HEY SAY RECORDS ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN, but plenty of folks are beginning to wonder whether anyone will ever crack the mark Barry St. Clair put on Texas bass fishing way back in 1992.
More than a quarter-century has passed since that fateful January day when the Athens angler dunked a live shiner in 42 feet of water, reportedly somewhere in the mouth of Little Caney Creek. He was hoping to catch another crappie for the skillet. He reeled in a whale of a largemouth bass instead. St. Clair’s catch was so enormous it dethroned the former state record—a 17.67 pounder—caught on a Stanley jig more than six years earlier by Lake Fork guide Mark Stevenson. Weighing a whopping 18.18 pounds, the fish didn’t come as much of a surprise, either. St. Clair’s giant bass came as the cherry on top during a magical stretch of time when Lake Fork was spitting out bug-eyed behemoths like a gum ball machine that refused to run out of goodies. The 27,000-acre reservoir was truly phenomenal during its heyday. In addition to producing seven of the state’s 10 biggest bass on record—including five 17 pounders—Fork became a virtual blood bank for Toyota ShareLunkers cracking the 13-pound benchmark. To date, the popular reservoir is responsible for 30 of the 50 heaviest bass reported statewide. It’s interesting that all but six of the 30 bass were caught between 1986 and 1999. 8
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PHOTO: MATT WILLIAMS
12/11/18 5:37 PM
