A Texas lake famous for producing giant bass has yielded two behemoths to kick off a new season for a program intended to benefit statewide fisheries.
Tyler Anderson and Wendell Ramsey Sr. reeled in largemouth bass weighing 14.48 and 14.92 pounds, respectively, while fishing this past week at O.H. Ivie Lake.
As “Legacy Class” bass, they were donated alive to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department as part of the agency’s annual Toyota ShareLunker program.
The Legacy designation applies only to bass weighing 13 pounds or more. These rare catches are delivered to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, where biologists “attempt to spawn them to make bigger, better bass to stock and enhance fishing in Texas lakes,” The TPWD explained in a recent news release.
O.H. Ivie Lake last year produced 12 of 23 Legacy bass caught by Texas anglers and used in the selective-breeding program.
The ShareLunker program, which runs from Jan. 1 through March, is in its 36th year. The bass caught by Anderson and Ramsey are cataloged as ShareLunker 609 and ShareLunker 610, respectively.
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Anderson caught the 14.48-pound bass Jan. 5 while casting an Alabama rig in 28 feet of water on his second day of fishing.
“I stumbled upon a school of what looked to be eight or nine fish,” Anderson told the TPWD. “My cast ended up being a little too short and landed right on top of where they were. My Alabama rig fell right into the school of fish, but I didn’t even have to retrieve the lure. I lifted it right up and started my retrieve and the fish was already on there.”
Ramsey, a West Texas guide, was fishing with his grandsons on Jan. 8 and used an umbrella rig with 3.5 rage tail swimmers to hook the 14.92-pound bass.
“We started out working some spots for white bass and black bass to get a few bites for the kids and have a good time,” Ramsey said. “It was slow and we moved around the lake to some different spots before we circled back to where we started.
“I spotted a fish suspended in about 14 feet of water and quickly grabbed a fishing pole. I sent the cast past the fish and slowly let it go down to about eight feet before I started reeling. The fish hit the bait and when I set the hook it didn’t budge so I knew it was a really big fish.
“The battle started and I eventually brought it into the boat with the dip net.”
Both bass were kept in live wells before biologists arrived to pick them up for the transfer to Athens.
Said Kyle Brookshear, Toyota ShareLunker Program Manager: “This is a great start to the 2022 collection season. “After the historic 2021 season, it seems fitting that the first two entries come from O.H. Ivie. Many predict another record season for trophy bass catches across the state and with the 2022 season underway, time will soon tell.”