Feb. 1, 2026, 11:13 a.m. ET
A massively rotund, 17.6-pound largemouth bass was caught Friday at Lake Jennings in San Diego County, setting a waterbody record.
Ryan Henson’s extraordinary catch, it’s worth noting, occurred one day after the reservoir was stocked with 1,500 pounds of rainbow trout.
Images on Facebook reveal a bass belly that’s not bulging with eggs, as one follower remarked. But “full of trout,” according to Lake Jennings.
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Henson was fishing with a large swimbait designed to entice giant bass.
His catch is impressive, considering that it’s rare anywhere in the country to catch largemouth bass topping 15 pounds. (Click here if the Lake Jennings Facebook post doesn’t appear below.)
The International Game Fish Assn. lists as the all-tackle world record a 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass caught at Montgomery Lake, Ga., in 1932.
The California record is 21-pounds, 12-ounces, for a bass caught at Castaic Lake in Los Angles County in 1991. (Castaic, at the time, was famous for producing giant bass catches during the trout-stocking season.)
Henson, who released his catch after it was weighed and photographed, was criticized by some for placing the fish on the ground for one photo. But generally, he was congratulated.
The top comment: “Might as well stop fishing there. You can’t top that.”