ANDY MONTGOMERY BASS PRO TOUR Personal Best : 9 pounds , 6 ounces Location : Lake Conroe , TX
I CAUGHT THREE 10-pounders in one year , but I didn ’ t weigh any of them . Two of those came in practice for FLW events and I didn ’ t want to lift them out of the water with other boats around . One was at Sam Rayburn and one was at Kentucky Lake . Another one was in a private pond , and I didn ’ t have a scale . Those were also in the time before GoPro ’ s and whatnot , so there aren ’ t really even any good pictures or anything of them .
The biggest one that sticks out was on camera . It was at the very first Bass Pro Tour event on Lake Conroe . We had a new format . We had a clock ticking down . I was fishing lily pads early in the year with a Strike King Thunder Cricket , which wasn ’ t even out at the time , but I had a few . I was fishing a ditch that ran back through a spawning flat , looking for fish that were waiting for me to roll up .
With about 20 seconds left to go , I got a bite . I was hustling , just trying to get this fish in because the official was counting down . I didn ’ t realize how big he was until it came out of the water and I tried to boat flip him . I immediately saw that this fish was bigger than a 5- or 6- pounder , and I jumped down beside the gunwale trying to get my hand in his mouth . The fish had my bait so far down his throat that he would shut his mouth every time I pulled on the line .
I grabbed him and got him over the gunwale with less than a second to spare . Of course , our weights zero , but I did advance to the next round and ended up in the Top 15 of that event .
BLAKE DYER
TOYOTA SERIES Personal Best : 11 pounds , 2 ounces Location : Lafayette Reservoir , CA
THIS STORY IS GOING to be different , because I bet most of the guys will have caught one during a tournament or at least from a boat . I actually caught mine on a hike .
I was at this place called Lafayette Reservoir . There ’ s a path that goes around the lake that ’ s maybe a little over three miles . You can ’ t even put a boat on the lake unless it ’ s like a rowboat or a canoe – and I actually did use a rowboat to fish there in high school . We rigged a rowboat with a Walmart trolling motor and a car battery to fish it .
Anyway , I went for a hike there sometime around 2015 . I knew there were giant bass in that lake because I had caught a couple of 10-pounders out of it . I also knew there were tulles all around the bank , so I brought a flipping stick with me . I was hiking and punching my way around the lake when I got to a section of dead tulles near a dock . I flipped the dock – just like I do on the Delta – and in one swing I had this gigantic fish on the bank . I was stunned . My mouth just dropped to the ground . Hilariously , there was a guy trout fishing on the dock right next to me . He just looks at me and says , “ Oh my God . Yo , man , I ’ ve got a scale .”
We weighed the fish and it was 11-2 . It was freaking crazy . I was using a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver with an 8-foot G . Loomis flipping stick and 65-pound-test PowerPro braid . I feel like most guys are going to have a story about somewhere like Sam Rayburn , but I was just kind of walking through the woods on a hike .
48 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | APRIL-MAY 2022