Youngster Has a Big Fish Story
By Bob Hood, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Jan. 7–On Christmas, one of Parker Chamber’s gifts was a new rod and reel.
Three days later, the gift helped put the 7-year-old from Plano in the record books.
Parker caught a 13.4-pound largemouth bass Dec. 28 at Lake Fork, becoming the youngest angler to enter a bass in Texas’ ShareLunker program, which uses largemouth bass weighing 13 pounds or more for genetic studies and spawning at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.
Parker, a student at Carlisle Elementary School in Plano, was using a Rapala X-Rap lure in about six feet of water when the big bass struck. He had caught a 3-pound bass earlier, then the lunker struck at about 11:30 a.m.
“It really didn’t fight hard until it started jumping,” Parker said. “It went back under the water, and then it ran under the boat.”
Parker’s dad, Chris Chambers, an experienced angler who knew how to keep the bass from breaking the light 8-pound test line, helped bring in the fish.
“I haven’t fished Lake Fork very much, but I’m going to start that right now,” Parker said. “I want to go fishing with [professional fisherman] Mike Iaconelli on Fork some day. A friend of my dad’s has fished with Mike Iaconelli, and I’m hoping I can fish with him there some day.”
Chris said he began teaching Parker how to fish when his son was about 2.
“I started him off by taking him to some subdivision lakes and city park ponds around Plano,” said Chris Chambers, who works at Academy Sports and Outdoors in Plano. “At first, we usually fished for about 30 minutes…. He caught mostly bluegills and small bass, and, gradually, as he got older, I began taking him out in my boat for a few hours. Now, he wants to stay out there all day long.”
Parker’s catch is the second ShareLunker entry of the 2006-07 season and the 425th since the program began in 1986. Parker will receive a fiberglass replica of his fish and said he’ll probably retire the lure he used.
“I think we are going to make a trophy out of it,” he said.
Parker also won some family bragging rights. Chris Chambers said his largest bass was an 11.12-pounder he caught at Fork in June. Although dad might return to Lake Fork next week, Parker probably will have to wait a while before he can use his new rod and reel again.
“He has to go back to school and has some school projects that he has to finish this weekend,” Chris Chambers said. “I may go back next week, but it may be a couple of weeks before Parker can go back.”
But Parker is ready — and ambitious.
“I hope I can go back there and catch a bigger one,” he said. “I don’t know if I can, but I’m going to try.”
tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat
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Bob Hood, 817-390-7760 blhood@star-telegram.com
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Copyright (c) 2007, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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