Catching a largemouth bass weighing in the teens is a once in a lifetime achievement for most anglers, but Dominic Lozano went ahead and did it twice in 2 weeks on two different lakes in Texas to end 2019 with his personal best of 13.85 pounds. He followed that feat with another catch on New Year’s Day of a 13.29-pounder. But the story leading up to these two catches is just as good.
13.85-Pound Bass the Weekend before Christmas
Lozano spends most of his fishing time throwing big swimbaits looking for the biggest bass in a lake. He spent years fishing tournaments in California and Texas and even guided for a while in Mexico on Lake El Salto. But now when he has a chance to go, he fishes strictly for big ones.
He often starts his pursuit in September, graphing and mapping out features on a body of water like breaklines, grass lines and cover on offshore structure. Then he comes back November through February and fishes the places he marked with good potential with big swimbaits.
Thanksgiving 2019, Lozano herniated two discs and was laid up unable to fish until just before Christmas. The weekend before Christmas, he fished that Friday all day without a bite. Then he fished all day Saturday and never got a bite. Then started the day Sunday looking much the same without a bite until 10:30 am. He was throwing a Nates Bait Shad when the big fish hit. He fought the fish out of deep water for a few minutes and was able to boat his personal best bass of 13.85 pounds.
Lozano has more than 100 fish weighing more than 10 pounds to his credit, and this was his third teener largemouth. It was also his first double digit bass since 2017.
Another 13-Pounder on New Years Day 2020
“I rotate five or six different lakes,” Lozano said. “I scan and look for grass and features, and then when I come back I don’t graph or scan at all. I just pull up and fish the spots with the most potential.”
“I had another teener bass come up on a Deps 250 a few days later that didn’t hook up. I went and fished two other lakes and then came back to this lake on New Year’s Day and was able to call up another 13.29-pound bass on the Deps, my fourth bass weighing more than 13 pounds. I actually caught a 4 1/2 pounder earlier that morning, then had the big one. I had another fish come up and side swipe the Deps that looked even bigger. And I had another in that same class flash on the Deps and not get it.”
He had 3 bites that potentially could have weighed close to 40 pounds in just 3 largemouth bass. That’s the stuff dreams are made of.
A Different Swimbait and a Different Lake for Each
Lozano loves to experiment and fish new waters hunting the biggest fish on the lake. He spends hours planning, studying, and scanning bodies of water for a few seconds of sheer exhilaration. And it’s what keeps him coming back for more.
“I was even more amped up to see if I could get a 14 or 15 after getting my PB,” Lozano said. “I wouldn’t say I was disappointed when I caught the second 13 but I don’t think it all had really set in with what had happened the last two weeks. It’s so addicting hunting these big ones. It’s all I think about when I’m not out here.
“This just gave me so much confidence. It’s tough when you have so many days without a bite. It wears on you. But now I am really amped up to see what I can do this season. I have a really good feeling already about this year.”
If you’re wondering about his setups. Lozano gave us the scoop on how he fishes these big swimbaits.
For the deep soft swimbait he likes a heavier power iRod Swimbait rod that has a powerful backbone to really hit those fish. He fishes the Nates Bait on 25-pound Sunline FC Sniper on a Lew’s Super Duty Wide Spool. For the Deps 250, he likes a Dobyns Champion XP 908 Swimbait Rod with 25-pound Izorline in Smoke on an old green Shimano Curado 300e baitcaster.
Check out his Instagram Page here to see more photos and videos of his catches.
His last double digit bass was this 12-pounder from Dec 2017
He spends the two weeks around Christmas on vacation each year and uses most of that time to hunt big bass the last few years. His hard work has certainly paid off. And that’s certainly breaking a double-digit slump in convincing fashion if you can really call catching 8 and 9 pounders a slump. ?
