Giants of Lady Bird: Records and Biology
The lake record
The Lady Bird Lake record largemouth is 14.05 lb, 27.75 in, caught by Willie Pipkin of Austin on February 5, 2025. It was ShareLunker 672, a Legacy Class fish, and it beat the 13.50-lb record Grant Langmore caught on December 7, 2015 (TPWD release; TPWD all-tackle records).
How it was caught matters more than the weight:
- From the bank, by sight. Pipkin saw "a giant shadow way out in the middle of the creek … sitting on top of a rock" (TPWD release).
- On a bed on Barton Creek. He found the fish the day before, realized she was on her bed, came back, and cast to her for about three hours. The bait was a Texas-rigged watermelon-red Zoom Fluke on a spinning rod with 20-lb braid (Outdoor Life).
- Kept alive for 90 minutes. A friend brought a large mesh bag; they held her in the water, head down in the bag, until ShareLunker staff arrived. She measured a 20.75-in girth (same source). She was later returned to Lady Bird after spawning in Athens (USA Today FTW).
What this tells you
The biggest bass ever weighed from Lady Bird ate a 5-in soft jerkbait, not a giant swimbait, and she was caught in February in clear creek water by an angler who watched her for hours. Big baits are one tool. Patience, clear water and seeing the fish are another analysis.
Every Lady Bird ShareLunker
I parsed the full Texas ShareLunker archive, 6,014 statewide entries, and pulled every Lady Bird entry (ShareLunker archives). Lady Bird has 69 entries, from 2014 to 2026; 41 list a weight, and 8 weighed 10 lb or more analysis.
| Weight | Length | Date | Angler | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14.05 lb | 27.75 in | Feb 5, 2025 | Willie Pipkin | Legacy #672 (lake record) |
| 13.00 lb | 25.00 in | Mar 18, 2014 | Ken Leonard | Legacy #556 |
| 12.69 lb | 26.75 in | Mar 30, 2018 | Michael Patitucci | Elite |
| 11.69 lb | not listed | May 18, 2018 | Eric Thomas | Elite |
| 10.41 lb | 25.00 in | Feb 5, 2022 | Rantz Teeters | Elite |
| 10.38 lb | 25.00 in | Feb 3, 2024 | Grant Burroughs | Elite |
| 10.20 lb | 25.25 in | Jan 22, 2018 | Eric Porter | Elite |
| 10.10 lb | 26.50 in | Apr 10, 2026 | Emily Huebel | Elite |
From the ShareLunker archive, as listed there.
Left: Lady Bird ShareLunker entries by month of catch. Right: weight of each weighed entry by date analysis. February and March produce 26 of 69 entries.
What the archive says analysis:
- February and March are the giant months. Entries by month: Jan 3, Feb 14, Mar 12, Apr 7, May 9, Jun 5, Jul 6, Aug 1, Sep 5, Oct 2, Nov 2, Dec 3. Six of the eight 10-lb-plus fish came between January 22 and March 30.
- The lake punches far above its size. Since the year-round classes began in 2018, Lady Bird ranks #14 of all Texas waters in ShareLunker entries (68 entries), from a lake of under 500 acres.
- Entries by year: 2014: 1 · 2018: 13 · 2019: 7 · 2020: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2022: 13 · 2023: 8 · 2024: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2026: 6. The gap from 2015 to 2017 reflects the program, which only took 13-lb fish before 2018 inference. The 13.50-lb 2015 record is not in the archive.
- Weekends. 42% of Lady Bird entries came on Saturday or Sunday (and another 23% on Friday), about the same share as statewide. That reflects when people fish, not when bass bite analysis.
- Moon phase does not show up. I tested whether entries cluster by moon phase: statewide p = 0.09, Legacy fish p = 0.40, Lady Bird p = 0.98. None reach the usual 0.05 bar analysis. See the moon section of the lures chapter.
The population behind the giants
- Fewer, bigger bass. TPWD's 2019 survey found 73 largemouth an hour by electrofishing, 26 an hour at 14 in or longer, and 2 an hour over 21 in. It describes a "low to moderate density" population shifting toward "larger individuals," in good condition (TPWD 2019).
- ShareLunker genes went back in. TPWD stocked ShareLunker offspring in 2014 from a 13-lb bass caught in Lady Bird (same source), which matches Ken Leonard's March 2014 fish analysis.
- Forage. Redbreast sunfish (217/hr), bluegill, gizzard shad (50/hr, 32% small enough to eat) and redear; threadfin are less common (same source).
- Giants are old, heavy females inference. A bass needs years of good feeding to reach 8–10 lb, and big females are the ones that hold on beds in February and March, the months the archive points to.
Regulations
- Largemouth: 14–21 in slot. Daily bag of 5 black bass, of which only one may be 21 in or longer (TPWD regulations). Most giants will be over 21 in, so one may be kept. This guide assumes release.
- Boats. Electric motors only, 5 hp or less, from 5 am to 10 pm (City code 8-5-82). See the night-fishing section.