I got an ancient ancient skin mounted 12.5 lb largemouth from Lake CayDee, Florida!!! My dad caught it when he was 19 on the lake he lived on. The story is an incredible one too.

He was fishing in a canoe with a plastic worm in Feb. CayDee is in central florida and has some clearish water and ofcourse lots of grass growing even in the middle of the lake. White sand bottom florida lake. He was throwing to white spots that he could see in about 7 feet of water. Most likely on a bed, she bit the worm and he set the hook. He was fishing a spinning rod and the fish was dominating him for the most part. She went out to deep water and buried herself in the grass. Panicking, my dad searched the nearby shoreline for someone to help paddle while he went swimming for her. He looked and there was a 16 year old boy by the looks of it that responded to his yell for help paddling. The guy seemed "special" to my dad but he was desperate for someone to paddle. By the time he paddled over to the kid and the kid got in the boat, my dad

instantly regretted his decision to let this kid paddle. It was becoming clearer and clearer that the kid was indeed mentally handicapped. So now hes in the canoe with a kid who can't paddle and the bass is still buried in the grass. Finally he paddled back to above where the fish was buried and put pressure on it and she somehow just darted out. He landed her all the while the kid is yelling and screaming and trying to shove my dad out of the canoe.

When he lipped her the hook fell out....My dad then dropped off the handicapped kid while getting hit by him the whole time.....Filled the canoe up with water on the bank and put the big momma in. He was torn about what to do. Back then it was a no brainer that if you got a fish over 10 you should stuff it. He debated for a long time and decided to have it done. He now regrets his decision as he is an avid catch and release tropphy bass guy. But I am looking at the mount as I type this. It's the only decoration besides a snowboard and fishing rods in my room as im not very fancy with my interior decorating. He hated killng the fish and on the very same lake he had his very own pet bass that he hand fed daily. Dragonflies and earth worms mostly. The bass grew from 11" to 4 lbs as my dad fed it daily. he literally got the bass to jump out of the water and take a worm from his hand that was hovering 2 feet above water.