Little Douthat Lake gives up one giant bass
Southern California is dotted with deep, cool, clear lakes that produce some monster largemouth bass.
Part of they key is their diet, which includes a lot of stocked trout. The lakes are also really clear, so tricking the bass is anything but easy.
Well, it seems like we might have something like that going on here.
My feature on today’s Roanoke Times Outdoors page was about an 11-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass pulled from little Douthat Lake on March 1. Chris Vess of Nicelytown, a little community near Clifton Forge, caught the fish on a tiny Mepps trout spinner and 4-pound-test line.
Douthat is stocked with trout. It’s got some bass, obviously, and I would suspect the bigger ones chow down on trout. This bass just looks like one of those fat California toads. I mean, it’s a relatively modest 23 1/2 inches long, but has a girth of 21 inches. Wow!
But it’s also usually really clear, so the bass are pretty tough.
As word of this catch spreads, I suspect it will draw some extra fishing attention over the next couple of months.
I have been fishing in Virginia for a long time and have never caught an 8-pound largemouth. My biggest was 6 1/2 to 7. It was 23 inches long but was nowhere near this fat.
How many of you have caught an 8-pounder in Virginia? Anyone here get one over 10 pounds? I’m betting very few of you, though maybe some of you Briery Creek devotees have. Fish that size are just extremely rare this far north.
March 9, 2012 - 2:17 PM
That’s a great fish for a good guy.
Driving to work this morning, came around a turn and there were two turks standing on the yellow line with another in full fan standing on the white line. Won’t be long….
Stu – I saw six longbeards crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway at Roanoke Mountain on Wednesday afternoon. One month to go!
Congratulations, Chris! That is a great fish! But the tiny trout lure and the 4 pound test line makes it a great story too!
What a PIG! Im counting the days Mark.
I am 99% sure that is the same bass I fished for for 3 hours one day last year. It wouldn’t even look at anything I threw. Congrats man! GREAT FISH!
Congratulations Chris on that Monster BASS !!!
That fish is truly a once in a lifetime trophy! and it’s even a sweeter victory since you whipped her on ultralight tackle, WOW!
Mark – to reply to your question… I’ve caught quite a few citation size largemouth and smallmouth bass here in Virginia but never one over 10 pounds. I can promise you that Big Bass are few and far between. I’ve put in a tremendous amount of fishing time over the last 35 years…. usually 2 to 3 outings a week and I feel fortunate if I can get a couple Hawgs in a season. But even with that being said I think the fishing in our area is better than it ever has been. I fish Smith mountain lake a lot and I’m catching more big bass than ever. Also for those who want to explore Big Bass oppurtunities on other public lakes in our region we have some great choices. Kerr reservoir can be absolutely fantastic at times…. it is a wonderful Bass fishery. Also two of my favorite places to get a monster bass would be Lake Gaston and Lake Anna. Theses two lakes can be a little stingy but you can definitely catch some Hawgs there.
I agree with Ralph, lakes around here are producing some nice bass. And my biggest bass came from Lake Gaston fishing submerged stumps with a spinnerbait. But by far, my best bag of bass came several years ago fishing a night tournament in April. Yes, I said April. I weighed in 5 bass at a tad over 25 lbs. So many guys start the night bite too late and never realize the potential of late April at night. My bass club always wanted to start night fishing in late June, figuring the bed fishing would produce better and bigger bass during April and May………WRONG!