Yates Place Producing Big Fish Again

Mar 06 2015

Steve Alexander

Admin

Member Since :
2002
Number of Posts :
1189

Long Branch Yates has always been known as a big fish lake. Well it strikes again. Member Zach Turner and his guest landed a 9.3, 8.1 and a 7 lb fish on Feb 13th. That morning a cold front came through a dropped the temp to 30 degrees, but they were able to locate fish on their sidescan and had to cast within 2 feet of the fish to coax them to bite. See pictures below.  2 weeks later Greg Davis was fishing by himself and landed another 9 lber. The spawn will be late this year, probably at least 2 weeks later.

Posted By: Steve Alexander

Mar 06 2015

Frank James

Fingerling

Member Since :
2005
Number of Posts :
86

Magnificent fish!  Gets my juices flowing for a trip, that's for sure.

One caveat: Holding big bass just by the jaw will likely break their jaw.  This happened to a recent 14.3 lb bass caught on a private lake in Texas that was sent to the Share a Lunker people and died.

Large bass should always be held by wetted hands supporting them underneath the front and the belly.  At least, if you wish to keep them alive!

Mar 08 2015

Steve Alexander

Admin

Member Since :
2002
Number of Posts :
1189

Great point Frank. Holding the fish with two hands on bigger fish is always a good idea. Make sure you wet your hand prior to supporting the belly of the fish; as not to remove the slime (protective) coating of the fish.

However, in order to weigh a fish on a scale the fish will be in a vertical position. Just make sure that you do not "cock back" the jaw; where the weight of the fish is supported by its mouth. If you hold the jaw straight up and down and only hold it this way during wieghing you are fine 99.9% of the time. The broken jaw of La Perla Ranch fish (Share a Lunker) mentioned above was a unusual circumstance. My guess is the fish was held multiple times by multiple people. Some folks have not a clue about how to hold a big bass much less a giant like that.one.

Giant bass are so very rare and catching them is even less rare. Handling them with care is crucial for their survival.