By Jayson Larson/TVCC Public Information
Jason Hanson is pretty good at catching fish – big fish. One of his recent catches is gaining him some big attention.
Hanson, who works in Administrative Computing as an i5 Server Administrator at Trinity Valley Community College, will be featured on an upcoming episode of KDFW’s (Fox 4 Dallas) “Lone Star Adventures.” The weekly television segment features unique but close-to-home gems of the Lone Star State.
Hanson was visited by Fox 4 reporter and Lone Star Adventures host Richard Ray on Wednesday. Ray talked to Hanson about his recent catch – a 13.76-pound largemouth bass reeled in on a near-freezing morning on Lake Athens on Dec. 28, 2013. Hanson submitted his catch to the Toyota ShareLunker program, headquartered at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens. Anglers can submit a largemouth bass to the program if it weighs 13 pounds or more. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department then uses the fish for spawning purposes.
Hanson’s catch – which was 27.75 inches long with a girth of 20.25 – remains the only ShareLunker submitted by a Texas angler so far this season (two are from Oklahoma, one is from Louisiana). The season lasts from October 1 through April 30). It’s also almost two inches longer than any of the other three current ShareLunker entries and the first submitted from Lake Athens since 1987. His fish missed the lake record by less than a half-pound. Only two other largemouth bass caught in Lake Athens were larger (the lake record is 14.19 pounds).
Hanson said he was a little nervous when he was first approached by Fox 4 about doing an interview for television.
“But he was a really cool guy,” Hanson said. “It was a really neat experience.”
Hanson said he has been told the segment will most likely air during the Fox 4 newscast either this Sunday night, Jan. 26, or next Sunday night, Feb. 2. If you miss it, you can find the Lone Star Adventures archives here.
Check out one of Jason’s recent hauls on YouTube.