As we move into 2023, I wanted to put together the most popular viral bass fishing stories of the previous year. This past year was filled with both big fish catches and controversy, resulting in a lot of talk in the fishing community. So if you’re spending the day hanging out and watching football or relaxing with your loved ones, here are some interesting stories you can scroll through in your down time.
We wish you all the best in 2023 and we are so thankful you choose to spend part of your busy day with Wired2fish. Let’s all continue to fish hard, be kind and grow this beautiful sport!
Both fishing and national media got stirred up when videos began surfacing from angry anglers in Cleveland, Ohio after tournament director Jason Fischer of the Lake Erie Walleye Tour (LEWT) sliced open the fish of the supposed winning duo of Jake Runyan and Chase Cominsky to find lead weights had been stuffed down their throats.
In fact, when it was all said and done, Fischer found 8 pounds of lead weights, other walleye fillets and pliers inside of the fish that gave the team a weight that easily won the tournament.
Read the full story here: Walleye Tournament Director Catches Cheaters Red Handed
On Wednesday, Oct 12. 2022, the alleged walleye tournament cheaters Jacob Runyan of Broadview Heights, Ohio and Chase Cominsky of Hermitage, Penn. that were caught red handed last month for stuffing 8-pounds of weights in walleyes to attempt to win and fraud the tournament and competitors were indicted by a grand jury in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas on some very serious charges.
Read the full story here: Walleye Tournament Cheaters Indicted on Three Felonies
This is something we haven’t really seen before but it’s getting the angling community excited. The Elephant Butte Chamber of Commerce in New Mexico has announced a $10,000 reward for anyone who catches the state-record smallmouth bass from Elephant Butte Reservoir. There are several caveats, however.
Read the full story here: Small Town Offers $10,000 Reward for State-Record Smallmouth Bass
The state of Washington initiated the Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program back in 2000 as the Northern Pikeminnow was wreaking havoc on sportfishing population. These invasive fish are heavy feeders and consume millions of young salmon and steelhead a year. The program paid out more than $700,000 to anglers last year and more than $840,000 two years ago.
Read the full story here: Angler Earns $60,000 for Catching Nuisance Fish
This past weekend in rural Georgia, two Department of Natural Resource officers were patrolling Lake Juliette in Monroe County checking anglers. During one of these routine checks, one of the officers noticed three individuals attempting to sneak away from them through the woods. They didn’t get far and once the officer caught up with them, he noticed a bag the subjects had allegedly hid in the woods. Unfortunately, the bag contained 18 fish consisting of both largemouth bass and bream. There was also a spear gun found.
Read the full story here: 3 Arrested, Charged for Spearing Bass and Panfish
The giant fish weighed 104 pounds and was caught in the Mississippi River near Natchez on a trotline. The fish broke the previous state trophy record Blue Catfish caught by the team of Freddie Parker and Brad Smith in 1997 by three pounds.
Read the full story here: Angler Catches MS State Record Catfish
To our knowledge this smallmouth would rank as the fourth biggest ever caught. The world record smallmouth is 11 pounds, 15 ounces caught out of Dale Hollow Lake. There was another from Dale Hollow that was 10 pounds, 14 ounces. The third largest was a tie with one caught in Dale and the one caught in out of the Wheeler Dam Tailwater in Alabama that were both 10 pounds, 8 ounces and the current fourth largest was 10 pounds even caught out of Hiwasse Reservoir.
Read the full story here: A Record 10-Pound Smallmouth Caught on Erie
The fish measured 16 1/4 inches and weighed a whopping 5.07 pounds. Judging by his social media profiles, Mickle has a lot of experience chasing these huge redear sunfish and it looks as if his experience paid off in a big way. What a catch, Zac!
Read the full story here: Angler Catches Huge Redear Sunfish
Brodey Davis of Tuttle Oklahoma caught a real fish of a lifetime on the now ever popular O.H. Ivie in Texas while fishing with his son. Davis caught a largemouth bass weighing 17.06 pounds. The Toyota Texas ShareLunker program collected the fish and certified that the weight makes his bass the 7th largest bass ever caught in the state of Texas and the pending lake record for O.H. Ivie.
Read the full story here: Angler Catches 7th Largest Texas Bass of All Time
You know what’s better than catching a 30-pound stringer of smallmouth bass in a tournament? Catching a state record smallmouth while you’re at it. It was your classic win-win-win scenario for Thomas Russell. They won the tournament. They caught one of their biggest stringers of smallmouth bass ever and Russell landed the pending New York State Record smallmouth bass at 8 pounds, 5.8 ounces.
Read the full story here: Angler Catches Record Smallmouth Bass in NY
