To answer the question of where the big bass craze started, all we need to do is look at our neighbor to the west — Texas! No state has done more for bass fishing than Texas, and the people largely responsible work at the Texas Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (TDWF).

Texas has led the way, showing how all other states should manage their fisheries, especially when it comes to producing huge largemouth bass.

In the 1970s, tournament bass fishing was starting to take root, and anglers wanted to catch more and bigger bass. The first lake that started producing huge bass was a power plant lake, Lake Monticello, near my hometown of Mt. Pleasant, Texas.

By the mid-1970s, this is where the big bass fever infected Texas and the bass fishing world. Monticello was a hot water power plant lake, which gave bass a long and productive growing season. Here, bass started spawning in December, and as word spread about the size of bass being caught, Monticello became a destination for all bass fishermen.

Then, in 1980, one of the greatest bass fisheries in America was impounded … Lake Fork. This lake was a game changer and lit the fuse for an explosion of huge largemouth bass. Every bass angler who has ever wet a hook has dreamed of catching either a new world or state record bass, and most felt Lake Fork was the place that would give anglers the best opportunity.

It presently holds 12 of the top 20 bass ever caught in the state of Texas! It recently showed out this past May when the Bassmaster Elite Series showed up. It took a four-day total of over 128 pounds to win this event. The winner, with his best five, had a daily average of just over 6 pounds per fish!

Today, there are other lakes in Texas that are starting to produce record-size bass, with the most recent being Lake O.H. Ivie, located just south of Abilene. There, double-digit bass are becoming the norm, with 8-10 pound bass not even turning heads.

In the last three years, O.H. Ivie has produced 39 bass weighing 13 pounds or more, all caught between the months of January and March. In Texas, all fish caught over 13 pounds become a part of what is called the Legacy Class Program.

This is all part of the Texas ShareLunker Program. Biologists retrieve these huge bass from around the state and take them back to the hatchery in Athens. There they will breed these lunker fish with other lunker bass over 10 pounds, which in turn will be used as a part of their stocking program for other lakes.

In 2023, bass caught in O.H. Ivie made up 83 percent of the Legacy Class Bass caught in the state of Texas. Today, this lake continues to produce lunker bass like no other. This calendar year, the lake has produced eight Legacy Class Bass over 13 pounds and 14 bass over 10 pounds as part of the ShareLunker program.

To visit lakes in Louisiana where an angler might catch a double-digit bass, you may want to check out Toledo Bend, Caddo Lake, Caney Lake, or Bussey Break.

‘Til next time, remember, the only way to catch big fish is if your lake has big fish!