant at Rainswood Marina eating a burger. It was just before dark and I had been on the water with clients all day. I saw this older boat pull into the gas dock and tie up. These two guys fumbled around in the boat and pulled this fish out of the livewell. He starts walking up the bank toward the store.
I run over to the front of the store where Bill Kells is sitting at the cash register and tell him, "A new state record is about to walk around the corner!"

About that time Jerry New & partner rounds the corner carrying this fish and walks into the store.

Lake Fork 17.63 26.25 8/29/1990 Jerry L. New

We go out into the little room where the live minnows were kept and instruct Jerry to put his fish into a bait tank to keep it cool until the GW can get there. Bill and I both agree this fish is well over 17 pounds and could very easily eclipse Stevenson's State Record. Bill calls Gary Duggan and asks him to come witness the catch.

Gary shows up about 30 mins later and Bill & I pull this massive fish out of the bait tank and sit her on the scale. She misses being a new state record by less than one ounce! Being that this was a late summer fish, there is no telling what she would have weighed in Feb but she was STACKED!!!

The fish I caught on Waco a little over a year ago was the biggest I've seen, in person. It was over 13 pounds weighed by TPWD. ....after a short debate with what was best for the fish and what my ego wanted, I returned the fish to where I landed it.

I have seen pictures of some true freak giants.....but none first hand.

Lost a really big one on Athens during a tourney. Don't know how big it was, but it was the strongest bass I've ever hooked. That fish was a tail walking BEAST!!!!

Was fishing an Open tournament in mid 90's with my team partner Kenny. I kept seeing a fish moving in the water like it was chasing bream or something from a bed. I kept throwing the bait I was using at the time, Phantom Tackle Phish Stick, and couldn't get it to hit. Kenny was throwing a buzzbait through this spawning area and I said next time we see that fish wake throw that buzzbait over there. Within the next 20 or 30 seconds we see movement and he chunks that buzzbait over. About 10 feet from the boat is an explosion and this fish comes right at the boat on top of the water. It is moving off and is pretty much going full speed on it's side. This fish is huge and the biggest I ever saw that close up in the water. I jump down to get the net and when I jump back up on deck I hear something and the buzzbait comes flying right past both of our heads. We fish around for a while longer with no more bites. We go in and tell his step dad where and what happened. He goes out the next day and catches a 13 1/2 lber that was still on a bed in that exact spot.

Biggest I've ever touched was my sister's 11 lb 12 oz bass caught on a SK 8.0 crank at Hearthland 10/10 Ranch! Cloudy, windy day and the fish were mostly hitting a spinnerbait but she wanted to throw that and WOW sure glad she did!! That fish so should have gotten off several times as it wrapped itself around timber and it was only 12lb flouro on the line and yeah I think I screamed more than she did as I knew that was def the Biggest fish I had ever seen in person!

My PB is 9lbs and just doesn't even come close.. is in the pic as a side by side comparison. Fishing Heartland 10/10 Ranch at a different time threw a topwater walking bait as the feeders came on and there came a HUGE splash and set the hook and then started stripping line and "snap" there goes 14lb line just thread... next time I go there using at least 20lb line!

13.88 lbs. Sharelunker #558 the last official Sharelunker from Lake Fork in 4+ years..

Must have been some fight. Her jeans are all torn up! LOL

Great fish!

I got to see Ethel when David Campell had her down in Tyler. They had not built the new one in Athens yet. She was a beast..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLW1BCtWxqc

Cool! I had never seen that video before. For sure that bass was a giant. That net job would haunt me for a lifetime. I would have beat my buddy with my rod then chucked him in the lake. SHAME!

holy heck that was a MONSTER... and that guy with the net NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I have two spots on Lake Amistad that I always fish for a couple of hours every time I go about 2 miles apart. In both spots I witnessed a huge Bass that I believe are both over 20 lbs. In both situations they had wounded another fish and was stalking that pray. They were circling the stunned fish as it was quivering on the surface. One of the pray fish was a huge shad at about 1.5 lbs.. The other was a small Bass at about the same size. I am within a short casting distance from this action and using a Spook at day break. These huge Bass would not respond at all to the Spook as they were circling the stunned fish like a shark would do. Each fish gave me at least 30 seconds to witness the explosion on the pray fish and their ritual of circling before eating their pray. Both big Bass turned on their sides and took their pray by the head ever so gentile. Both then pounded themselves across the surface for about 10 feet to get the fish down their throat. This reminded me of a surf board scooting across the surface as they were still on their side. Then they both returned to the upright position and drifted out of sight. I was amazed at how exact this feeding episode was for two different fish in two different areas. I have seen some others that was not so large take the same approach many times.

These two situations and the dying quiver of the bait fish have prompted me to learn how to work the Spook and tweak the Spook to make it mimic this dying action. I have caught many big fish while making the spook do the 180 degree turns while sitting in one spot. There was one other bait that came out in the early 90's which was a Flat Fish with the spring loaded string for the line tie. It laid flat on the water like a dying Shad and the tail fluttered causing the bait to move in a tight circle. I threw this bait back in the river trees on Lake Ivie on a drizzly morning up the Colorado River and never saw that bait again. 50 lb. braid was nothing for this fish to break. I absolutely know that the Dying Quiver action works and Big Bass will respond if you can get on one in the shallows.

The largest fish in Mexico came on a Brush Hog in a 30 mile per hour wind. She was on the first bush just around the corner out of the wind on a small flat. My partner made two attempts to get her in the huge Frabill Net but she would not fit. The wind was pushing the boat away and she was dragging beside the boat. This fish was over 15 lbs. and with one more run she came unbuttoned before he could get down to lip her.

A year after I caught my Sharelunker my buddy hooked one in the same spot on a large swimbait. She swam alongside the boat and was clearly as big as my 13. Nac fish are notoriously long. Mine was 27". His fish went under and surfaced on the other side while clipping the trolling motor and breaking him off. Epic loss. He sat silent for 15-20 min.

For me the largest I've ever seen, even bigger than the 3 13+ I've landed, was on toledo in Bassnbucks 2015 at it's peak. She was on a bed in 7-8ft of water under a thick haygrass mat near the river channel. She would slowly ease out when you got close to the mat alongside a 4lb male. I've seen hundreds of big fish on beds and nothing comes close to this fish. It reminded me of the fish that Mike long videos in California. Once they get 13-15+ it seems their tail becomes huge. That's how I described this fish. I honestly thought it was carp the first couple times I saw her. Cold front came in morning of the tournament and I never saw her again due to 2-3ft waves on her. She was possibly a lake record. I did end up catching a 10+ that day for the Toledo Lunker program at least.

I saw a bag that had two 10 lbers in it at tourney on waco once, those are the #1 and 2 biggest fish I've seen.

I saw two at Toledo that I guessed were over 13#s. Both on beds both in the same trip. The one in Indian Mounds was the biggest. Fish was a freak. Had a 4+ male with her. She never would stay put. The other one was in Six Mile underneath a walkway behind a dock. I thought it was a carp from a distance till I got closer and saw the male. I never could get her to bite, but she's the one that got me hooked on bed fishing. I also lost one at Falcon that was a giant too.

I bet the net-man was a tennis player the way he swatted that fish. There is an art to netting fish. My guess is they had already seen the fish surface and knew it was an Orca so I am sure they were as nervous as a long-tail-cat in a room full of rocking chairs before the camera man started rolling.

A freaking Monster for sure.

I saw two 11's in one day when Mafouz and Harelson wrecked them on Falcon while I stayed hung up all day

During a club tourney on Lake Austin, me and my partner fished a spot for around 20-30 mins and then decided to move along the flat. About 100-150 feet down, by chance I just happened to look behind me and I see this absolutely massive fish leap out of the water. My eyes popped out. I told my buddy to turn the boat around and head back to that spot. I tied on a topwater, had a feeling it wasn’t the right one, cut that off and tied another one on.

Second cast to the spot I got a beautiful 10.5 to blow up on my bait and that ended up being a new club record.

The thing I’ve always wondered about.... the fish that I saw jump behind me honestly looked several pounds bigger. Like it could have been one of those 15-18 lb fish.

I love these threads. Surely some claims are exaggerated but it is still interesting to hear.

I've netted a 9.5 and held one 10. Lost a few fish that I believe were over 10. One that still haunts me to this day was at Lake AH. Was about mid day, fishing had gotten tough and then I hooked into a fish that I was not able to control. 20 lb fluorocarbon and drag set as tight as possible. Hooked into it fought it for about 10 seconds, peeling drag the entire time, dove into a bush and then the dreaded PING... Didn't really get a great look at it but it was HUGE.

your talking about "Carol"!

My dad, J.E. Hamm, was the guy who had taken Jerry fishing that night. He missed a bite and told Jerry to throw in behind him, and well the results of that cast will live in history forever. She was so big that she wouldn't fit in the net so dad had to lift her in the boat! They did a local TV show that showcased Jerry and my dad releasing her back into the lake a few months later.

I can't tell you the number of double digit fish that my dad pulled out of that lake and several were caught off of that spot. I enjoy looking through his old pictures of all of them and I can remember one instance we had just launched the boat into Little Caney and he caught one that was between 14-15lbs. I asked him if he was going to keep it and turn it in and he smiled and said "After you have lipped a 17lb+ you only have one goal while fishing", he then said "thank you" to her and put her back in the water. I thought the other guys who were in another boat but fishing with us were going to come unglued because they saw the size of it and couldn't believe he released her lol.

That lake was an amazing place back in those days and I was blessed with a dad that would drive 3+ hrs one way 2 times a week with me in tow to fish it. He spent years driving around that lake with paper graphs gathering information, bringing it home and studying it! I swear he knows almost every bend in every creek out there, but that was his way of doing things. It is and always will be a special place and I have revisited the spot several times where "Carol" came from in hopes history will repeat itself!

Jerry and dad were partners for a long time and both were given replicas of "Carol".

Here is the picture of "Carol" held by Jerry New and J.E. Hamm

Fortunate for my sanity the biggest fish I have seen in the water while sight fishing I caught-14.60.
I also saw my 15.5 and 15.25 from Bell but they had totally different bodies.
I might go nuts if I lost one any bigger but that might happen I guess.

When I was just a kid I caught a 14+ in a small 5 acre pond in Loxahatchee Fla., weighed it on one of those old time Zebco spring loaded scales. Since then I have not broke a double digit which is mind boggling with the amount of hours on the water I've put in since. I've got (5) fish that are in the 9 to 9.85 range.

Netted a 12.4 at Fork. 30 yards from Duplechain when he caught his 14+.

i spent a decade basically living with 18 bass over 13 pounds at bps. the gvine record got real close to world record size and was well trained. saw a few cruisers and spawners on the cali delta well over 20 pounds

My PB was the biggest @ 12.4lbs , she was so fat , she didn't really put up much of a fight . My second is a cool story . I catch a 11.3lbs on a spinnerbait , absolute beast of a fighter . I am by myself , and knowing my son wouldn't believe me if I didn't get a pic , I move about 200yards down in this cove and there was a 16 year old and a 12 year old in a 12 foot john boat , anchored up , I get close enough to ask them if they could take a pic of a really big bass ---of course they say yes . I pull this bass out and both these boys freak out -- the younger one is beside himself with joy . After the pics , I ask the younger one if he would release it --- I give him the bass -- and he is shaking , I calm him down and tell him how to make sure she is OK , then he lets her swim away . It was just about dark and as I head off , I hear these two boys talking about how big she was . I take my boat out of the water , and the boys are right after me . The 12 year old is sitting in truck next to my truck and thanks me again for letting him handle the bass , I say OK , walk over and hand him the spinnerbait I used to catch her and tell him it brought me good luck and I hope he can do the same . I am pretty sure they will never forget that bass .

I remember Jerry & your father. Very nice men.

As we waited on the GW to arrive, I was congratulating Jerry on his catch and telling him that his fish might very well be THE ONE. He asked me what I meant and I told him I thought he had just broken the State Record. He looked at me in shock & disbelief. I don't think he had any idea how truly big his fish was before we weighed it.

In one of those we'll never know stories, my brother & I were fishing Toledo Bend with guide Bill Fox. Fox had been fishing T-Bend since it had opened. He had a 36+ lb Striper on the wall at Fox's Lodge that he had caught so every trip, at some point we would stop bass fishing & go "strolling" for Stripers with big white bucktail jigs with pearl grub trailers, about a 7" bait. We were fishing a creek in about 26 FOW with Fox watching his paper graph. He said get ready & sure enough he & I doubled up - his weighed 18+ & mine was a little over 16. I was just about to put mine back in the water when my brother hooked up. He said OMG at the run. As the line V'd to the surface, Fox said that's no Striper. Sure enough the biggest bass all of us had ever seen broke the surface. She couldn't get half of herself out of the water. She made another run & the 20# Big Game gave up the ghost.

Fox just sat there in disbelief. My brother was shaking like he'd seen a ghost. Now we had just had the 2 big Stripers in the boat so there was a mental reference point as to size & the half of that big girl we did see dwarfed those Stripers. Unfortunately we will never know.

But something good did come out of it. My first DD came on the same jig/grub combo on Fork in 92.

In 96, I was alone spending spring break at Rayburn. I was launching at Caney every day and running up into boggy and Mudd creeks catching some nice fish just about everyday. I believe it was a Wednesday when I ran across a fish in Boggy nestled in between a lone stump and small patch of grass in about 3 foot of water and she was a BEAST. I had caught one over 10 in February (My first 10 lb'er ever!) and I knew this fish had at least 2, maybe 3 lbs on the one I had caught previously. It was late in the day when I found her and the dimming light did not help in my quest to catch her that evening. She was not "locked in" and was roaming, but I could see her silhouette (sp?) against the white sand (bed) as she made her rounds.

A buddy of mine came up the next day and we started out fishing in Caney. I was struggling as to whether or not I should tell him about the fish or not because I was leaving the next day and he was going to be there until Sunday!! At about noon, after the sun got up good and high, I told him about the fish and we made our way up the lake. We checked on her and she was nowhere to be found. We stayed in the area and checked on the spot periodically during the day to see if we could get a glimpse of her, but no luck. We tried again the next morning and once again, no fish. I left that afternoon, but the fish stayed on my mind for the next couple of days.

And now, the REST of the story.

My buddy calls me on Sunday about 1 pm from the old gas station/tackle shop (pre cell phone days) at hwy 147 and Cassells turnoff and says "I got her" and my heart just sunk!! He hadn't even seen the fish I was speaking of!! He told me he finally saw her on Saturday evening and went back Sunday and caught her on a 1/2 oz stanley jig. He said she finally slowed down enough to look at a bait. He worked on her for about and hour and a half that morning when she finally hit. She was a gorgeous fish, 27 inches, with almost 28 girth. He honestly felt kind of bad about it, he's a good dude and I was glad for him (after about 5 years!!)

She was 12.94 on the scales at the gas station. His scale said a shade over 13.
So there, that is the biggest one I have "laid eyes on" and my estimation of her size was spot on.

I have caught one DD since then. My buddy has caught 4 more, one of them coming 3 years later about 30 yards from where he caught the one in the story! I think Karma and the fishing Gods owe me a couple more before I hang it up!!

I was at Pope's Marina on Lake Fork in June of 1996....it was midnight and a man in a nice Skeeter pulled up to the large concrete ramp, retrieved a camera from his truck, pulled a giant from his livewell, had his wife snap a couple pics and released the Whopper right at the ramp....I asked his wife how much it weighed....she replied, "just under 16"...the husband quickly added "15-14"....and I believed him. It was a true giant.
His name is Carl.
True story.

back in the late 80's my wife and I stopped by lake fork marina saw a 17+ in the tank, What I thought was beautiful she called ugly!

Lake Toho 2015 on vacation From Delaware. Cold front, 38 degrees in the morning. Fishing with a guide that has 30+ years experience on the lake so he knows a big fish. It was within the first 5 minutes of fishing ( shiner fishing) I see the bobber go down so I reel in slack and hammer the hookset. I could tell it was real heavy as it was turning the boat. I reeled as hard as possible trying to keep her from burrowing in the grass. At one point she surfaced about 10-15' from the boat and was all curled up showing the insane butterball gut and my eyes about fell out and the guide said thats a possible teener. Within seconds she got her second wind and changed direction towards an isolated grass pile and it went from full on tug of war to nothing but a hook flying back at me. I didn't know whether to cuss or whine first. All this happened first thing in the morning. I did catch some big bass that morning including one over 10 but that possible teener did me in. The guide texted me a pic of a 13.5 a client caught 1 or 2 days later within the same area I lost the big girl.

Biggest bass I had eyes on, would guestimate around 14 to 15 pounds. I was fishing a treeline next to a creek channel, and in the top 1/3 of the tree (about 4 ft down in 10ft of water) was this bass just sitting there. I was stunned and almost shaking. I flipped on her several times and she just moved to the side and let the bait fall right past her. I finally irritated her enough that she swam out into the creek channel and disappeared. It looked like she could have been spawning in the tree, but never was able to tell. Needless to say I went back to the tree 97 times over the next week or two and never saw her again.

Biggest two fish I have had on was around 11-12lb range. Caught her on Fork on a swim bait in about 20 ft of water. Got her to the surface, was reaching down to grab and she flopped and spit the swimbait. Got a tremendous look at her and was the biggest fish I had on to that date. I had another on Ray Roberts that was a littler bigger, caught on a fluke and while I was trying to get the net I tried to horse her a little bit and snapola.

Both misses were sickening, but the reason I keep fishing.

My biggest is 10.4 but last year I took my dad with me when practicing for a tournament before off limits. He made a cast in early march in 7-8 foot of water with a senko and got a backlach. Once he got the back lash out he noticed his line swimming to the right and set the hook. The fish came up and I thought oh my gosh this thing is well over 10#. There was a BFL going on at the same time and a fisherman in the BFL saw the fish and trolled over by us and watched. It jumped or tried to a couple more times and I realized this fish was over what I thought it was at least 12 lbs. he got it close to the boat and I got the net out and was fixing to net it when the hook came flying over the boat and it swam away. The pro from the BFL said he thought it was close to 14 lb.'s. I said at least 12 and my dad's biggest bass at that time was 7 lb.'s but I will never forget that fish it was an absolute giant and for a guy in a BFL and his CO to quit fishing and come watch I wish I would have had my GO Pro on that day. I will always have that memory that was more exciting for me than my dad.

27 x 28? The state record is like 25 x 24.25

I caught a 13.6 on Feb 28,2010 and on the same lake 3 weeks later saw one on a bed that was much bigger (prob 15-16 pounds), but we couldn't catch her. I tried for 2 days then had to go back to work

28'' girth is extremely butterballish.

Biggest one I've ever seen was on my hook, lost her at the boat. Kelly Jordan estimated the fish to be over 15 lbs.

28 3/4 inches. No scales only a tape measure. Purtis Creek. Pink Sluggo

Great pic!

Young man caught it using zebco 33. Hot as Hades August day

2010 booked a trip with Charlie Harlason on Falcon, mid January fish were still pre spawn. We were having a good day. I had three fish over 7 and one over 8. I was using the heaviest gear I had, a T-38X All-Star flippin rod with 25 lbs test p-line fluro and a 5 ought gama hook, so even though we were catching some good fish, I was able to get them out of the trees and to the boat relatively easily. It was starting to get dark so Charlie suggested we hit one last spot on the way back in. We pull up on an isolated tree in 18'. Right off the bat I catch another 7 and Charlie catches one too. I throw back to the same spot and one grabs it on the way down. I set the hook and my rod instantly doubled over so much I thought it was gonna break in half. I had the drag on my Curado all the way down and was trying to turn this fish to keep it out of the tree. I might as well have hooked a Volkswagen. I could not turn this fish, she started stripping drag so I thumbed the spool. In about 10 seconds it was all over. The line went slack, I thought I had broke her off. Nope, the fish mangled the hook. In 40 years, I've never seen this happen. The shank of the hook was bent at a 90 degree angle, but the bend and barb were not bent at all. Charlie said he had never seen it either, then he patted me on the shoulder and said "that was your share-a-lunker dude". I wish we never made that last stop.

My son’s ShareLunker #525. 13.35 lbs. in December a few years ago on Falcon.

12+ at Sandlin. Still know the spot off the top of my head. She was so big she when she slapped the side of the boat the bow moved. Sounded like a 22 rifle going off in my ear when the line snapped. That fish spun me out for a while before I got over it.

I've handled a ton of big fish over the years working at the marina. Biggest was an 18.69 we had in our tank that came out of Fork as a 16.12 March 22, 2002. She gained a bunch of weight in the sharelunker program, we had her in our aquarium at the marina for a year or so. The angler wanted the fish moved from our tank to a guy in California unbelievable 20.51. Fish died in transport. RIP

The biggest I have seen had to be a mid teen fish. Guessing 14-16 pounds. I was 14 or 15 yrs old at the time. I saw her cruising a narrow creek feeding into the St. Johns river for several days in late January. I threw everything I had at this fish over that time period without any luck. She just ignored everything I threw at her. I decided to leave my boat at home (12 ft jon boat powered by a 30 lb trolling motor) and walk down to the creek and fish off the road. I fished for about an hour before I finally saw her appear. She was under the road I was fishing off of. A snake about 3 ft long made the mistake and slithered into the water. She darted out from under the road and grabbed the snake and shook it like a pit bull and then let go of it to grab it by its head and swallow it. It was an awesome to watch. I have a 10.72 I caught out of Gilmer and this fish was bigger. Believe it or not as big as this fish was I still have no desire to fish with snakes!

Buddy had one on the road bed on the point at the front of Mustang Resort that was huge. It's started stripping drag. He thought someone had screwed with his drag and was adjusting it when the fish came up and threw the red rattletrap probably 20ft. We just stood there with our jaws dropped. Then we gave him [censored] the rest of the day. Fish looked like it could have been 15#. Would have liked to see it n the scales.

I remember that fish, guy was so stupid

should have called me.

I was just a young lad when this family photo was taken. I remember we then had a delicious supper!

Ha! Good try!

My biggest viewed was on Alan Henry several years ago. I've had several over 12 and many over 11 from that lake. This fish dwarfed those, I'm guessing over 15lbs. Moved like a submarine, errily efficient.

SAL #20 that went 13.61 and was in the Top 50........... For about 10 months😄. 30 years ago this April from Fork. My name is still in the records if they go back that far!

my pb is the biggest I have ever seen/handled.

As for the girth of the fish, I myself have questioned that measurement as well over the years and concluded that 28 is prolly a "bit" of a stretch and an obvious mis-measure (but you cant tell him that) The fish was long and looked maybe like she was an older fish so I don't doubt the length. I have given him a hard time about it over the years telling him it should have weighed 18-20 LBS.

First trip ever to Fork, Feb. of 1990, we didn't have a map of any kind or any idea where we were going to fish, we just knew we wanted in on some of that lol. Two of us left Tulsa at 2am, planning on being on the water at daylight. It was a monsoon when we got there, lightning strikes about every 10 seconds, so we pull into the minnow bucket waiting for it to possibly let up. We are sitting there mumbling and grumbling about the crappy weather, and a guy walks in with a grin a mile wide, carrying a freak. We didn't even wait for him to weigh it, I wish we had now and got his name but we went outside in the middle of all that lightning and unloaded the boat, went under the bridge and the first point we came to my partner caught a 11-4, and I caught a 10-9 about 30 minutes later. But the fish the guy brought in the Minnow Bucket dwarfed both of our fish, the biggest by far I've ever seen in person. It would be really cool to figure out who he was, and hear his story after all these years.

One on Alan Henry back in early nineties like usmc said that looked like a sub with a 5-6 # male trying to put her on a bed, would guess 14 plus. Rained over night and muddied water and moved off. Other one on PK after Scott Tongate caught the 16 plus in October,buddy and I spotted two big sows cruising back and forth next to a bed with buck on bed. the big fish looked to be 23-34" and very thick and deep. They started getting close to bed and we started flipping to them to agitate them, small one flared at my bait and buddy jerked his bait in front of her and she grabbed it and took off stripping drag and jumped and we think a least 9 # and came off and returned to bed area..Both sows would swim 3' under water right at boat and the big one was at least 6" longer and much thicker. Got dark and had to leave them and had to work next day. I have caught several 10's and buddy has 1- 13# and 3- 12# fish and to this day we still think that big fish was at least 16 and have looked at Scott's 16# before. Then we got the dreaded golden Alga bloom and just now getting better.

Watched ethal smoke a shad on top at BPS in Springfield in June 88 probably close to 20lbs!

They call me "Netman"........

Biggest I have seen or held was my PB 12.44 Lake Aquilla March 19, 1997 .
My Buddy had hooked this fish 3 times in week before and could not get her out of the timber.
when I hooked her she swam out away from the trees for some reason , but im sure glad she did.

Ethel.
She was about 18 lbs. when I saw her.

Mine is nothing compared to these stories you guys are posting. I have been coming down to Fork from MN on a family guys trip for the last 4 years now. The years previous to 2017 I had never seen anything bigger than my 6lb 12oz PB from MN. Last year I saw an absolute giant in the back of Dale Creek. I don't have the experience at all with fish of this caliber to properly estimate the size of this fish in the water, but this was hands down the biggest bass I had ever seen. I think I can safely say this fish was 10+. It was simply so much bigger than anything I had ever seen in my life. Needless to say I will be coming back to Fork or an other TX lake every spring for the rest of my life. I can't even imagine what it is like to catch one of these giants. Just seeing this beast had me shaking like crazy. It was like seeing that monster buck on opening morning.

We saw that fish in the afternoon of the last day and we came back to the area 2 or 3 times, but only saw her the one time.

Hopefully this is the year I break my PB with a straight up Texas Stud!

according to the guide she was around 17 lb

Biggest was one I caught in an acre stock pond. Even though it probably didn't weigh over 10 lbs it was 28".

Saw one on a bed on fork in 03 that was considerably bigger than the 2 10s we caught that day. I'd guess high teens. Lost one on Fork 6 or 8 years ago that I think was mid teens. Watched her eat the jig, watched her jump 3 times trying to throw it after the LFT fluorohybrid snapped.

Could have been Jim Taylor. He caught a 15.88 at Fork on 2/17/1990.

Crazy reading some of these stories!

Watched a guy in the boat near us haul in a 12.9 on Choke Canyon in 2012; I know the weight as he didn't have a scale and we did.
...always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

So, you didn't land it? When AH was peaking, we would go out there usually a week at a time. We would pull up to a giant cedar and look into the crystal clear and see some unbelievable sized giants. There was no way you could get to them, though. Some of the funnest bed fishing I've done was on AH. Many a day we would catch 10-15 fish a day that would bust 7lb mark. Biggest was 10.2 during AH heyday. The good ole' days have since went long gone....

I fished with a guy (cant remember his name off the top of my head) who guided during the spawn. I am not great at determining size of fish but he found one on a bed and we worked her for 8 hours. He is the guy that caught tree DD's in 45 minutes on one bank and he said he felt like she was between 13 and 15 easily. Never seen a bed fish act like she did. She nosed up on it for two hours and I finally got her to eat it. She inhaled the whole lure in her mouth, very calmly turned around and start swimming away from us. I reeled down and set the hook and somehow it came right out. Immediately threw back in and she would nose right up to it but never did bite again. She did that for 6 more hours.

Fish on ive, 3 of us in the boat. One guy with 8 fish over ten, and his dad who has idk how many over 10 but had a 12 for pb.

Fish bit my buddies bait on a long cast fought it about half way in. Jumped ans his dad and both looked at each other wide eyed and slacked jawed... ive never seen a teener other than in an aquarium, but both those guys said that fish DWARFED the 12lber... fish jumped again and worm and weight SHOT out, it was like she threw it at us... all 3 of us just sat down in shock... biggest single fish ive seen.


Now i was in the crowd when Kombs set the single day record for FLW. In total i think we saw 11 or 12 fish over 10 weighed in that day

Was it TTUFisherman, Curtis Norrod?

Had an 11 to 12 lb fish on Athens a few weeks ago at the boat and she spit my bait at me. I saw nothing but bug eyes and a bucket mouth. She couldn't even get her head out of the water. I am still cringing over that fat Nancy!

14.5 shocked it out of a private pond East of Lake O' the Pines. It was nuts and of course my co-worker released it after he got about 5 pictures with it and I never got my picture with it.

Yes it was! Thanks for jogging my memory.

A good friend of mine is a Game Warden and before becoming a warden he worked for parks and wildlife. He sent me pics all the time of giant fish they shocked up. It would blow your mind the number of 10+ fish swimming in our lakes, even ones you wouldn't think had fish that size.

15.18 Roberts record. Happen to be on the water and texted Dannie something he sent a pic back of the livewell saying he thinks he has the lake record and heading to the Marina. Ran up there and saw the beast!! also netted one barely under 13 with Dannie at Falcon. She jumped over the the net the first time but luckily didn’t hit the line. That's the two biggest I've seen with my own eyes

I weighed a 15.38 for Donny Allison {second biggest on PK even now}on PK back in the 80'smade my 11.44 look small

seen 2 fish on a bed on PK hook the small one which was at least 9#s the other one dwarfed it but never got her to bite

I caught a 13#10oz out of Bryson but lost a bigger fish with my hand 6 inches form lipping her when she broke me off !!! I bet the heard me scream all the way to town

Geeeezzzz look at the HEAD on that [censored]!!!

The fish has a big head too!

Seen some 14s that were caught on Austin. Anglers were waiting for TPW to show up to the 360 launch.

But the biggest I've seen was the one on Travis that tried to take my buddy's 12" white right before he lifted to the boat. Eyes as big as quarters. Guessing 15-16#.

Was at Fork in 2016 was staying at Axtons , we put in at axtons go fish north end for lil bit relize we forgot drinks and lunch in the truck, we head back to axtons boat ramp my buddy hops out to run to the truck, i figured i throw around while he was up there. 1st cast up by the pads with a frog, I let sit for a min then just twitched it and looked like a toilet flush just sucked it under, Set the hook and reel wont turn just hear gears grinding, only get to pick up anyline when shes coming at me, she starts going under the boat and surfaced on the other side and came unbuttoned, Id say at least 12 post spawn

This gal was 14.8 and caught the first of January by me. She was skinny (look how my hand sunk into her belly) but was 29 7/8" long with a 31" girth (if I remember correctly). I wish she was in better shape or had eggs in her because the biologist said she would have been in the 18 lb range.

I lost a couple of 18 lb fish at the boat and one that was close to 20 as guessed by the biologist that was fishing with me. This was on Vail Lake in California back in 95 through 99 and I only wish I had better line and equipment to get some of the pigs I stuck into then. I had close to 50 double digit bass that came from Casitas, Castiac, Hodges, Perris and Dixon from California. I have seen 20 lb plus bass swimming in Dixon in the spring that would make you almost fall out of your boat.

up close and personal, Cameron had a giant in the LFM tank a few years ago,
that I think he caught that was 14#+. In that tank it looked like Bass-Zilla.

31'' girth. I wouldn't call that skinny.

I hear ya! I haven't posted on this thread yet because most people would not believe what I have seen in the waters of Cali. The land of the Giants for sure.

The biggest I saw in Texas was either the one swimming leisurely in Mustang on Fork, or the one that jumped and broke my line and my heart on Falcon. Both looked in the 13 lb range.

I almost forgot, saw a couple with their backs near the surface at the Bell...those were probably mid teen fish.

Great fish by the way.

I caught a 15.0 from Cam Bell that was 27 long by 23 girth that was an absolute beast. Maybe yours was 21" girth. My waist is 32" if that puts it into perspective.

Yeah, I looked at the info on the back of the photo in my album and it was a 21 1/2" girth. Looking for the photo with the fish with the 31" girth. It was in the 13 lb range but was stuffed with Lake Perris stocker trout. Man, I miss those days when they would stock the trout and you would sit in the cove throwing Castaic Trout baits for the big girls. I was always surprised when you would catch a 6 lb bass off them big baits but loved when a 10 plus would latch on.

I would give up Bass Fishing in Texas if that is what you were catching, it would be a killjoy to fish for Bass here after catching so many big fish there.

Bad execution and inexplicable mishaps have been the cause of a lot of heartbreak for me.

The first was at Amistad in October of 2006 or 2007. Fishing a ridge in the afternoon, a low-pressure system moved in and the shad started popping over one end of what I where I was. As I trolled over I could see stripers and pods of 2-5 pound bass pushing the shad up, and I began casting a bone Super Spook in front of them.
It was one of those moments where you are looking at the right place, at just the right time. 30 feet in front of me I saw a shad bust out of the water and get eaten by a 2 pounder and immediately a giant bass engulfed both of them. I started shaking and backlashed while trying to cast to the spot. Once I picked it out I threw in and instantly got such a strike that my spook launched several feet up in the air and came back with a bent line tie and hook hanger.
I saw several other huge fish over the next few minutes and caught fish almost every cast. Never hooked up with one of those bigs though. I have seen 17's and 18's up close and in person, and I would match that with the average size of the 8-12 bass I looked at that day.

I've had over close calls, but have been fortunate and blessed to have boated most of my big fish hookups. Had a day at Fayette years ago in the summer when my partner and i found a mega school. We caught 19 over 7 pounds inlcuding a 10.4 and an 11.2. We did break off and lose several that were bigger, but in the heat of the moment it didn't hurt too bad.

Yep, that is why I Crappie fish now. Vail Lake had some big crappie too.




I did fish Texas lakes quite a bit and caught a few double digit bass including a 13.91 but didn't know about the SAL program so I took a few pictures and let her go.

Here are 4 bass from Vail Lake that were all over 10lbs that were caught on the same day. The lake biologist wanted to go out with me to learn how I was catching all the big bass. That was the day I lost the one that was close to 20.



I just wish we had camera phones/Go-Pro's back then so I had more pics of all the DD bass I caught.

In college at Lake Talquin in February in Florida. Arm stretch this and that... two biggest fish I've ever seen. I did not catch the biggest one, but wasn't turning down a photo op. With our scale, weighed the biggest at 13.06 and the other one just shy of 10.

That lake has some chunks caught out of there lately.