It’s hard to believe, but January 24 will mark the 33rd anniversary of Texas’ state record largemouth bass.
Barry St. Clair of Athens landed the 18.18 pounder way back in 1992 at Lake Fork, a 27,000-acre reservoir near Quitman in northeast Texas. The fish topped the former record of 17.67 pounds caught in November 1986 by fishing guide Mark Stevenson, also at Lake Fork.
Interestingly, St. Clair is an avid angler who cracked to code on Texas most hallowed freshwater fishing record by complete accident. In fact, he wasn’t even fishing for bass when he reeled it in.
I’ve told the story here before. It’s a legendary tale always worth revisiting, especially on the eve of another full year without a new record to talk about. I contacted the angler by phone last week for a refresher.
A 38-year-old cattle rancher at the time, St. Clair was crappie fishing on that fateful Friday afternoon with two friends — Bruce Switzer and Macy Inmon.
I call it fate, because St. Clair almost chose to not go fishing that day. He had chores to do around his farm near Klondike and initially turned down the invitation to take the afternoon off, but eventually changed his mind at the behest of his friends, according to his wife of 44 years, Gayle.
Crappie Fishing in a Crowd
The three men were anchored amongst several other boats in the mouth of Little Caney Creek when the famous fish gobbled up the live minnow the angler had dunked in about 42 feet of water. They were fishing from a 1972 Larson fish/ ski rig that belonged to Inmon’s dad. The boat had no livewell, and the only scale onboard was an antiquated De-Liar that bottomed out at 10 pounds.
St. Clair, now 71, still remembers the magical bite like it happened yesterday.
“Oh yeah, it’s crystal clear in my mind,” he recalled. “We had fished in a couple of other places but hadn’t caught much. I had just dropped that shiner to bottom. I reeled it up about one crank. That’s when she hit. My rod bowed over double.”
Inmon, a dentist from Cooper, shares the same vivid memory of the prized bite that ultimately set the Texas bass fishing world abuzz later that day.
“Bruce and I were fishing off each corner at the back of the boat and Barry was up front by himself,” he said. “I remember hearing Barry say he needed some help, but I didn’t pay much attention, because I was getting a bite myself. Then he said it again. When I looked I could tell he wasn’t joking around. He had something big.”
A Battle to Remember
So big that St. Clair said he initially thought his gold Aberdeen crappie hook might have snagged on a log. Then the log started fighting back.
“I didn’t know for sure what it was, but I thought it might be a big catfish,” he said. “Those big blues like to hang out in those kinds of places during the wintertime.”
St. Clair said he had battled the fish for less than five minutes on 14-pound line when he saw a flash as the fish breached the surface beside of the boat.
“It looked like a 35-pound drum the first time I saw it,” he said.
Switzer eventually slid the net beneath the bass and bent the aluminum handle as he wrestled it over the side. St. Clair said everyone was somewhat stunned by its size, including several other anglers who witnessed the catch from a distance. One of them was Barry Yates, who occupied a different boat not far way.
“He hollered and asked if I’d caught a big carp,” St. Clair recalled. “I told him no — it was biggest bass I’d ever seen.”
Yates approached the boat and produced a digital scale to weigh the fish, then offered to transport it to nearby Oak Ridge Marina in his livewell to get an official weight. St. Clair rode along with Yates, while Inmon and Switzer headed to the ramp to load the boat. Inmon didn’t get the opportunity to witness the weigh-in, but he could tell from the smile on St. Clair’s face that things went well.
“Barry was grinning earto- ear when we walked into the marina, — he said the fish was a new state record — 18.18,” Inmon said..
The fish was subsequently retrieved by the late David Campbell and taken to the now defunct Tyler Fish Hatchery, the early headquarters of Texas Parks and Wildlife’s ShareLunker program that is now based in Athens. St. Clair said the bass initially suffered from barotrauma after being pulled from deep water but made a swift recovery once Campbell fizzed its air bladder.
Life After the Record
Social media didn’t exist in 1992, but word of Texas’ newest state record still spread at a rapid rate. St. Clair said he fielded dozens of phone calls in the days that followed, many from newspaper reporters, radio stations and magazine editors anxious to hear a story that has retold many times since.
He also found opportunities to put the popular fish he nicknamed “Marie” on live display, first at Irving Marine and then at the Children’s Aquarium Dallas at Fair Park, where the big bass eventually died two years later. He even landed a free aluminum boat and $1,000 cash out of the deal.
“I had plenty of fun and met a lot of people all because of that fish,” St. Clair. “I enjoyed the heck out of it, for sure. It was a really neat experience — one I’ll never forget.”
Next Week: Pondering a New State Record
It is anybody’s guess when Texas’ next state record might be caught. But is almost certain to happen, most likely amid a perfect storm that could come together much sooner than many bass angler may think. Another part of the mystery is where the magical bite might finally play out.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department fisheries biologist and largemouth bass coordinator Jake Norman believes it could happen at a number of public reservoirs. In next week’s column, he will profile his top picks for producing Texas’ next heavyweight.
Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by e-mail, [email protected].
