Recently I was surfing through a bunch of old newspapers online, looking for interesting stories and killing time, when I came across an incredible big bass column that just blew me away. It was a column titled “Hook, Lyin’ and Sinker,” written by Byron Hollingsworth, that appeared in The Tampa Tribune out of Tampa, Florida. The date of the paper was Feb. 12, 1948, and what initially grabbed my attention was a photograph of an angler holding two big bass. So I paused, read the caption and then scrolled down a bit and saw yet another picture of another angler holding a hefty bass…and then another…and another.
Well, finding several big bass pictures in an old newspaper seemed a little unusual, so I scanned the article and read about even more big bass that weren’t photographed for the column. The story shared brief reports of several anglers in the area catching big bass. In total six large bass were mentioned, including the ones in the photos. The smallest of the six weighed 9 pounds.
I assume that Hollingsworth was the paper’s outdoors staff writer, and I did a short search for other “Hook, Lyin’ and Sinker” columns. “Hook, Lyin’ and Sinker” began, I believe, sometime near the end of 1936, and ran until June 3, 1984. The banner was retired with the retirement of the column’s last writer, Herb Allen, on that day in June. During its nearly 50-year run, the column had several writers, and was a repository for hunting, fishing and outdoors news for The Tampa Tribune. I found several entries reporting on or showing pictures of big bass caught in the area. But none could match the number of trophy bass in the Feb. 12, 1948 column.
This particular column spotlighted bass weighing,
14 lb. 2 oz.
9 lb.
11 lb. 8 oz.
11 lb.
11 lb. 7 oz.
12 lb.
That is amazing!
Here’s the text for each fish, and photos, in the order they were written about:
“About the only thing an angler at Carrollton, GA., can catch is a cat out of the Chattahoochee River, so Judge Lynn Holmes, who had been fishing the muddy waters of the river for years avowed he’d get himself one big Florida bass before he turned 80. He did just that Tuesday in the Withlacoochee Backwaters near Dunnellon. In fact, the judge got one of the biggest fish caught in Florida in recent months. It was a 14 pound, two ounce, big mouth bass.”
“The judge was fishing in a boat with his son, J. M. Holmes also of Carrollton, while two other hometown fishermen, J. Carl Williams and Charles Upchurch, were struggling from another boat.”
“The weather was rough Tuesday and the party was just about ready to head back to Porter’s Camp without any luck when J. M. hooked one that weighed nine pounds.”
The judge believes fish travel in pairs so insisted on fishing in the same spot for a while longer in spite of the cold weather. It took him only 10 minutes to lure the big fish to his shiner.”
“‘It was a big fish for a man 79 years old,” said the judge. ‘But I didn’t let it get away’”
“Williams and Upchurch looked on in dismay. They didn’t get a fish.”
Next,
“Ray Mortimer, [photo above] who operates the Pine Bay Camp on the Tidewater Route at Dunnellon, reports the fish are biting there and one of the happiest anglers this season was T. H. James of Kennett, MO., who got one that weighed 11½ pounds. James, his wife and two sons, Paul and Tommie, have spent much time at the camp since Christmas and made numerous catches. James said the 11½ pounder was quite a scrapper and he was glad when he got it into the boat.”
“Bill Bridges, of Lake Wales, issues a challenge to any other section of the state for good fishing.”
“‘Tell the anglers,’ he says, ‘that Lake Wales is the real fishing spot at the present time.’”
“Bridges went out of Mack’s Camp and the two anglers came home with nine whoppers. The biggest weighed 11 pounds, seven ounces.”
“Another fresh water note comes from C. V. Frisch, who manages the Frisch Brothers Camp on Lake Harris, near Leesburg. Frisch says the bass are plentiful and they are running big. The largest one landed lately was a 12-pounder, by William G. Hiscock of Hilton, N.Y.”
Other bits and pieces in the “Hook, Lyin’ and Sinker” column talked about non-bass catches and how good the fishing was in the area. Unfortunately, the only gear or lure we’re told about is a shiner that Judge Holmes used to catch his 14 pounder. You have to admit, this was quite a set of fish back in 1948.
