HUGE Largemouth Bass

[10inchbeard]

Hey Guys got a fish story for you.  Today my uncle was at a small lake here in NW Arkansas watching this elder man and woman loading there boat.  He asked them if they had done any good and they replied we caught two bass.  Any size my uncle asks and they replied one is pretty nice the other is a small one.  As they were preparing to load the boat the fish was on a stringer tied to the boat my uncle noticed the big bass was bigger then any other bass he has ever seen alive of course, and he has fished for many years and has cough three fish himself over 10lbs, and this fish made them look small.  After loading the boat the man pulls out a new set of digital scales from his truck and weighed the fish........ 16.2lbs!!!  My uncle asked the man what he was going to do with the fish and he said I'm going to EAT IT!!!!  My uncle begged him to turn it loose and he would catch him 3 messes of fish if he would just turn it back, but he refused.  The fish was cough on a jug line fishing for bass with a goldfish as bait.  He couldn't get the length or girth of the fish because he didn't have a tape but what a shame for a trophy like that to get the knife.  Oh by the way the small one was 4.5 to 5.0lbs!!!

[M.T.]

why didn't your uncle tell the guy that he had a nephew that would come over and clean that fish for him.  Then at least you could get the skin.

[Russ of V.O.W.T]

hate to tell you, but you should have pushed for that fish to have been weighed on an official scale, if it weighed 16.2 lbs as you say, on a calibrated scale you might have been lookin at a new record, the current state record is as follows, google arkansas state record fish, and you will see its a 32 year old record at that, here is what it says:       

                Largemouth Bass 16 lbs 4 oz   Mallard Lake  Aaron Mardis 3/2/1976

now i am sure Jug lining might disqualify it, in fact in missouri, i dont think its even legal to jug for bass.

[John C]

Nope jug line would not have disqualified it for the record, as it is a legal means in Arkansas. I too would have pushed him to weigh it on official scales.

The Mallard lake record is Florida strain, so a record northern strain would have been a real whopper. man I would like to see that fish!!

[al from sc]

Is it legal to use goldfish as bait...?

[John C]

It is here.

on Taneycomo just down from Branson Landing Saturday I did my best to catch a huge Koi, funny stuff Taneycomo is a cold water lake. now this fish may have gotten acidentially released from the floods recently or may have been a purposefull release by an idiot.

[Russ of V.O.W.T]

thats what i was thinkin john, me thinks someones scales were off    if not, that thing definitely needed to be weighed by an official, thats a shame.

[10inchbeard]

Scales off or just plain out of touch with the fishing world it is a shame that a fish like that was not official weighed.  As far as I know the lake has only native largemouth bass NOT Florida string.  Oh well I guess if nothing else it gives hope that there are still a few real lunkers still out there

[brushwolf]

thats a shame .. if it was a  record fish i would have told him i would do it for free ..

[John C]

What lake was the fish caught from?

[Russ of V.O.W.T]

im not sure what all lakes are in north west arkansas John, but the first that comes to mind is Beaver, i havent seen bass of that caliber come out of there though, but that is where the 40 lb stryper i got in last night came from