It was the evening of April 7 and Eddie Hyatt, of Minden, Louisiana, was practicing for a local bass tournament later that week. He was fishing with his pal Rex Moncrief in Moncrief’s bass boat.
“We’d hooked a few 4- and 5-pound bass and were about ready to leave for home at 7:30 p.m.,” said 60-year-old Hyatt, who’s self-employed. “Then I remembered my brother Jeff telling me he’d hooked a big bass near a cypress tree when he was crappie fishing. That spot was nearby and I said let’s go check it before we go home.”
The anglers quickly ran to the spot that Eddie’s brother said held a good bass.
“There was a dock near the lone cypress tree and there was some brush,” Eddie told Wired2fish. “It was almost dark at 7:45 and the water was about 3-feet deep.
“I skipped a 12-inch plastic worm to the cypress tree and felt a double tick that I thought was a crappie – then all hell broke loose.”
Using bait-casting tackle with a Shimano reel and a 7-foot rod, Eddie battled the bass. The fish sloshed the surface heavily trying to jump, but Eddie says it was too fat to clear the water.
Then it rushed their boat, and it was all Eddie could do to keep it out from under the hull and the electric motor.
“Rex was at the back of the boat and didn’t have time to grab our landing net,” Eddie said. “So when I got the fish close he reached down and lipped her. I thought it was about a 10 or 11 pounder, but when Rex grabbed her and felt her weight, his eyes got as big as saucers.
“Then we put her on our boat Bubba scale and Rex’s eyes got even bigger when the scale read 15.24 pounds.”
The anglers recalibrated the scale twice and weighed the bass three times. Each time it read 15.24 pounds.
Eddie knew the fish was a Cross Lake bass record. He explained that a friend of his caught a 12.55-pound lake record bass 15 years earlier. That fish was weighed on certified scales. For Eddie’s fish to be a new Cross Lake record bass it had to be weighed on certified scales, too.
“But there was no place close where we could go and officially weigh my bass,” he said. “I was sure the fish wouldn’t survive in our live well until we could find a scale somewhere. So, I decided to let her go – right back near the cypress tree where I caught her.”
Eddie says the bass had come off a bed, and when he released the fish it darted right back to the cypress tree where he’d caught her.
Two days later Eddie and Rex fished their local bass tournament and tried for the big 15.24-pounder. But she didn’t bite.
The anglers caught three bass weighing a bit over 7 pounds and finished the tourney in 12th place.
“That 15.24 pounder is the biggest bass I’ve ever seen, and is my personal best fish,” Eddie explained. “I’m glad I had an opportunity to catch her, hold and weigh her. And I’m glad she’s back in Cross Lake where someone else may catch her and get their best bass of a lifetime, too.”
