Riley Harris of Orange has reeled in plenty of heavyweight bass over the years, but none to compare to the bruiser that gobbled up his football jig on the morning of November 22 at Sam Rayburn Reservoir.
Harris, 26, was out checking a few waypoints on a chilly Friday when he spotted a few fish on his electronics. The bass were holding around a brush pile in about 22-25 feet of water. “I could tell it was an active pile, so I threw in there with to check it out,” Harris said. “She ate it on the second cast. When I set the hook I knew it was a really big fish because I couldn’t move it for like 5-10 seconds, but I had no idea how big until I got it in the boat. It was a giant — way bigger than my previous best 10.80 pounder.”
Harris weighed the bass on a Bubba digital scale. It registered a whopping 13.87 pounds. Eager to get a certified weight on the catch, he raced to the Tackle Addict tackle shop in nearby Brookeland. There, the bass weighed an official 13.79 pounds. The angler said he promptly returned the big bass to the exact spot where it was caught. It was released in good shape. Though Harris’ bass is well shy of the lake record mark of 16.80 pounds set in 1997, it’s the biggest fall bass reported since 2015 from the 59-year-old reservoir east of Lufkin. The angler said he plans to enter the big fish in the Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Toyota Share-Lunker program as a Lew’s Legend Class entry. The Legend Class is reserved for bass weighing upwards of 13 pounds that are caught outside the Jan. 1- March 31 window for Legacy Lunkers. Legacy fish are 13-plus pounders that are loaned to TPWD for spawning and genetics research at the program headquarters in Athens. TPWD fisheries biologist Dan Ashe says he was somewhat surprised hear the news about Harris’ November giant, mainly because it was caught at a time of year that typically doesn’t produce many Texas teeners. Most of the true heavyweights are caught during spring, once their ovaries are fully developed.
“It’s a good sign for sure,” Ashe said. “It’s only November and we’re seeing near-14 pounders being caught. It makes you wonder what that fish might have weighed if she were caught later on, when she was a little more eggy. That fish could have easily weighed 1 1/2 pounds more in January or February.” The big fish news on Sam Rayburn comes in the midst of what some anglers are calling one of the best fall fishing seasons in recent times. Harris has he’s been visiting the lake at least once a week since late October. He’s been targeting offshore structure and brush piles most of the time. The angler says it is a big fish pattern that isn’t producing many bites, but the quality has been outstanding.
“The fishing has been really good this fall,” he said. “I’ve probably caught 8-10 fish over eight pounds since October. I can catch better numbers fishing others ways, but I’m fishing specifically for big ones. I’m only getting a few bites a day running the patterns I’m running. The bigger fish aren’t hanging around with the smaller ones. It seems like they definitely want their space.”
Fishing guide Tommy Martin says he and his clients have been enjoying some excellent fishing for numbers in skinny water, but quality fish have been hard to come by. Martin says he has averaged 50-60 bass per day up to four pounds on his last three trips. He has been targeting the coves and pockets in water ranging 2-5 feet of water. There isn’t much grass around to speak of, but there are hordes of bait fish. Martin’s go to bait has been a 1/2 ounce Strike King Red Eye Shad. He’s been throwing a gold color on cloudy days, silver under clear, sunny skies.
“The fact there are so many fish and so much bait tells me that lake super healthy right now,” Martin said. “It’s fishing way better this fall than I’ve seen in a long time.”
Plenty of the other Texas lakes are fishing pretty good this fall. Here are a few to put on the menu as water temperatures begin to take the tumble:
Lake O’ The Pines Size: 18,700 acres The Fishing: Lake O’ the Pines is a lake you don’t hear a lot about, mainly because locals do their best to keep it under the radar of the masses. Jim Tutt of Longview has been chasing bass on the northeast Texas reservoir for decades and ranks it among his favorite lakes to fun fishing.
“It’s full of them,” Tutt said. “You don’t a lot of the big weights in fall tournaments that you see during
