Howell: Record bass caught at Arrowhead
New lake record largemouth bass caught at Arrowhead
Mark Howell/ Times Record News
Thursday, March 13, 2008

It was not a typical first Saturday in March for fishing in Wichita Falls.

First, the Kid Fishing Rodeo at Plum Lake was held on a picture perfect morning with little wind and warm temperatures. After being at 17 of these first Saturday in March events, I can attest that most of them have been chilly and windy, if not downright cold.

But on March 1, more than 500 people came out to enjoy fishing that morning.

Second, while at the fishing rodeo, I received a phone call about a big bass someone had caught at Arrowhead that morning. I’ve received other such calls over the years, and more often than not, the purported size of the fish does not equal what it says on a set of certified scales. So I was a little skeptical.

Soon after the initial report, one of our local game wardens came over with his cell phone and the angler who had caught the fish was on the other end. I could tell immediately that he was excited, had a good set of scales with him, and was concerned that this huge bass was starting to roll onto her side in his livewell.

Wichita Falls bass angler Mark Broadway was on that phone and justifiably concerned that someone needed to get out to the state park quick with certified scales and a way to help revive the big bass. His scales showed the fish to be at least 12 pounds and maybe close to 13 when he had quickly weighed the fish soon after the catch.

A couple of Texas Parks and Wildlife staffers were quickly dispatched to the park with certified scales, a hauling tank and oxygen to document and hopefully revive the ailing fish. It was a relief when I got the report back that the fish had come back around and, at 12.73 pounds, was an Arrowhead record for largemouth bass.

This narrowly beat the record of 12.71 pounds caught in December 2006 by Broadway’s friend, Richard Cresswell of Wichita Falls.

Later in the week I had the chance to visit with Broadway and quickly learned that it was not by accident that the big fish was found on the end of his line. Being local, he fishes Arrowhead a good bit has been working hard at specifically targeting big bass.

In fact, that fateful morning he was fishing with a big-lipped, large crankbait that he had hand painted. He was fishing the east side of the main lake with his boat in about 20 feet of water and making long casts toward shore when the big one hit near the bottom about eight feet deep.

He was slowly cranking the big bait back when it suddenly just stopped and he knew a fish had it. At first the fish stayed deep and moved slowly making him think that it was probably a catfish. Then as he steadily reeled in the big fish using 14-pound line, it slowly came toward the surface and he saw that it was a huge bass.

Not having a landing net on board, he quickly loosened the drag in order to play the fish and let her tire out some. After about a minute though she came up close to the boat and he was able to carefully grab the lower jaw and get her in. Knowing he had a potential record he quickly headed for the state park boat ramp and phones started ringing.

While Broadway justifiably feels good about his catch, he humbly stated that “I don’t think this record will last more than a month. There are a bunch of fish close to that size in the lake.” With March and April being the time when these big female bass fill with eggs for spawning, he could very well be right.

He went on to say that “Arrowhead bass fishing just keeps getting better and better with more and more bass bigger than 10 pounds every year.” His teenage son had released four bass bigger than eight pounds last year while fishing out of the back of his boat. With the abundant prey base and good growth rates those fish could easily be 10-pounders this year.

Broadway released his recordfish back near where he caught it in good shape. Fish that size have established territories and tend to be home bodies.

Naturally, he wouldn’t tell me exactly where that was. Hmm…. I wonder why?

Outdoors writer Mark Howell can be reached at P.O. Box 120; Wichita Falls, Texas, 76301. Or you can email him at howelloutdoors(at)sbcglobal.net.