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Was it Canyon Lake’s Record Largemouth Bass?
On Tuesday, August 13, 2013, John and Brenda Josey (from Angleton, TX) fished on Canyon Lake (Texas) with professional guide and educator Barry Dodd of Teach ‘Em to Fish Guide Service. Brenda caught what could have been a new lake record largemouth bass. We will never know because we were more concerned about releasing the bass alive than the record.
Fishing in general is pretty tough during the hot days of summer, but for those that persist, some big bass can be caught. The current Canyon Lake record largemouth bass is 26” long and weighed 11.69 pounds. It was caught in July 10, 2001. Brenda’s bass was 26 3/4” long but was not weighed.
Brenda caught the bass in 28’ of water near the middle section of the lake along a drop off with cover. The fish was caught on a St. Croix Legend Tournament spinning rod equipped with a Okuma Helios reel. The reel was spooled with Izorline 12 pound white spectra braid. Attached directly to the braid, with a special knot developed by Dodd, was a 10 pound Izorline fluorocarbon leader. Attached to the leader was an Owner 1/0 camo weedless wacky hook.
The bass came from the upper part of the water column (suspended) and the surface water temperature was 87.6 degrees. That day the water temperature varied from 87.6 surface to 70.8 degrees at 45 feet. The thermocline was between 35’ and 40‘, where it drops from 82.3 to 75.3 degrees.
The bass hit Brenda’s bait at approximately 10:45 AM and quickly headed deep. She managed to fight it to the surface and the fish made one large leap. The fish then dove deep stripping lots of line but Brenda held on tight. She worked the bass back to the boat. When it saw the boat it headed off again, this time getting tangled around the trolling motor shaft. While I franticly pulled the motor up to unwrap the line, the fight continued. Once more Brenda got the big hog to the boat but the bass avoided the first net attempt and sounded once more. Finally, exhausted and stressed from the battle, the big bass rolled over into the net. It’s times like these that prove high quality fishing products are worth the price.
We took the bass to Canyon Lake Marina to see if they had certified scales, but they do not have any scales. My measuring board was not long enough so we borrowed a tape measure from the marina and measured the fish so Brenda could have a replica made. After measuring and photos taken, I worked the bass back and forth in the water. Once the bass was revived, I let it go and took one final photo as it swam away into Canyon Lake’s clear water. Maybe someday it will bend another angler’s rod.
The weather is hot this time of year and being in the heat for hours is not real comfortable, but one never knows when the big ones will bite. Why not schedule your bass fishing trip? I offer trips on local lakes and rivers either by boat or kayak. This is a great time of year to fish one of the rivers by kayak. There is plenty of shade on the rivers and you can even get in and get wet!
Teach ‘Em to Fish Guide Service
Barry Dodd
210-771-0123
teachemtofish.net
Aug 16, 2013 at 6:50 PM