Not much can top the feeling of catching a personal best bass, except of course catching a personal best bass during Championship Sunday of a Bassmaster Elite Series event. That is exactly what Elite Series pro Justin Hamner did on the final day on Lake Fork. Not only did Hamner reach the coveted 10-pound mark, but he far surpassed it when he boated the 11-pound, 7-ounce giant.
“It was so big for me in many different ways,” Hamner said when looking back on the catch. “It was kind of the breakout moment for my season that really led to so much more.” Referencing the following event, the 2024 Bassmaster Classic he won a few weeks later. That fish and tournament finish were huge momentum boosters, and the added money bonus allowed the Alabama pro to hire a camera guy and document his monumental Classic victory.
A fish like that on the final day of a tournament to back up a 33-7 sack would normally propel an angler to an easy victory, just not on Lake Fork. Hamner finished with 124-10 to land in third.
While Lake Fork and the other lakes of the 2024 season produced many quality fish, Hamner’s 11-7 lasted the entire season as the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Year. Lake Fork and Toledo Bend Reservoir especially accounted for countless 6-to-9-pound class fish. Amazingly, the closest contender was caught not more than an hour and a half before as Tyler Rivet also caught his personal best bass of 10 pounds, 12 ounces, nearly missing out on top honors. Jacob Powroznik also gave it a scare when he boated a 10-8 on the Harris Chain about a month later.
The Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Year award netted Hamner $10,000 in addition to the $3,000 for the big bass of the day and tournament. That fish also bumped him up a couple more places in the tournament which was an added bonus. While the money is nice, the experience of such a fish will last much longer.
Looking back on the actual fish catch, Hamner reminisces on how incredible it was. “It (the bass) was on that same stump every day, so I would start in that area every morning.” The fish would sit halfway down that individual stump, but when Hamner would cast his jerkbait, it would shoot straight to the bottom every time. He had even cast at the fish the morning of the final day but decided to return and give it one more shot in the afternoon.
“When I came back in the afternoon, instead of it being suspended on the side of it, she was sitting all the way on the top of that stump. When I threw over by it, she came off of it and met it. Like, it was no hesitation.” Hamner’s best guess is that the bright, afternoon sun repositioned the fish to the top of the stump and put it in an aggressive mood.
All week, Hamner kept saying all he wanted to do was catch a 10-pounder as his previous personal best was a 9-12. And while he didn’t catch a 10-pounder, an 11 will have to do. The fish’s potential to be the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Year didn’t occur to Hamner till after the day when he realized it would be tough to beat even with two Florida events ahead. In the end, Hamner’s fish did hold on and became the cherry on top of a life-changing season.
