Bill Evans has been an avid bass fisherman for more than 40 years, tournament fishing for at least 30 of those years and even qualifying for the prestigious BFL All-American a few times while living in Ohio. He moved out to Washington state about 4 years ago and this week had the fishing moment of a lifetime after catching the new state-record largemouth bass for the state of Washington from Lake Bosworth about 45 minutes from his home in Bothell, Wash.

Evans purchased as small 9-foot, 4-inch boat for bass fishing that he could stick in the back of his SUV for fishing around the house with a 12-volt Minn Kota trolling motor. On August 9th, 2016, his first trip to Lake Bosworth, he skipped a wacky-rigged Strike King Shim-E-Stick under a dock. When the lure settled to the bottom, Evans felt some weight and set the hook.

After a lengthy fight around dock pilings with 8-pound line, Evans put his hands on a largemouth bass that he later had weighed at 12.53 pounds, a weight that would eclipse the former record of 11.58 pounds set back in 1977.