A 15-year-old angler on Sunday landed the heaviest largemouth bass ever caught at Lake Travis in central Texas.
Trace Jansen’s catch of a 15.32-pound bass breaks a lake record that had stood since 1993. But Jansen also joins a small group of Texas anglers who have caught bass weighing 13 pounds or more this year.
These spawning-size “Legacy Class” bass have been donated live to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for its long-running Toyota ShareLunker selective-breeding program.
The program, designed to enhance state fisheries, began in 1986. The program record – also the current state record – is an 18.18-pound largemouth bass caught at Lake Fork in 1992.
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Jansen’s catch is the 12th Legacy Class largemouth bass to have been landed in 2021. The heaviest was a 16.40-pound bass caught Feb. 19 at O.H. Ivie Lake.
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That fish, landed by Joe McKay of Bussey, Iowa, is an O.H. Ivie Lake record and the largest bass caught in Texas in 22 years, according to the Runnels County Register.
Jansen told For The Win Outdoors that he was casting a Wacky Worm at about 3 p.m. when the giant Lake Travis bass dashed from its spawning bed and struck the lure.
“She was tired from spawning but she fought good for about 10 seconds, then I got her to the boat,” Jansen said.
Late February and March comprise the spawning season at most Texas fisheries and is the period when the heaviest female bass are typically caught.
The ShareLunker season, which also features lower divisions in which anglers receive recognition for catch-and-release efforts, runs through March 31.
–Image courtesy of Trace Jansen