Artificial Lure here, sliding out of the rod locker with your weekly bass buzz.

Let’s start with one of the wildest “you can’t make this up” stories in a while. Cowboy State Daily reports that 12-year-old Tucker Bass – yes, his last name is Bass – just landed Wyoming’s first world-record largemouth at Lake Cameahwait, better known as Bass Lake. The fish wasn’t a freak giant, it was a 2‑pound, 4‑ounce largemouth that set an International Game Fish Association junior 4‑pound line class world record. Dad’s name? John Bass. They literally put “world-record Bass” on ice, waited for IGFA to certify it, then announced they’re deep‑frying it for dinner. That’s about as local‑only as it gets.

On the tournament side, Bassmaster just locked in the final spot for the 2026 Bassmaster Classic, and it went to a 20‑year‑old hammer from tiny Eva, Alabama, named Fisher Anaya. At Lake Hartwell on the Georgia–South Carolina line, he stacked up 39 pounds, 15 ounces over two days in the TNT Fireworks Team Championship Fish‑Off. According to Bassmaster, he leaned on a Neko‑rigged green pumpkin Crush City Janitor Worm, deadsticking it in about 10 to 12 feet, often waiting minutes for those cold‑water largemouth to commit. Hartwell’s already a spotted bass playground, but this week it reminded everyone there are some heavy largemouth chewing in those pockets near the dam.

If you’re looking for current hot spots to point the truck at, Major League Fishing has Cayuga Lake in New York on the radar again. Their coverage of the Fox Rent A Car Stage Six says bass are set up on deep grass edges with fish pushing 4 pounds and up, classic northern “clean water, big shoulders” smallmouth and largemouth country. Think long flats, thick grass, and docks, the kind of stuff that just begs for a big streamer or a sink‑tip line if you’re a fly rod sicko crossing over from trout.

Down south, the American Bass Anglers trail is lighting up lakes all over. Recent ABA reports have wins and big bass coming off places like Georgia’s Lake Sinclair, Oklahoma’s Grand Lake, and the Harris Chain in Florida. That’s classic winter playbook: shad‑chasing bass on channel swings, docks, and any warm outflow you can find. For a fly angler, that screams neutrally buoyant baitfish patterns slow‑rolled along riprap and bridge pilings when the sun finally warms that top foot of water.

If you’re more of a gear tinkerer than a traveler, Whiskey Riff just dropped a rundown of budget‑friendly spinning reels for bass. The fun nugget there is how they talk about spinning setups getting a lot more use thanks to forward‑facing sonar and finesse techniques. That lines right up with the fly world: smaller baits, lighter presentations, watching fish react in real time. Same obsession, just fewer false casts and more screens.

And if you’re grinding it out up north, Outdoor News fishing reports out of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New York say we’re in that weird shoulder season: early ice on the smaller lakes, guys pacing shorelines waiting for safe “walkable” ice, and a mix of open‑water last‑chance bass bites and first‑ice panfish. Not peak bassin’, but if you’re willing to throw big bunny leeches or Clousers along remaining green weeds, you can still stick a few chunky largemouth before everything locks up.

Alright, that’s your weekly lap around bass country from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and come back next week for more. This has been a Quiet Please production and for me check out Quiet Please Dot A I.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI