BISMARCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has received reports of large black bass being caught at DeGray Lake by area anglers for two consecutive weekends.
On Saturday, January 27, Kanon Harmon caught a bass measuring 26 inches long with a 21-inch girth and a 15-inch-wide mouth while fishing with two friends, brothers Carson and Blake Humphrey.
Last weekend, Jimi Easterling, a buddy and mentor of Kanon's, guided an angler from Memphis, Dabney Hammer, to a spot to land a 12.6-pounder.
"I didn't think it was a bass at first," Kanon described. "I thought maybe it was a striper or hybrid. It wasn't digging very hard. Bass usually take off as soon as you set the hook into them."
He made the lucky catch with a white swimbait, a Motivated Exodus swimmer, at 35 feet depth in 60 feet of water near the State Park Marina.
Kanon said he spotted the fish on LiveScope, put the perfect cast in its vicinity, and got the fish to attack the bait.
"But then I was fighting it in and fighting it in, we're about to get it right to the boat and then I saw that Florida (bass) strain diamond pattern on it and thought, 'This is a 10-pounder!’ Everybody in the boat started to freak out," he said.
After weighing and photographing the catch, they let it go. The 11.02-pound catch is Kanon's personal best, topping a previous 7-pounder.
"My friends have all had fish over 7 (pounds) and I was wondering if I would ever get one better than that weight," he said.
He started fishing at the age of 3 and has been hooked on it ever since. Kanon hopes to compete in fishing area tournaments this spring and summer, and said he's been "chasing it my whole life".
Kanon suggested that anglers fishing on DeGray Lake try using swimbaits, jigging spoons, jerkbaits, as well as a Rat-L-Trap, which would be ideal around grass and shallow rock areas at DeGray.
