As a fishing guide, Wendell Ramsey Sr. has spent years perfecting his methods. He’s both caught and put his clients on a lot of big Texas bass. Yet when Ramsey and a couple buddies launched on Hords Creek Lake in Coleman, Texas on February 11, he had no idea he was going to tie into a monster 13-pound largemouth. In part because a bass that big had never been caught there before.
“I’d fished Hords Creek a couple of other times,” Ramsey tells Outdoor Life. “It has some decent fish, and I’d caught a couple of 7-pounders and even a 9-pounder out of there. But I had no idea that place had anything that big swimming around in it. It made for a nice surprise.”
Wendell and his friends started fishing at 8 a.m. The air temperature was cool, in the low 40s, and the water temperature was around 51 degrees. In the cooler water, Wendall wanted to use something that would get the bass’s attention, so he tied on a Black’s Widow Maker 4-Blade Umbrella Rig tipped with Strike King Rage Tail Swimmers. Then he motored over to where he’d had luck before.
“I’d fished that spot the week before and had caught a few nice 5-pounders,” Ramsey says. “It’s in around 8 feet of water and when I got there and put down my Livescope, we could see plenty of fish swimming around.”
Wendell and his friends hooked a couple bass right away that ended up weighing around 4.5 pounds apiece, but they just couldn’t get the larger fish on the scope to show any interest. At around 9:30 a.m., Wendell zeroed in on three very large bass hovering three feet off the bottom and ran his umbrella rig past them. Two of the fish showed a slight interest and started to follow the bait, then the third rocketed past them and smashed it.
“She came at it fast and hit it hard,” Wendall recalls. “I set the hook and knew it was a good one. Big bass like that feel like you’re setting the hook into a big soft log for a few seconds and then the headshakes start. I felt the weight and looked at the end of my rod bucking and that right there told me it was a really good fish.”
Once hooked, the fish came in surprisingly quickly and Wendell thought she might be sluggish in the cold water. Then, when she was 20 feet away, the fish recognized the boat and things took a dramatic turn.
“She didn’t really get mad like most big ones do. I was just pulling her in while she shook her head. Then she saw the boat and things turned around. She started pulling out my drag pretty good and I thought to myself, ‘Oh she’s got to be at least 10 pounds.’”
Wendell managed to get the fish to the side of the boat and into the net. As he lifted it on board, he saw how big the bass really was and knew he was going to have to call the Texas ShareLunker hotline.
“I caught a 14.92lber in 2021 that went to ShareLunker and had a client do it that same year,” Ramsey recalls. “So as soon as I saw her in the net, I thought ‘well I guess I’m calling ShareLunker again.”
After calling the hotline, biologists came out to the lake and weighed the bass in at 13.76 pounds, making the fish the first-ever Legacy Class ShareLunker from Hords Creek Reservoir. Hords Creek is now the 80th public water body in Texas to produce a Legacy Class bass.
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“Wendell’s fish really shows how successful the program has been,” says Natalie Goldstrohm, Toyota Sharelunker Program coordinator. “I think that with the Sharelunker program we’ve been able to hit a very important milestone, especially with legacy fish being produced out of reservoirs that have never produced them before. It’s a testament to the success of the program and all thanks to the anglers willing to participate.”
For Wendell Ramsey Sr. the fish is also a milestone, one that further fuels his big largemouth obsession.
“I’m addicted to chasing big West Texas bass. I’m always looking for that special one and weighing that bass and seeing how big it was. Man, you just can’t beat that feeling. It’s a powerful thing.”
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