Full moon brings flood of lunkers
Three Texas lakes produced big black bass — each in excess of 13 pounds — on Feb. 27: Austin, Amistad and O.H. Ivie.Carl Adkins of San Marcos led off the action with a 13.1-pounder from Lake Austin. Adkins was fishing near the Loop 360 bridge in 7 to 12 feet of 51-degree water with a soft plastic lure. The catch came at 6:45 a.m.
Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Larry Hodge and David Campbell were on their way to pick up the fish for the state’s breeding program when the phone rang mid-morning with news of the Lake Amistad catch. Teddy Silcox of Del Rio landed a 13.02-pounder from 28 feet of 52-degree water. He was using a Boudreaux bait.
Fish lightning struck a third time while Campbell was charging the hauling tank with water from Lake Austin. Randy Jackson of Mineral Wells caught a 13.03-pound largemouth from O.H. Ivie Reservoir. He was fishing in 3 feet of 43-degree water with a black and blue Easy Jig.
“At that point David Campbell and I were hoping the phone would ring again and hoping it wouldn’t,” Hodge said. Three fish to be picked up hundreds of miles apart presented a problem, but other TPW staff from the A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery and the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center volunteered to help. By the time the day ended at midnight, the three crews had logged about 1,200 miles.
