Late spawner turns out to be Okatibbee Lake record

Big bass is only bite of the day for Mississippi State University Bass Club member

Okatibbee Lake has garnered a reputation among many locals as The Big O, The Dead Sea and a few other less-desirable names, as it traditionally has been a tough place to catch bass. While the crappie population has thrived with thousands of limits of perch caught each year, catching bass has been a problem for all but the most-accomplished anglers.

But Mississippi State University Bass Club member Taylor Odom proved in May that the lake holds some beastly bass when he sank a hook into a lake-record fish — a 10-pounder that bested the old record by a solid pound.“I’d just gotten back into town from Starkville and couldn’t wait to go fishing so I headed to Okatibbee,“ the young Meridian angler said.

But he had to persevere until the 10.64-pounder ate his lure: After fishing a bit, he found out that the bass were in a transition period and the bite was off.

“We just didn’t catch anything, and my partners wanted to leave so I carried them back to the landing,” Odom said.

Although he was ready to call it a day, something told him not to quit. At that point he hadn’t even gotten a bite.

“I decided to fish until dark, so I just stayed close to the landing and kept fishing,” Odom said. “It was clear to me that the most of the bass were headed to deeper water, but where I didn’t know.”

With time winding down, he made a decision that he’ll likely never forget: He decided to work grass flooded by recent rains with a frog. Not just any frog mind you, but a very exclusive custom modified frog.

“We took a frog made by a small company and modified it a bit, but I don’t want to say what kind and what we did since we’re fishing on the collegiate level and want to keep every advantage we have,” Odom said.

Odom worked his frog over, around and through thick vegetation, and a monster bass exploded through the grass and ate it. Odom reared back and drove the steel home.

Reacting much like a torpedo, the massive lunker bore down and rocketed toward the bottom.

It was all that Odom could do to hold onto the rod, but the 65-pound braid was more than enough to handle the bass. Soon the fish was in Odom’s boat.

The bass had eggs running out and was obviously one of Okatibbee Lake’s late-May spawners.

“I was real excited and just put her in the livewell,” Odom said. “I motored out to another boat and met Thomas Upchurch, and he let me weigh the bass.”

Still not satisfied with the weight, Odom secured a set of digital scales and the sow bass topped out at 10.64 pounds.

“That bass is the biggest we’ve recorded and beats our previous lake record that weighed over 9 pounds,” Okatibbee Lake Ranger Mark Dean said.

Odom released the bass after the catch was verified.