Outdoors: Cold day leads to trophy catch
Bass fishing OKC police offer Davis nets new Lake Thunderbird record in freezing weather
By Ed Godfrey
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Published: April 5, 2009
Kenny Davis of Oklahoma City holds the 10.8-pound largemouth bass that he caught last Sunday at Lake Thunderbird near Norman. Photo provided
A day that started cold and miserable last Sunday for Oklahoma City police officer Kenny Davis ended fabulously.
Davis landed a 10.8-pound largemouth bass from
Lake Thunderbird near
Norman that might even change the future of bass fishing at the reservoir.
First, the fish story
Davis and his tournament partner,
Bill Tays — another Oklahoma City police officer — were fishing in the "Fishing Frenzy” bass tournament Sunday on Thunderbird but had little hopes of winning.
The temperature was below freezing and frost covered the boat as they backed it into the lake that morning.
They fished for three hours without a bite. Ice kept building up on the lines and the eyes of their fishing rods.
"Our feet and hands were like blocks of ice,” Davis said. "However, the cold became almost bearable when my partner connected with a 6-pounder that bit his Booyah jig.”
They continued fishing the cove just north of Hog Creek when Tays suddenly hollered to get the net.
When Davis looked over, Tays’ rod was bent in half but the Spiderwire fishing line he was using seemed to be doing its job.
Davis grabbed the net and observed a swirl at the top of water when the fish came off the hook.
He immediately dropped the net and grabbed a rod.
Casting a Strike King jig at a small stump where his buddy had initially hooked the fish, Davis hooked and landed what would be the new Thunderbird Lake record.
Tays managed to slide the net over the brute just before she gave a tremendous flop and broke the 12-pound Seaguar line.
That black bass teamed with Tays’ earlier catch was enough to win first place in the tournament.
Now, the rest of the story
State wildlife officials are going to test a fin clip from Davis’ lake record to see if it has
Florida genes. The Florida strain of largemouth bass grow bigger and faster.
Historically, Lake Thundererbird has a low population of largemouth bass. Florida bass were first introduced to the lake in 1973 to increase the number of trophy bass, but no Floridas have been put in the lake since 2003, said
Keith Thomas, fisheries biologist for the
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
State wildlife officials used to raise the Florida fingerlings at a hatchery pond on the lake. But Thunderbird Lake is on the cusp of regions in
Oklahoma where Florida bass will survive and grow.
Generally speaking, Florida bass thrive better in Oklahoma lakes east of Interstate 35 and south of Interstate 40, those lakes with longer growing seasons.
State wildlife officials put most of their Florida bass in lakes where they have gotten the biggest bang for their buck.
But Thomas said if Davis’ catch does have Florida genes, state wildlife officials may want to start putting those potential trophy-size fish in Thunderbird again.
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