On Monday, February 13th, 2023, angler Jason Conn captured one of the largest bass to come out of Texas in the past 30 years. Jason was fishing the one and only O.H. Ivie Lake in central Texas when the over 17 pound behemoth slammed his Alabama Rig. There are multiple posts as well as the cast-to-catch video of this fish on his facebook page Jason Conn Fishing, and I highly recommend that you check them out and show him some love.
In the cast-to-catch video Jason can be seen fishing with two other anglers on his boat in what is clearly heavy wind and seemingly miserable conditions. He can be seen using the same Livescope tactics that has brought O.H. Ivie into the spotlight in recent months, and it is just another testament to what can happen when a talented angler is paired with the latest in fish catching technology.
Jason's catch weighed in at 17.03lbs, just under the O.H. Ivie lake record. However, it is to be noted that the fish was weighed after throwing up two shad while it was in captivity, a commonplace with fish being held in livewells. Therefore, it is safe to say that his fish was certainly the new lake record prior to that. Jason's catch is an official Texas Sharelunker, and will officially go down as the 8th heaviest largemouth bass to ever come out of the great state of Texas and its vast waterways. That 8th place standing is just behind another O.H. Ivie giant weighing in at 17.06lbs, caught just last year.
It is very exciting to see where the state of trophy bass fishing will be in the near future. Livescope and comparable active imaging has opened Pandora's box when it comes to targeting what were previously 'impossible' to find fish. Open water giants simply cannot hide anymore. Certainly the Texas state record is within reach with this new technology, and I don't think its far fetched to say that a new All-Tackle World Record largemouth could be on the horizon.
Josh Dolin