AUSTIN, Texas — Lady Bird Lake isn’t usually where big fish are caught, but an Austin man made the catch of his life in the lake last month.
Willie Pipkin caught a 14 pound bass in Lady Bird Lake in February. He said he saw the bass swimming in the water the day prior, and set out early the following day to catch the massive fish.
“I noticed two other fishermen were in boats right on top of that fish that I saw and I was kind of heartbroken about it,” Pipkin said. “But I set down there and watched them and I realized that they didn’t … they didn’t know it was there.”
Pipkin said Texas Parks and Wildlife officials came out to pick up the fish and bring it to a hatchery, where it can be breed and make more big fish.
According to state records, the largest bass ever caught in Texas was caught in 1992 in Lake Fork, which is about 80 miles east of Dallas. That fish weighed about 18 pounds and was around 25 inches long.