You know spring has arrived when the monster bass start coming out of Lake Fork.
Donald Deville of Ville Platte, Louisiana makes regular visits to Lake Fork with friends and family to fish for big bass, but he had never landed a double-digit fish.
Until Wednesday.
The 14.06-pound largemouth bass he caught mid-morning of the group’s first day on the lake is now ShareLunker 547. The fish was 25.75 inches long and 22 inches in girth. It was held for pickup at Lake Fork Marina, an official ShareLunker Weigh and Holding Station.
Deville caught the fish in five feet of 58-degree water using a Brush Hog.
“It was about my third cast,” Deville said. “I was fishing with one of my sons, and he threw on the left side of the stump, and I threw on the right. And I got the big lunker to bite.”
Deville fought the fish for some time.
“She didn’t wrap on anything, but she took a lot of drag,” he said. “Finally we saw her and how big she was, and we got really excited.”
Deville was not familiar with the ShareLunker program, but some members of his group were and advised him to take the fish to Lake Fork Marina to be weighed.
“I’m really excited about the way Lake Fork Marina handled the fish and the care they took of the fish after we got it here,” he said.
Deville said he intends to keep returning to Lake Fork as long as he is able.
“Hopefully my grandchildren can enjoy that,” he said.
The fish is the eleventh entry into the ShareLunker program during the current season. Average weight of the entries this season so far is 13.85 pounds, and the largest entry weighed 16.04. Two 14-pounders and one 15-pounder have also been entered.
