Lake McClure did not disappoint on 9/28/18

[MKA]

My good buddy Don Longton and I decided to make a quick afternoon trip to Lake McClure since the bite has been good, to say the least... We started fishing some creek channels dragging jigs in 15-40 foot of water with nothing to show for it but a few small spots up to 2 lbs. Kept fishing our way up the lake, hopping from main lake point to main lake point throwing jigs, tubes and Topwater baits. Found the fish to be scattered and suspended, very tough to target. About 30 minutes before it was time to leave we pulled up to our last main lake point we were going to fish, I picked up the jig to throw out deep and Don picked up a Topwater bait and fired it up shallow, a few twitches in, he hooks up with an absolute TANK that ended up going just over 9 pounds, incredible fight! I never get tired of watching this guy catch big bass, most people pushing 80 years old can’t even get out in a boat, much less go out and catch giants, (he still wins tournaments also) just awesome! We ended the day with a lot of small fish, with a few decent ones and a big one mixed in, overall it was a tougher bite than it has been, but we were fortunate enough to boat our second bass over 9 lbs. in the last 3 trips out on McClure, the big girls are biting!

Report by Ryan Cook of Atwater, CA

[Larry Hemphill]

Congrats - beautiful bass!! I always perk up when I see or hear something about McClure since I fished my first tournament there about 40 years ago when I lived in San Jose. I always loved that lake - just something about it - maybe 9 pounders!! Fun to fish all the structure. If I may - one suggestion to anyone that is able to land a trophy like that. A bass that big will do better during the photo shoot if you do a horizontal picture - supporting the fish with both hands. Several fish and game officials confirmed that with me. The photo will look great that way too - just make sure that the belly is slightly forward. That is very important to make the bass look as big as it really is. I always look at the photo section in each Bassmaster magazine. Usually there are several photos to look at, and if the belly is turned away from the camera, the bass will look smaller. Again - a great looking bass. Remember, she will be a "10" next spring!!!

[Rich hamilton]

Nice job Don! You guys better go easy on us this winter no more multiple tournament wins! Great job! Rich

[Turkeyman]

Larry Hemphill, you mean like this McClure largemouth from a few years back in September?

[Larry Hemphill]

No - not good. You only look like YOU weigh 20 lbs!! Seriously, great photo. I would have stuck the belly out another inch, but since you are holding her in a straight vertical position, we can see the top to bottom girth of the bass - and that is always what is impressive about a monster largemouth bass, since they are not very long. If I were being picky, I might have held her an inch or so higher, but again, an excellent photo - with good lighting! She was at least 3 lbs?? LOL!!!!!!

[Turkeyman]

Larry she went 13-11 on my hand held scale. My biggest from McClure

[Larry Hemphill]

Thanks for the answer to my mental question!! I was really wondering how big she was. I was close in my guess - thinking between 12 and 14 lbs. The reason it is always hard to guess the weight of a giant bass is because there is another measurement that we can't see from a photo. That is the width - between the eyes so to speak. My biggest is only slightly larger (14-2). When you lay a bass like ours flat on a table and measure the width - that is where a lot of the weight is. Mine was 6 inches from side to side and I'll bet yours was similar. I caught mine in August so there was no added weight from spring eggs or body fat. Again - great photo!