Lake Monticello Produces 10-Pound Lunker Bass

By Jim Harris, Managing Editor, Arkansas Wildlife MagazineMONTICELLO — A bass angling friend told Rod Martinez late last week that the fish were biting really well at Lake Monticello, so he headed that way Saturday, anxious to see what he might land.“I thought I might go catch a big fish,” he said. Despite a late start from his hometown of Benton, Martinez indeed found the bass biting — maybe not quite as well as his friend, Jimi Easterling, had hinted two days earlier, but good nonetheless.He caught five fish on five consecutive casts, all on a jig, which convinced him to stick with that bait all day. One fish among 14 total catches measured 7.1 pounds, a couple were 4-pounders, nothing was less than 2 pounds, and he said his fishing buddy also caught a 5-pounder.Then came the fish that made the trip truly worthwhile. Around 1:40 p.m., he had a really big one take hold of his jig. The bass fought well and came to the surface two or three times, he recalled. Neither he nor buddy Dave Lewis had a net handy, but Martinez safely got the massive fish into the boat. His own scale, topping 10 pounds, told him that a call to the Arkansas Legacy Lunker hotline was in order.Will Lancett, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s coordinator of the Arkansas Legacy Lunker program, was already picking up Legacy Lunker Number Nine from Lower White Oak Lake. Local fisheries biologists Ryan Mozisek and Levi Olhausen met up with Martinez at the ramp and provided fish care until Lancett could arrive to officially weigh the fish to see if it would qualify for the program. Lancett’s official scale measured Martinez’s fish at 10.22 pounds, and then it was headed to the Joe Hogan State Fish Hatchery in Lonoke to join eight other donated Lunkers, where they will be part of an AGFC program to breed more potential big bass for Arkansas lakes. The AGFC’s first Legacy Lunker seas...