Heavyweight Bass From 1994 Added To GON’s Big-Bass List

Will Sizer holds the huge bass he caught at a private lake in south Georgia on Aug. 25, 1994. The bass weighed 13 pounds on certified scales after sitting in a cooler full of ice for four days.

GON has kept the Georgia’s Biggest Bass Of All-Time list for decades, and we sure like it when a 13-lb. or heavier bass from the past shows up that we can add. The kicker is these older bass would have had to been weighed on certified scales. Well, we got one!

A 13-lb. bass was caught by 13-year-old Will Sizer, who is a familiar name to bass tournaments on Oconee and Sinclair these days. In fact, GON did a story with him in June 2009, and it can be viewed at GON.com/fishing/bream-beds-mayfly-hatches-keep-sinclair-bass-shallow-in-june.

Below is the story as it ran 30 years ago in the October 1994 issue of GON.

Will Sizer, of Milledgeville, was being ragged by his dad and another fishing buddy because of the fluorescent color of the worm he had tied on, but those guys weren’t laughing for long.

Will, who just turned 14 two weeks ago, was fishing a private, 15-acre lake in a private pond (county was not identified in story) in south Georgia. He cast a Carolina-rigged orange Zoom worm and got the bite of a lifetime.

The 28-inch-long bass, caught Aug. 28, 1994, wasn’t certified until four days later. On certified scales at a grocery store, it weighed right at 13 pounds and is currently the No. 75 bass of all time.

Will is described by his parents as a very dedicated young sportsman.

“That’s the hardest-fishing young ’un I’ve ever seen, and he’s been bowhunting after school every day since it opened,” said his dad, Louis Sizer.