March 11 was a trifecta record-catch fishing day for Kenton Mabry, of Crawford, Texas. At dawn that morning Kenton and his dad Brad, launched their 20-foot Bass Cat bass boat into Tradinghouse Creek Reservoir near Waco, determined to catch junior fish records.
“We knew Tradinghouse had some good bass and crappies, and Kenton is a serious and dedicated angler whose goals were to catch record fish,” said Brad, 42, who works for an animal nutrition company. “We went right to an 8-foot-high rock pile in 20 feet of water. He started casting crappie jigs he made, and he caught several nice ones that he put in the live well.”
Then, Kenton changed tackle and tactics. He picked up a stout bait-casting outfit and cast a “3:16 Lures Rising Son Weedless Swimbait” to the deep rock pile and began a retrieve. A good bass slammed the soft-plastic lure, the sixth-grade angler set the hook, his rod bowed tight, and the battle was on.
“I knew it was a good bass and I grabbed the landing net,” Brad said. “I told Kenton to stay calm. I saw the bass was coming up and I told him to just keep reeling.”
The bass jumped close to the boat, and in short order, Brad netted Kenton’s heavyweight bass.
“He held up the bass, and he was so excited,” Brad said. “Then he went back to put the bass in the livewell so we could get it weighed on certified scales.”
Brad says when Kenton worked to get his bass in the livewell he saw that one of the crappies he’d caught earlier was a black crappie in addition to several white crappies.
“I didn’t know the difference between the two crappie species, but Kenton did,” Brad proudly said of his son. “He knew the spine ray count of the two species were different.”
The father and son had targeted a Texas junior lake record largemouth bass and white crappie from the reservoir, but the lake had no established black crappie record. So, a trifecta record fish day was taking shape for young Kenton.
“We ran back to the boat ramp, then towed the boat to the Bass Pro Shops store in nearby Waco to have the fish weighed on a certified scale,” Brad said.
At the Waco Bass Pro store onlookers congratulated Kenton as he held up his oversize bass for weighing. Bass Pro staffers Adria Bridgewater and Blair Chandler weighed the bass on certified scales. It measured 25-inches in length, weighing 7.85-pounds. The previous Trading House Creek Reservoir junior bass record was 3.1 pounds.
Kenton’s white crappie weighed 1.3-pounds for a new junior lake record, and his .9 pound black crappie is the first ever record for the reservoir.
All three record catches are still pending with Texas state officials. But there should be no problem with Kenton’s catches being certified as junior lake records because of the good work by Bass Pro staff measuring all three fish on certified scales with witnesses.
“Kenton’s whole life is about the outdoors – he’s obsessed with fishing,” Brad says. “He ties his own crappie jigs, which he’s starting to sell. He ties his own fishing flies. He’s caught rainbow trout, redfish, lots of other species, and soon we’ll be heading to Minnesota so he can catch a smallmouth bass.
“He wants to start tournament fishing, and he also wants to catch a 13-pound or larger bass for the Texas Legacy ShareLunker Bass Program.
“Pretty lofty goals, but I’m sure he’ll succeed. He’s so enthusiastic and passionate about the outdoors,” Brad said.
