JB Thomas: It’s Like the Wild West Out There

 

 

THE STORYBOOK FISHING TRIPS to shock the imagination continue to unfold at Lake J.B.Thomas near Snyder. To hear Christian Gladfelter and Brandon Burks tell it, it’s been like the Wild, Wild West out there.

Both fishing guides are pretty salty with forward-facing sonar. Their success is built 100 percent on their ability to read an electronics screen to locate suspended fish roaming around in open water, then tease them into biting with precision casts that 10 years ago would have never been made.

Chris Chopelas of Alpine has witnessed the magic at the little West Texas lake multiple times over the past few months with the help of Gladfelter, owner of slaunchedguideservice.com. To wit:

On the night of August 15, 2024, Chopelas experienced what may be the best after hours fishing trip ever recorded on Texas waters. In eight hours of fishing, Chopelas boated multiple bass over eight pounds, including three over ten pounds and two over nine. His heaviest five fish weighed nearly 55 pounds. 

One of the bass had a really serious weight problem. The fish weighed 14.09 pounds on a digital scale. That’s slightly heavier than the 13.79 pound official lake record caught by Lawrence Lee of Tolar. The big bass was a real night owl. Chopelas caught the fish at about 2 a.m. All of the fish are documented in photographs on Gladfelter’s Facebook page. “It was truly a wild night,” says Gladfelter. “It was one of those fishing trips I’ll never forget.”

Gladfelter has been using Garmin’s LiveScope technology since it was introduced 2018. He relies on it exclusively to find and identify big fish. “I put the trolling motor down and don’t cast until I find what looks to be a big fish, eight pounds and up,” he said. “Sometimes it might take 15 minutes and sometimes it takes an hour or more.”

Gladfelter pointed out that J.B. Thomas bass are different animals than those in most lakes. “These fish aren’t spot oriented to structure,” he said. “They just show up in random areas. You might find an area with a bunch of big ones one day and they’ll be someplace else the next.” Gladfelter said all of Chopelas’ bass were caught within the same 50-yard stretch in 10 – 15 feet of water using one bait — a 1/2 ounce jig he calls the Space Invader. Hot pink was the magic color that night.

It’s hard to imagine the fishing getting any better, but it did.

During September 2024, Gladfelter says his boat has accounted for more than 250 bass over eight pounds, including 20 double-digits up to 13.36 pounds.

Burks says he doesn’t fool around much with trying to catch fish that look to be less than 10 pounds on his Lowrance Active Target screen. He claims his boat accounted for 17 bass over 10 pounds during September alone. Among them were ten fish in the 10-pound class, four 11 pounders, two 12s and a 13.22 pounder.

Those are truly incredible numbers unchallenged by any lake in Texas right now — perhaps the entire world. There is plenty of photographic proof on both of the guide’s Facebook pages. It’s gallery after gallery of plump bass with serious weight problems.

“This lake has been fishing completely off the charts — it has been insane,” he said. “There isn’t another lake around fishing like this one.”

It hasn’t aways been that way. Built in 1952, the 7,200-acre reservoir has not been at full level since the early 1960s. In 2012-13, the reservoir was so starved for water it had dropped to 200 surface acres.  Low oxygen levels spurred a significant fish kill that wiped out most piscatorial life.

Things changed in September 2014, when remnants of a powerful Pacific hurricane dumped so much rain on the watershed that the lake went from under 200 acres to around 6,000 acres in size in a week’s time. The rise flooded fields of terrestrial vegetation that sprouted during the extended drought, essentially creating a brand new lake.

Texas Parks and Wildlife took advantage of the vibrant “new lake effect” by stocking nearly 79,000 Florida fingerlings in 2015, followed by additional stockings through 2024. It’s logical to assume that the earliest stockings are largely responsible for the armies of big bass finning around out there today.

It’s worth noting that J.B. Thomas caught about 13 feet of water after heavy rains fell on the Colorado River watershed again in early September 2024. The welcomed rise spurred the lake from about 16.6 percent of full capacity to about 38 percent of full capacity. The reservoir currently spans about 4,200 surface acres. 

TPWD fisheries biologist Caleb Huber of Canyon said the most recent rise flooded an abundance of salt cedars and other terrestrial vegetation that sprouted at the lake’s upper reaches over the last decade. The newly flooded cover will provide excellent spawning habitat for existing bass populations, while serving as a nursery and playground for the Lone Star bass fingerlings the department plans to stock this spring.

Email Matt Williams at ContactUs@fishgame.com