Customer Catch Story: Chuck Elliott

“I always check "Bass Forecast" to find the best days that fit into my schedule. It wasn’t the highest rated day but it was a day where the wind was about 15 mph instead of 25 so I went. I checked the app for suggested locations and lure selections and found I didn’t have a slow-roll spinnerbait tied on, so I put one on my least expensive rod combo. After taking a beating in the wind I settled in to an area late in the day and dropped a marker on a natural brush pile I had my eye on for some time but had never fished. I went and fished the general area and came back to the location. After carefully positioning my boat I decided on slow rolling a ¾ oz spinnerbait in the brush pile that was pretty deep for the area I was in. I made a a long cast to make sure I covered the entire brush pile letting the spinnerbait settle to the bottom. As I begin to crank the reel I could detect the vibration in the rod as I kept the lure moving just fast enough to turn the big blades. As I anticipated making contact with the timber the vibration suddenly stopped. As I have experienced this happening before, I sat back and delivered an impressive hookset. The hookset was met with solid resistance followed by a slow but very powerful line stripping surge. Having experienced big fish in my lifetime I find it is best to handle these toads slow and easy. My original thought was “this is a really big catfish” so my excitement level was low. As I kept the rod tip high to keep the fish out of the heavily timbered brush pile the fish made some huge swirls, I still can’t see the beast. I had positioned the landing net at the stern of mthe boat as that part of the boat sits lower in the water, I worked my way to the back letting the “spot-lock” handle the boat as I slow played the fish. The fish made a run directly at the boat making me think, ahh its not so big, well it didn’t stop, it ran right under the boat pinning the rod against the gunnel. I put more pressure the fish and it made a rapid reversal of direction exploding at the surface inches from the trolling motor at the opposite end of the boat. “That’s a BASS” I screamed to no one, as I was fishing alone, my adrenaline kicked in and I winched the big gal to the net giving her no more chances to be free. As I raised her in the boat I realized this fish is a “Sharelunker” and a lake record, the lake record is exactly 13lbs. I quickly put her on my handheld boat scales 12.93lbs!!!! I put her in the live well and made one more cast. I tried to find other angler that had scales to no evale. I loaded my boat and went to a nearby town to find some certified scales, not a single business would allow me to weigh the fish on their certified scales. It was important to me to either get her into the Texas Sharelunker program to be taken care of and spawned out or get her released in good condition. Ultimately her survival was the most important thing so I recorded all of her data and released her healthy. Data was submitted and a Sharelunker Elite certificate was awarded to her.”

- Chuck Elliott

Date Caught 03/15/2022
State Caught TX
Species Largemouth
Weight / Length 12.93lbs
Lure Used Spinnerbait, Booyah
Rod Used Bass Pro Shops MegaCast Baitcast Rod
Reel Used Bass Pro Shops MegaCast Baitcast Reel
Line Used Berkley Trilene Big Game Monofilament
BFC Rating I can't remember exactly, about 5.2.
Bait Used
Bait Finish
Bait Color Theme
Presentation Speed
Lake Structure
Primary Cover Type

Customer Catch Story: Chuck Elliott

Catch Story Details