11.79-pound Largemouth Bass
Photo: Toledo Bend Lunker Bass Program
11-year-old Hinton Carroll hauled in this massive 11.79-pound largemouth bass while fishing at Toledo Bend in late January.
Hinton was using a Yum Flash Mob Junior Alabama Rig around some hydrilla when he caught the giant.
According to LouisianaSportsman.com, when asked about the fish, he replied, “I want to catch 12 (pounder).”
FIVE fish for 31-pounds, 7 ounces for Scott Martin
Photo by: Andy Crawford/BASS
Bassmaster Elite Series pro Scott Martin’s no weatherman, but his spot-on prediction described a scenario that enabled him to sack up a 31-pound, 7-ounce limit Saturday and lock up a record-setting wire-to-wire victory at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Okeechobee.
Martin amassed a three-day winning total of 90-6.
Taking the early lead with a Day 1 limit of 33-2 — the event’s largest — Martin added a second-round bag that went 25-13 and held on to the top spot. After the Day 2 weigh-in, the hometown favorite said he believed the week’s increasingly stable, warming trend could deliver the opportunity he needed to seal the deal.
Also, Martin’s Day 1 limit broke the record for the heaviest one-day catch in a Bassmaster Open — a mark previously set by Whitney Stephens’ 32-12 at the 2019 Open on the Harris Chain of Lakes.
Martin spent his week in the Harney Pond area on the lake’s west side. Fishing in 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 feet of water, he targeted the submerged remnants of cattail clumps.
“I was looking for these clumps on my Garmin Panoptix,” Martin said. “They were like brushpiles. I knew it was going to be a tough tournament, so I knew I had to fish as slow and methodically as I could.
While ChatterBaits produced some of his keepers the first two days, Martin caught all of his Championship Saturday fish on a Texas-rigged Googan Baits Bandito Bug and a straight-tail worm, along with a wacky-rigged Googan Baits Lunker Log stickworm.
“The key was keeping my bait clean,” Martin said. “There’s a lot of muck on the bottom, but I could feel when my bait came into a clean spot, so I would make repeated casts to that spot.”
Martin enhanced his plastics with Bait Pop, a scented paste with visibility-boosting glitter. Also, the additive gave his baits a more well-defined sonar signature, which helped him monitor the presentation and make any necessary adjustments.
Three GIANT Bass on the Same Day
It’s rare to catch a double-digit bass on any given day in an entire lifetime, but when three angler do it in the same day, you know one thing is certain - they are in Texas.
Ben Milliken with his Legacy bass Photo: TPWD
Ben Milliken, Alec Morrison, and Aaron Suess all caught bass over the 13-pound mark back on February 5th.
All three fish were considered part of the Texas ShareLunker Program and were “Legacy Class ShareLunkers” according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
All three were also caught in different parts of the state.
Alec Morrison caught a 13.82-pound largemouth bass caught on Sam Rayburn Reservoir.
Photo: TPWD
It was Milliken’s fifth ShareLunker fish in his lifetime. Milliken is considered one of the top bass anglers in the country, fishing as a Bassmaster Elite Pro. His bass weighed in at 13.5-pounds.
Morrison caught his lunker out of Sam Rayburn, and had the biggest of the three, weighing in at 13.89-pounds.
Aaron Suess caught a 13.87-pound largemouth bass from O.H. Ivie Lake. Photo: TPWD
Suess came in right behind Morrison. Suess’s fish weighed 13.87-pounds and was caught at O. H. Ivie.
It’s like they say, everything is bigger in Texas.
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