Possible New Eastman Lake record bass caught

[JL]

Saw on another forum. Don't have the exact weight, but the rumors are for real!

[jiggin4bass]

16.9 is the current record that just broke that

[WB Staff]

Are we talking about this one??? Or another one?

https://www.westernbass.com/article/16-pounder-max-lee

[jiggin4bass]

[Whoopbass]

I heard its the same fish Max caught but two pounds heavier now. The fish weighed 18.74 and I believe the angler was Damian Thao.

[jiggin4bass]

Side by side pictures both fish look different gill plates back fin & bottom anal and the tail fins don't match upLooks like two different fish if you look closely.

[Whoopbass]

I just saw both photo's and its the same fish. Look up Damaian Thao on Facebook and the pics are there if you scroll down a bit. Max Lee says its the same fish.

This is Damian's account that I C/P from Facebook.
Well, there's good news and bad news. Hang tight guys, this is going to be a long one. I finally ended up joining the teener club with this lake record fish but i ended up infringing the law. I want to be transparent with the monster fish and i want to own up to my mistake. I'll go step by step of what happend this day with baits included. I arrived at the lake and pulled up to the first spot, within the first 20-30 minutes i land a 7.5 and a 10.05 on a Workingclasszero Tyrant10. Few more casts go by with a few tail grabbers, i switched it up to a Megabass Magdraft 10" in Albino Pearl. Made about 3 casts at the tree, popped it free from the limbs and that is when the big girl ate. Fought her for 30 seconds and boated her. At first i thought she was just another 10 maybe pushing 12 until i held her up. Put her on the scale the first time and she went around 17lbs-17. 70 due to the high winds and wakes. I went to the bank to get a better scale reading. She ended up going 17.46 on my rapala scale weighed on land. A good freind of mine was there as well and he informed me that this is the lake record. I ended up putting the fish in his livewell to keep her lively while i went back to the ramp to get some cell service to get a hold of Fish and Game. I made multiple attempts at trying to reach them to get a certified scale to weigh the fish. Also called the U.S Army Corp ranger station there with no help from either. Which is understandable since it was the weekend. The one time I actually reached someone from DFG, i was told to fill out the application. Frustrated we reweighed her on a different scale, and she went 17lb 14oz on a Bubba Smart Fish Scale. Seemed like weight was all over the place, I decided to just drive(transfer) the fish(live) to a certified scale to have her weighed. Not going to mention the business i went to get the fish weighed but on the certified scale she went 18.75lb. Excited we went back to the lake where we caught her and released her. The following day, a good freind of mine called me to congratulate me. I told him step by step of the day and of what I did. He double checked and Informed me that even though it seemed like it was the right thing to do; it was against the law(transfer/move live fish). It didn't even click with me until it was mentioned. Apparently the certified scale needed to be brought to the lake or fish needed to be dead to be transferred to weigh. Not making any excuses, just want to be transparent and own up to my actions. A good learning lesson, never thought I'd find myself in a position to hold the unnofficial lake record fish in my hands. I got 3 different weights for this fish. My scale 17.46(rapala scale), 17lb 14oz(bubba scale), 18.75(certified scale). I'm going to go with the lowest. 17.46lbs for my Personal Best. Once again thanks to those that were there to help me on this once in a lifetime catch.

[jiggin4bass]

In 1980 the Madera bass club and DFG introduce Florida strain large mouth into Eastman lake the fishing was good then the hydroll era came along the lake was shut down to fishing for several years a shocking program was started by DFG to gather info and recorded weights and sizes of the different fish in the lake
Northern large &mouth Florida strain both crappie blue gill perch catfish
I got to go on several of the shocking trips all of us that help sign a waiver not allowing info recording weights of size of the fish we recorded.
For me on couple three of those trips it took me a few days to get over what i saw
I do know this to this day there are more then two big bass swimming in that lake.