Lake O.H. Ivie having epic year
Record 12 Legacy-class Lunkers caught this season suggest reservoir back to its former glory
A perfect storm made Lake O.H. Ivie the place to be this ShareLunker season.
The 12 Legacy-class Lunkers, which are 13 pounds or more, pulled from O.H. Ivie between January and the end of March exceed the lake’s previous record of 11 in 2010 and triples the statewide total of Legacy Lunkers from 2020. Just one Legacyclass fish was collected from the lake last season.
The dozen fish from O.H. Ivie helped carry one of Texas’ best ShareLunker seasons ever. A total of 23 Legacy Lunkers were registered during the collection season, the most since 36 in 1995.
O.H. Ivie was so prolific this season that there were days multiple Legacy Lunkers were hauled from the reservoir. The lake even delivered the ShareLunker program’s 600th Legacy milestone on March 14, when San Angelo’s Jason Gaston caught a 13.76-pounder. Later that day, Weatherford’s Jim Smith would pull No. 601, a plump 14.42-pounder.
The lake doubled up again on March 23. This time, two childhood friends would catch O.H. Ivie’s last two Legacy bass of the collection season.
‘Unbelievable lake’
Jeff Windham and Greg Denison both grew up in Brownwood and Windham and Denison’s brother, who was also out on the lake that day, played basketball together. Windham and Denison started fishing together in high school and have maintained a friendship ever since.
They both suffer the same affliction: a bass fishing addiction. And they both chose to head to the locals’ favorite lake on a gorgeous, sunny day with little wind and big potential.
Windham, a veterinarian in Brownwood, was the first to catch the bass of his life while with his fishing partner, David Duncan.
They forgot the net in the rod box, a sure-fire way to ensure they’d need it.
Windham chunked a Strike King Rage Bug into about six to eight feet of water. A 13.65-pound bass hammered it and took off straight for a tree. Windham was able to wrestle the bass back and landed her.
Only a few hours later, and within 300 yards of where Windham caught his, Denison hooked into a Legacy Lunker while fishing with his son, Cameron.
Denison returned to where he saw a big fish earlier in the day and tossed in a swimbait. He said he saw the fish in the clear water but never saw her move to bite. She just straight up inhaled his lure. Denison’s Power Tackle rod was doubled over.
“When I set the hook, she went crazy,” Denison said.
“I’ve never had a fish fight like that before.”
When he got her in the boat, he had ShareLunker No. 606, a 13.21-pound doozy.
“There’s some big fish in that lake. It’s just an unbelievable lake,” Denison said.
“It’s the best lake by far that I’ve ever fished.”
Windham added: “It was just awesome. I mean the fact that two friends from the same town, local guys, finally catching big fish like that over there. It was pretty surreal.”
Because 10 ShareLunkers had already been donated from O.H. Ivie, Windham and Denison’s fish were not taken to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.
The hot run at Lake O.H. Ivie can primarily be attributed to a favorable water level.
O.H. Ivie, which is on the Colorado and Concho rivers and about 55 miles east of San Angelo, has been subject to extreme water-level fluctuations, typical of many West Texas waterbodies.
It is a relatively young lake, impounded in 1990. O.H. Ivie filled up after its impoundment, then receded from the late 90s until about 2005, and a few wet years mixed in bolstered the lake. The major drought that began in 2010, though, was a detriment. From 2010-2018, the lake averaged about 5,000 surface acres and was below 15 percent capacity for a while.
A rainy Fall 2018 began to turn things around, and the water level continued to rise through the spring of 2019. The lake rose nearly 30 feet and expanded to 15,000 surface acres. The once-exposed vegetation and flush of floodwater nutrients created ample habitat for bass.
“So it was basically a brand-new reservoir,” said Lynn Wright, a district fisheries supervisor for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
“There was so much space and so much food from 2018 to now, those fish had pretty much unlimited food and space and were growing like crazy. I think ultimately that culminated in what we saw this spring.”
Other factors played into the spectacular season on O.H. Ivie. A virus swept through the lake’s common carp population in October 2020, which was advantageous for the bass. The sick, lethargic carp were easy targets for the largemouths, and fisheries biologists found carp tails sticking out of bass mouths while sampling the lake. The carp dieoff was only short term, but did help the bass, Wright said.
Improved sonar technology, such as the Garmin Panoptix LiveScope, was another component that contributed to the fast start on O.H. Ivie. This equipment helped anglers find big fish in 20 feet of water early in the season.
The genetic quality of the largemouth bass population in O.H. Ivie is strong, another reason anglers witnessed a perfect storm this year. When the water level is adequate, TPWD stocks the lake heavily with Florida strain largemouth bass. 389,210 Florida bass were stocked in 2019, 117,377 in 2020 and 200,000 were requested for 2021. Wright said the lake is generally about 85 percent Florida strain genetics.
‘Big fish everywhere’
Genetics and the “new lake effect” caused a boom on Lake O.H. Ivie in 2021, but the run of success can trickle over into the next several years. The water level is gradually falling, but the lake is still about 60 percent full and 13,000 surface acres.
The situation with the water level on O.H. Ivie is just the nature of the beast with lakes in West Texas.
“We kind of have to live through the lean years when we’re in drought. But whenever we have a wet year, we always have good fishing to look forward to thanks to that water-level rise in the years to come,” Wright said.
Windham thought the glory days of Ivie were over when he left for veterinarian school. He returned to a remnant puddle compared to what he fished in his early days. Now, as he fishes with some of the same people from his youth, Ivie is making him feel nostalgic.
“I dare say now it’s better than it ever was. The number of fish over there is just insane. I mean big fish, big fish everywhere on that lake now,” Windham said.
The reservoir also saw a huge spawn in the spring of 2019. TPWD biologists saw a lot of one-year-old fish while sampling last year. Three to four years from now, anglers should see some of the massive bass from that yearclass.
“Regardless if the water level keeps dropping, that year-class is going to keep growing up and is going to provide good fishing for years to come,” said Wright.
Anglers hope that good fishing continues even in the near term. Denison said his favorite time to fish the lake is during April and May.
The ShareLunker program itself will also help boost the lake in the years to come. A yet-to-be-determined number of fingerlings will be returned to O.H. Ivie after the Lunkers are spawned.
The Lunker binge at Lake O.H. Ivie is just part of a historic ShareLunker season in Texas.
Five Lunkers set new waterbody records, five were greater than 15 pounds, including the 23rd Lunker, No. 608, a 15.27-pounder caught by Tanner Spurgin on Lake Fork. Coleman City Lake produced its first-ever Legacy-class Lunker this season, too.
“It’s a phenomenal year,” said Kyle Brookshear, who runs the ShareLunker program for TPWD.
“We’re extremely hopeful for our production season to also be the same, to be record-setting for number offspring produced and stocked and recreating our broodstock.”