MATT BECKER TACKLE WAREHOUSE PRO CIRCUIT Personal Best : 9 pounds , 1 ounce Location : Lake Seminole , FL
I WAS ACTUALLY PRACTICING for an FLW Tour event on Lake Seminole in 2019 . It was fairly cold , so I picked up a flipping stick and went towards this perfectly placed mat that had blown in against the shore . I flipped a big weight through there . It went about 6 inches and stopped .
Because I was practicing , I hadn ’ t been setting the hook a lot that day , but this was such a good bite that I had to . I felt it all the way down through the rod and down into my elbow . It was almost like instinct kicking in . I just set it without thinking about it and it didn ’ t move at all . That ’ s when I knew it was a big fish .
There wasn ’ t much of a fight at all . I pulled it up through the mat and it kind of laid there on top . I just trolled over and grabbed her . I didn ’ t realize just how big it was until I actually grabbed it and put it in the boat . Then , I realized how long it was . It wasn ’ t a fat fish or a thick fish . It was just an extremely long , old fish . I actually put her in the livewell for a minute while I was getting the scale ready . Then , I got a camera out , got a good picture and sent her on her way .
I don ’ t regret catching her during practice , but I did revisit that spot several times during the tournament .
I also landed my best smallmouth in 2018 during a tournament . This was before I had forward-facing sonar , so I was using 2D sonar . I was just kind of trolling around and looking for a big arch when I saw one 10 or 15 feet off the bottom . I was fishing in about 40 feet of water and the fish was siting up high , so I thought it was a walleye . I dropped my bait down on it and it didn ’ t react , so I thought for sure it was a walleye . But when I came back around and tried again , the fish followed my bait to the bottom and picked it up .
That one didn ’ t fight a whole lot either . It was pretty much a vertical fight and the fish ran to the surface . The whole thing lasted maybe 10 or 15 seconds . We netted her , put her in the livewell and went back to fishing . I actually didn ’ t realize how big that one was until we went back to fizz it . That ’ s when I realized it was a 6-12 smallmouth .
RANDY HOWELL , BASS PRO TOUR Personal Best : 12 pounds , 14 ounces Location : Bussey Brake , LA
I had a special two days at the first Bass Pro Tour event of 2020 in Louisiana . I made it to the Knockout Round on Caney Creek Reservoir and caught the biggest bass of my life at the time , 10 pounds , 11 ounces . That fish beat the Major League Fishing record by 3 ounces , so I was really excited about it .
Lo and behold I go to Bussey Brake the next day , fishing was tough , really cold water and not many bites , and lightning struck twice : I caught a 12-pound , 14-ounce behemoth !
The water was stained there , so I was flipping a blue-black laminate Yamamoto Senko and a red quarterounce XPS Tungsten weight . I use that red weight sometimes when I ’ m sight fishing but also when water is stained – I think that red flash sometimes creates a reaction strike when it ’ s falling . When I hit that fish I knew I needed to keep her head up . If you can get their head to break the water and keep them from digging down with power , you have a better chance of keeping them from breaking you off .
I ’ ve fished all over the country for almost 30 years and had never caught a bass over 10-8 , and then caught the biggest fish of my life on back-to-back days . It was just unbelievable , I don ’ t know if I ’ m ever going to top that .
APRIL-MAY 2022 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 49