State largemouth bass record broken

OLYMPIA — Washington’s largemouth bass record has been shattered by a 12.53-pound lunker caught earlier this month in Lake Bosworth in Snohomish County.

Bill Evans of Bothell, Wash., caught the 23-inch largemouth while fishing with a Strike King 5-inch Shim-E-Stick, wacky-rigged on a 1/0 hook. The girth of the fish was 22.4 inches.

His catch topped the old record of 11.57 pounds by Carl Pruitt in 1977 by almost a pound.

“As soon as I set the hook, I knew it had to be a big one because the bottom pulled hard and it just wouldn’t quit,” Evans said, “When she finally tried to jump, she could only get her head out of the water.”

Evans realized how big the fish really was when he started lifting it into the boat.

“She just kept getting heavier and heavier,” he said, “I put her in the livewell, but she didn’t even fit – her tail stuck out”.

Evans is a seasoned bass angler with nearly 40 years of experience.

He moved to Washington a few years ago, and just started bass fishing in the state this summer. Evans has fished several lakes in the Bothell area, but it was his first time fishing at Lake Bosworth.