FLW Angler Scores Monster Chickamauga Bass

14 1/2-pounder nearly matched the Tennessee state record

Avid T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League angler Todd Beaty has the bass world buzzing this week after landing a 14-pound, 8-ounce largemouth on Tennessee’s Lake Chickamauga on Dec. 30.

Beaty’s huge fish was just 11 ounces away from the current Tennessee state record largemouth (15 pounds, 3 ounces.), also caught on Lake Chickamauga by Gabe Keen on Feb. 13, 2015. Beaty’s bass would have tied Tennessee’s previous state record that stood for more than 60 years. No one keeps official lake records on TVA reservoirs, but next to Keen’s fish, Beaty’s monster bass might be the largest ever caught on Chickamauga.

The lake has become well-known for big bass thanks to a highly successful Florida bass stocking program the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency began in the year 2000.

Beaty, 33, lives in Rickman, Tenn., and has fished 37 BFL events since 2001. He has seven top-10 finishes with career winnings of $11,152.

“I caught the big one about 10:30,” he says. “We were fishing a main-channel point. The boat was sitting in 15 to 17 feet of water. I was throwing a [Tennessee/umbrella] rig up on the point. She hit in about 5 or 6 feet of water.”

Beaty says he was using a Duckett rod and 20-pound-test P-Line casting a YUM Yumbrella Flash Mob Jr. rigged with Reaction Innovation Little Dipper swimbaits.

“When the fish hit it just stopped the bait, and then a few seconds after I started reeling it came up on top and I knew it was a good one,” says Beaty. “I didn’t know it was a 14-pounder, but I knew it was a double-digit fish.”

Beaty says he only had to fight the big bass about 20 seconds before his partner, Ethan McDonald, was able to slide the net underneath it.

You can read more about Beaty’s catch here.