15 Pound Juliette Bass

Jan. 4, 1990 will go into Georgia bass-fishing history as the best-ever day of bass fishing on Lake Juliette and perhaps anywhere in the world!

Alonzo Dunn and Stanley Knight, both of Forsyth, caught not only the biggest bass ever caught from the lake but what may well have been the best four bass caught by anyone, anywhere, all-time. Those four bass totaled 45-lbs., 7-ozs., better than an 11-lb., 4-oz. per fish average! And the stringer was anchored by the new Juliette lake-record largemouth, a 15-lb., 6-oz. lunker. The hawg shatters the previous Juliette record of 13-lbs., 9-ozs. set in 1987 and is likely one of the 10 biggest bass ever caught in Georgia.

The new lake record belongs to Alonzo B. Dunn, who is a Lake Juliette big-bass specialist. Over the past four years, Alonzo has caught more than seventeen 10-lb.-plus bass from the 3,600-acres Georgia Power lake.

What’s his secret? Trolling deep-diving crankbaits.

On Jan. 4, a cloudy, rainy day, Alonzo had invited Stanley Knight to go bass fishing on Lake Juliette. Stanley had done a good bit of crappie fishing but had never been bass fishing. They put in about 8:30 and began trolling.

Alonzo says he catches big bass all over the lake, but he looks for a good hard bottom in deep water.

“There are a lot of areas like that right along the Rum Creek channel,” he said.

He uses only plugs that will plow deep.

“If a lure won’t run at least 25 feet deep, I don’t need it,” he said.

He catches a lot of suspended fish.

Stanley caught his first bass at about 11:30 a.m. It weighed 8-lbs., 4-ozs.

“When you are trolling, the fish hit just like a log,” said Alonzo. “If you pick up the rod and feel a fish, you’re on. If you can’t feel a fish, you’ve got a log.”

Stanley also caught the next two bass. They were both trophies. They weighed 9-lbs., 2-ozs. and 12-lbs., 11-ozs. The first-time bass fisherman was having the kind of day thousands of seasoned bass anglers have only dreamed about.

Then at about 4 p.m. the big one hit, and it wasn’t a log.

“I told Stanley it was a big one,” said Alonzo. “Then after five minutes I told him that we might never see the fish, but it was the biggest ever. When it finally came up, it had a mouth so big it looked like you could put a watermelon in it.”

After a 10-minute battle, Stanley slipped the net under the monster largemouth and Alonzo had the new lake record.

Alonzo usually trolls either a DB3 or a Hellbender. The record bass hit a modified DB3 Dredge, but most of his 10-lb.-plus fish have hit Hellbenders. He wouldn’t say how he modifies the lures other than to say he changes the color and then carves on the bill to change the way the lure wobbles.

The day before Alonzo had been on Juliette fishing. He caught a 10-lb., 8-oz. bass and a 6-lb. bass. On this best day in 1987, he caught three bass which all weighed more than 10 pounds and totaled 33 or 34 pounds, amazing success from the relatively infertile, clear-water Lake Juliette.

Whatever Alonzo is doing to his DB3s, it works.

In the past four years Alonzo Dunn has caught at least 17 bass from Juliette that topped 10 pounds but none bigger than this 15.36-lb. lunker.