Texas Kid Catches Record Breaking Bass

Bois d’Arc Lake is Texas’ latest reservoir. The 19,000-acre lake has solely been open to fishing since April 2024. But it surely’s already nicely on its technique to turning into one of many Lone Star State’s prime waters for heavyweight largemouth bass. In late July, a younger angler on a guided journey caught a 10-pounder that ought to set the bar as the brand new junior lake report.

Nicely-known Texas bass information Jason Conn says he and his occasion of three received began that day, July 31, round 7 a.m.   

“Mike Burpo and his two grandsons, Caden, 11, and Blake, 8, had been fishing with me,” Conn tells Outside Life. “We received into some good bass fairly fast that morning. The lake is loaded with 4- to 6-pounders, and the boys had been having a good time catching fish.”

However round midday the solar was excessive, and it was sizzling. With no wind, Conn may see the kids getting a bit of stressed.

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“We had been working a flooded tree line space, and there was a lull within the fishing, so I urged we transfer 50 yards away from the timber and take a swim,” says Conn, 45, whose been a full-time fishing information for over a decade. “The youngsters cherished that concept, so I moved the boat a brief distance and all of us jumped into the lake for a dip.”

After they cooled down and received again within the boat, they instantly began fishing alongside a dropoff close to the flooded tree line in about 12 ft of water. Caden, who lives in Lannius, was utilizing a spinning setup spooled with 30-pound braid and a 17-pound fluorocarbon chief.

“Straight away Caden hooked a bass on a 6-inch watermelon-red worm fished off a ¼-ounce Shaky Head jig,” mentioned Conn. “Fortunately the hooked bass moved away from the bushes and got here towards our boat. Caden performed the fish nicely, and I netted it whereas his brother and grandpa had been hooting and laughing and celebrating.”

Burpo videoed Caden bringing the bass to Conn’s ready web, and he’s as pleased as any grandfather ought to be. In the video, he says the bass is over 9 kilos, and certain a 10-pounder.

Conn had an authorized scale on his boat. (The lake has a dimension restrict, ahd he all the time carries the dimensions to doc his shopper’s fish.) Placing Caden’s fish on the dimensions, it weighed 10.06 kilos, massive sufficient to set a junior waterbody report. After taking some photos, they launched the fish again into the lake.

Whereas Caden’s report hasn’t been made official but by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Conn says they submitted all of the required paperwork, and that he expects it to be accepted. Conn already holds the present all-ages waterbody record for largemouth bass in Bois d’Arc.

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He says the brand new lake reminds him of famed Lake Fork Reservoir close to Dallas due to the abundance of flooded timber. It additionally has a bumper crop of Florida-strain lunkers that TPWD launched when the reservoir was being flooded.

“The lake is jammed with baitfish, too, and the bass gorge on all of it,” says Conn, who additionally lays declare to the state’s 8^th largest bass, a 17.03-pounder from O.H. Ivie. “The Bois d’Arc report is 10.63 kilos, and the fish are topping out now at about 11 kilos. However I’m certain some monster fish are going to be coming from Bois d’Arc over the subsequent few years.”