08/23/2026
With Lake Fork BBS just right around the corner on Sept 18-20th, I wanted to share one of my favorite memories of years past. I’ll try to make it short and to the point ! A few years back Coach Hardy came to weigh his fish, but as he approached the cross over point he realized he couldn’t find his angler ID card. I explained to him that we have to see it in order for him to weigh his fish in. At this point he was irritated he couldn’t find it and the time was expiring with just a few minutes left in the 11-12 o’clock hour. So I pulled him up chair and asked him to take break and keep looking for it and that if he found he could weigh in the next hour. About 20 min later he let me know with joy that he had found his ID card indeed. He had put in his phone case. I said well good deal coach let’s weigh this fish! This was now the tee-shirt hour! He then informed that he was concerned about the fish being too long.I explained to him as long as it measures on one side he was good to go. Of course with game wardens in sight, you can understand how he was a little nervous. This is where is gets cool. He handed the fish off to the bump man and it measured perfectly without crossing the 16” mark.The fish was then set on the scales and it lit up 2.50 lbs! Of course I was jumping with joy and coach wasn’t sure what the big deal was. He didn’t realize that was the first even weight of the day and it was instantly worth $5k. He also didn’t realize it was the largest under the slot for the day which was another $5k. As time went on he also got second place in the hour, only to be beat by an over. Coach Hardy won $11,500 that day and nearly had the opportunity for $15k if he had not been beat in the last few minutes.All because he couldn’t find his angler ID card. This is just one of many stories that makes Lake Fork as special to me as it is today. There isn’t any other place in the world you can make that kind of money for catching a 2.5 lbs bass, except at LAKE FORK at the BIG BASS SPLASH.I look forward to seeing you all very soon, on stage!
