Laird is a big bass fisherman ! Leads on day 2 at Rayburn.

Robert Laird of Livingston set the hook on a 13.19 pound bass.  Laird was fishing in 6 to 8 feet of water beside the U.S. 190 bridge across Lake Livingston. He was using a Bagley crankbait.

Laird’s fish is the first ShareLunker ever entered from Lake Livingston and is the new lake record for largemouth. The fish also was the big fish in the Polk County Bass Club tournament Laird was fishing in and helped him win. The fish bested Lake Livingston’s previous largemouth record of 12.45 pounds caught February 16, 1987.

Lake Livingston is not known as a big bass lake, and some of Laird’s friends doubted him when he said he had a fish over 10 pounds to weigh in.

“They didn’t want to believe me on Lake Livingston,” he said. “When I pulled her out of the bag, all their eyes flew open.”

Any angler legally catching a 13 pound or bigger largemouth bass from Texas waters, public or private, between October 1 and April 30 may submit the fish to the Toyota ShareLunker program by calling program manager David Campbell at 903-681-0550 or paging him at 888-784-0600 and leaving a phone number including area code.