It was supposed to rain the morning of May 1 near Tahoka, Texas, where 57-year-old Bryan Reynolds lives and works as a cotton gin manager. Though it was overcast, it became obvious around noon that the rain forecast was false. Reynolds then decided to hitch up his 19-foot Nitro bass boat and trailer it about an hour away to Lake Alan Henry.
The north-central Texas lake has been on fire this spring for bass, and anglers have caught some heavyweight fish there during the spawn.
“I got on the lake about 1 p.m. and started casting an old three-inch-long silver-and-black top-water chugger plug that I’ve had for years and caught lots of fish with,” Reynolds told Wired2fish. “Some of the paint’s worn off and I don’t even know what brand it is — but it sure has caught some bass for me.”
A Steady Start
The wind had come up a bit where Reynolds was first fishing, so he moved to a creek mouth at the north end of the 2,900-acre reservoir. There, where the water temperature was 67 degrees, his chugger plug would be most effective.
“I caught some fish at the first spot on my plug, and I started catching bass at the second spot, too,” he explained. “I was easing along parallel to the bank, with my boat in about 10 feet of water. The bass were shallow spawning tight to trees, brush, and rocks.”
He caught a few largemouths up to roughly three pounds during an hour of fishing.
“I had just lost a good fish that hit near shore and cast back again to the bank between some trees,” said Reynolds. “I worked the lure, then saw a huge mouth open and gulp in my plug that just disappeared.”
The Big One Arrives
In the clear water, Reynolds saw the fish swimming between brush and flooded trees. He worked to keep the bass down, fearing that if it jumped he’d lose the biggest largemouth of his life.
“I knew she was something special as she made a run to my boat and under it,” he explained. “I got to the boat stern, keeping her away from snags as she went under my Nitro.”
His plug tackle and Lew’s bait-casting reel performed well, and his 30-pound braided line helped thwart brush and trees from cutting the fish off. He then moved to his boat’s driver’s seat, sat down, and worked the fish topside so he could lip it, and brought it aboard.
“There was almost no one on the lake that day and no one could hear me, but I still said out loud, ‘Oh my gosh, this thing is huge!’” he recalled. “I immediately put it in my boat livewell and texted my wife just one word: ‘Giant.’”
With the bass safely in his well-aerated livewell, Reynolds found his fish scale and weighed the lunker largemouth he’d just caught. It was right at 12 pounds, and he knew he had to get an accurate certified weight of the biggest largemouth he’d ever caught — on a favorite top-water plug, no less.
Reynolds outboarded back to the lake boat ramp, put his Nitro on its trailer, and drove to nearby Bubba’s Beer and Bait tackle shop. There, owner Paula Smith and her certified scale have documented other huge bass caught from Lake Alan Henry this season.
Released, But Not Forgotten
Reynolds’ 12-pound bass measured 25.5 inches in length with a 21-inch girth.
With his bass officially weighed and measured, Reynolds loaded the bass back into his boat livewell, drove to the lake, launched his Nitro and returned to the spot where he caught the fish.
He recorded the fish during its release. The video shows the fish swimming strongly away and deep, back to the shoreline area where it was spawning.
“I thank the Lord for having such a great experience with a tremendous bass,” Reynolds said. “I’ll have a replica mount of the fish made by a taxidermist, and I’m retiring that old favorite chugger plug I caught her on.
“I’ll hang the lure in the mounted fish’s mouth, so I can enjoy that memory for a long, long time.”
