Bass Fishing
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Lance Walker and his 14.58-pound YUMbrella largemouth bass.
Two Giant YUMbrella Bass In Three Days
02/13/2012
In a span of just a couple of days Pickwick Lake, known more for trophy smallmouth fishing than its largemouth, gave up not one but two double-digit bass. One weighed 14.5 pounds! Both were caught on the same lure, a YUMbrella rigged with YUM Money Minnows.
The 14.5 would have been the new Tenn. State Record if the angler, Lance Walker, would have been willing to endanger the bass by holding it for blood samples. When it became apparent that this could spell the end to a truly impressive creature, Walker took it back out and released it.
Here’s Walker’s story, as well as some info from north Alabama guide and tournament angler Jimmy Mason, who landed one weighing more than 11 pounds while fishing with Walker a few days later.
Walker, owner of Browning Eyewear, needed to get out of the office so he called a friend from church and the two headed to Pickwick for some crappie fishing. The crappie didn’t cooperate and the water was rising, so they abandoned the slabs in favor of a little bass fishing with YUMbrellas.
“The lake was just ugly,” Walker said. “It was rising fast and just didn’t seem right, but we thought if we fished some shallower bars right off the river we might get a bite or two.”
The first bite was a bar fish, so the pair joked that at least they wouldn’t get skunked. Within five casts Walker set the hook on a fish that made a run like a drum or catfish, with wide turns, and he knew it wasn’t a bass. When his line rose toward the top he lowered himself to his knees anyway, holding on to the faint hope that it really was a bass.
“I saw the roll about 25 yards from the boat and I thought I caught a glimpse of lateral line,” he said. “After four or five runs with me thumbing the reel to keep her from pulling off, I finally got the look and realized what she was, so I got nervous, of course. One or two more runs and I finally got her to the side of the boat and my friend, Ray Rittenhour, lipped her with both hands.”
Walker caught a 13.3-pound Pickwick bass three years ago and he knew immediately that this was a bigger fish. He put her in the livewell and gave himself “10 or so minutes to freak out.” The guys took some photos and made an attempt to get an accurate weight on the fish, but couldn’t get a consistent reading (“probably because I was shaking so bad,” he said).
Upon arrival at Pickwick State Park, Walker finally made a connection with a fisheries biologist who explained the process for certifying a state record: must be weighed on certified scales, with 2 witnesses, dorsal fin clip, valve of blood, etc. Walker weighed the odds of the fish living through the wait and tests and determined that he would take it back out and release it without entering it as an official record. He did find some accurate scales and took the 14.58 weight, and asked the TWRA agent to measure her for length and girth. The fish was 27 1/8-inches in length with a 24-inch girth.
Walker plugged the dimensions into various “weight calculators” and got a variety of suggested weights, from 14.5 to 15.7 pounds.
“I guess we’ll never know if I let the Tenn. State Record bass go or not, but I can tell you that she lives in Pickwick,” Walker said. “In my heart I honestly feel it was the state record and for that I am humbled and thankful that God gave me the chance to share the fish with good friends and family and let her swim again.”
Walker was throwing the YUMbrella on 65-pound braid and using a 5-inch Foxy Shad Money Minnow on the center arm and four 3.5-inch Money Minnows (Herring color) on the surrounding arms.
“I’ve fished a bunch of rigs from the original to handmade to custom rigs, and I think the YUMbrella is better, hands-down,” he said. “The wires are spread better and spring out. The components, snaps, swivels and such seem to last much better than others.”
Walker is good friend with Alabama pro Jimmy Mason. The two were fishing three days after Walker caught his giant, and it wasn’t long before another monster bass came to the boat, this time on the end of Mason’s line. His bass weighed more than 11 pounds.
The 14.5 would have been the new Tenn. State Record if the angler, Lance Walker, would have been willing to endanger the bass by holding it for blood samples. When it became apparent that this could spell the end to a truly impressive creature, Walker took it back out and released it.
Here’s Walker’s story, as well as some info from north Alabama guide and tournament angler Jimmy Mason, who landed one weighing more than 11 pounds while fishing with Walker a few days later.
Walker, owner of Browning Eyewear, needed to get out of the office so he called a friend from church and the two headed to Pickwick for some crappie fishing. The crappie didn’t cooperate and the water was rising, so they abandoned the slabs in favor of a little bass fishing with YUMbrellas.
“The lake was just ugly,” Walker said. “It was rising fast and just didn’t seem right, but we thought if we fished some shallower bars right off the river we might get a bite or two.”
The first bite was a bar fish, so the pair joked that at least they wouldn’t get skunked. Within five casts Walker set the hook on a fish that made a run like a drum or catfish, with wide turns, and he knew it wasn’t a bass. When his line rose toward the top he lowered himself to his knees anyway, holding on to the faint hope that it really was a bass.
“I saw the roll about 25 yards from the boat and I thought I caught a glimpse of lateral line,” he said. “After four or five runs with me thumbing the reel to keep her from pulling off, I finally got the look and realized what she was, so I got nervous, of course. One or two more runs and I finally got her to the side of the boat and my friend, Ray Rittenhour, lipped her with both hands.”
Walker caught a 13.3-pound Pickwick bass three years ago and he knew immediately that this was a bigger fish. He put her in the livewell and gave himself “10 or so minutes to freak out.” The guys took some photos and made an attempt to get an accurate weight on the fish, but couldn’t get a consistent reading (“probably because I was shaking so bad,” he said).
Upon arrival at Pickwick State Park, Walker finally made a connection with a fisheries biologist who explained the process for certifying a state record: must be weighed on certified scales, with 2 witnesses, dorsal fin clip, valve of blood, etc. Walker weighed the odds of the fish living through the wait and tests and determined that he would take it back out and release it without entering it as an official record. He did find some accurate scales and took the 14.58 weight, and asked the TWRA agent to measure her for length and girth. The fish was 27 1/8-inches in length with a 24-inch girth.
Walker plugged the dimensions into various “weight calculators” and got a variety of suggested weights, from 14.5 to 15.7 pounds.
“I guess we’ll never know if I let the Tenn. State Record bass go or not, but I can tell you that she lives in Pickwick,” Walker said. “In my heart I honestly feel it was the state record and for that I am humbled and thankful that God gave me the chance to share the fish with good friends and family and let her swim again.”
Walker was throwing the YUMbrella on 65-pound braid and using a 5-inch Foxy Shad Money Minnow on the center arm and four 3.5-inch Money Minnows (Herring color) on the surrounding arms.
“I’ve fished a bunch of rigs from the original to handmade to custom rigs, and I think the YUMbrella is better, hands-down,” he said. “The wires are spread better and spring out. The components, snaps, swivels and such seem to last much better than others.”
Walker is good friend with Alabama pro Jimmy Mason. The two were fishing three days after Walker caught his giant, and it wasn’t long before another monster bass came to the boat, this time on the end of Mason’s line. His bass weighed more than 11 pounds.
