Bass 3

Weight 13.1

Kingfisher Lake

September 25, 1977, about 3 months after the 12.15 was caught, Bud headed back to Kingfisher to try and catch another big bass where he done so before. Once again, he had another good friend with him (David Keeling) as a witness. After hanging the monster that got off 3 months before, Bud was after that particular fish. He molded a Mr. Twister chartreuse tail on a 9.25" black flip tail worm. He kicked and paddled his way out to the same amazing spot, and soon enough he hung what he knew was a monster. After landing the fish and putting it on a stringer, David told Bud, "you need to weigh that fish soon because I know it weighs over 13 pounds". Bud ignored David for awhile, and during the next 4 hours of fishing, the fish lost several ounces of weight just as any fish does after being on a stringer or livewell for long amounts of time. At this point in time, the Arkansas state record was 13.6 lbs. When Bud weighed the fish, it was 13.1 lbs. Now it's hard to say whether this fish would be a new record, but it would have been very close had it been weighed right after it was caught. Game and Fish drained this lake not long after the big bass were caught. Nobody knows why it was drained, just as nobody knows why Game and Fish does half the things they do.
Aside from this issue, we have a new lake to fish for big bass now, Lake Atkins. This lake was stocked a few years ago with Florida Strain Bass, which as most of you probably know, grow bigger, faster, and are meaner then a native bass. Soon enough everyone will be hearing of a monster that is caught out of there by either Bud or myself (hopefully). I hope everyone enjoyed these rare and amazing stories.