The Oklahoma fifth grader caught the trophy bass whereas fishing along with his dad on a sprawling reservoir in Central Texas
Stetson Davis holds up the 13.31-pound largemouth bass he caught on March 6. {Photograph} by Brodey Davis
Following carefully in his father’s footsteps, 11-year-old Stetson Davis is already getting acknowledged for boating lunker bass. On March 6, the younger angler from Oklahoma went fishing along with his dad on J.B. Thomas Reservoir in Texas, the place he caught a 13-pound largemouth that broke the junior lake record and was only a half-pound shy of the all-time lake report. The 2 submitted the trophy bass to the state’s ShareLunker program, making Stetson one of many youngest anglers to ever accomplish that.
“It was about 9 a.m. once we noticed an enormous bass suspended in 15 ft of water with our Garmin LiveScope sonar,” Stetson’s dad, Brodey Davis, tells Out of doors Life. “We might see the fish on the Garmin, and Stetson solid to it a number of occasions, nevertheless it wouldn’t hit.”
Learn Subsequent: Garmin ECHOMAP Ultra 126sv and LiveScope, Tested and Reviewed
Utilizing a baitcaster and 20-pound check fluorocarbon line, Stetson made about 20 casts to the fish earlier than he acquired a response. Brodey says that with the darkish colour of the lake, he knew his son must put his lure proper on the fish’s nostril. Stetson lastly acquired the precise solid and retrieved his swimbait, a 6th Sense Whale, inside inches of the suspended bass.
“I watched the sonar display as I retrieved the lure inside a number of inches of the bass, and I noticed the fish take the bait,” Stetson says. “It didn’t strike arduous. It simply sort of gulped it down, then I set the hook arduous.”
The water boiled because the fish jumped twice and shook its head.
“I assumed the bass may throw the lure throughout these wild jumps,” Brodey says. “However there was no weight within the lure apart from the 6/0 hook. So Stetson had the bass on the boat in lower than a minute. I netted it when it got here up beside the boat a 3rd time.”
Stetson says his dad did job netting his 13-pounder. He would know, too, since he’s already netted a few trophy fish for the outdated man.
“I’m a greater internet man than my dad,” says Stetson, who performs outfield on his Little League crew. “I netted Dad’s 17-pounder that he caught on lake O.H. Ivie two years in the past. And that fish remains to be the lake report bass.”
“That fish” weighed 17.06 kilos to be exact. Along with being the seventh greatest largemouth bass ever recorded in Texas, it’s nonetheless an all-tackle record for the water physique, based on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Division — which is a severe accomplishment given the placement. O.H. Ivie has been kicking out some huge fish recently and final yr, Bassmaster named it the best bass lake in America.
Learn Subsequent: The Best Bass Rods, Tested and Reviewed
Brodey additionally submitted that 17-pounder to TPWD’s ShareLunker program, which has been wildly profitable since its inception within the late Eighties. The trophy fish program acknowledges anglers who catch bass weighing greater than 8 kilos. In the course of the spawning interval between January and March, TPWD additionally collects 13-plus-pound bass from keen anglers and awards them “Legacy” standing. These bass are then spawned in captivity so their offspring may be launched into different Texas lakes.
Along with his catch on March 6, Stetson grew to become the 11th angler to be awarded “Legacy” standing thus far this yr. His fish was the 661st to be accepted into this system thus far, based on TPWD. State officers are checking their information to find out if Stetson is the youngest angler in state historical past to be acknowledged for catching a 13-plus-pound bass. There’s additionally an opportunity that he and Brodey are the primary father-son duo to contribute trophy fish to TPWD’s Legacy ShareLunker program.
Learn Subsequent: The Best Bass Lures
Since Brodey had referred to as in a lunker earlier than, he knew simply what to do after they netted Stetson’s 13-pounder. He says a state fisheries official met them on the boat ramp very quickly, the place they recorded an official weight of 13.31 kilos after which loaded the bass right into a stay tank on a trailer. Brodey says they’re having a reproduction mount manufactured from Stetson’s 13-pound bass, which they’ll show proper beside his 17-pounder on the wall.
