American bass YouTuber Jon B. has turned a 24-hour Texas river float into a near-miss state-record attempt, paddling 12 miles of Hill Country water in kayaks with co-angler Grant in search of a trophy Guadalupe bass — and landing a rare largemouth-Guadalupe hybrid in its place.
Jon B., whose channel runs to around six million subscribers, sets the motivation up front. A personal-best Guad-class fish he hooked on a different Texas river a couple of months earlier went unweighed. "Somewhere throughout this 12-mile stretch is a world record bass," he tells the camera at the launch. "Today we brought a scale. Today we brought proper measuring tools because if we do stumble upon potentially a world record, we want to document it."
The early hours of the float are a largemouth show. On a 5-inch Googan Lunker Log he lands what he calls "probably close to three-pound largemouth — not the intended target for our fishing mission, but a really nice bass." The quality holds up through the morning. "Short and stocky, dude. These fish are so healthy in here. I cannot believe it," he says over another solid largemouth pulled from a shallow lie.
A sight cast to a bedding fish near a submerged tree produces the first standout moment — "First cast that fish ate" — although a second, larger bedded fish escapes a few minutes later. "Maybe a five plus pounder," Jon guesses.
The real headline comes late in the float on a Googan Filthy Frog. The fish eats close to the kayak, initially fights like a largemouth and pushes Jon's expectations up. "Oh my gosh. It's a Guad. It's a giant Guad. Holy smokes, that's a giant Guad. The freaking Guad ate the frog. That is a monster Guad." On the scale the fish tops out at 2 pounds 4 ounces — close enough to the state-record weight for pure Guadalupe bass that Jon stops to check the pattern.
"Is it a Guad? There's no spots in here. Or is it a hybrid? A hybrid. This may be a hybrid. It doesn't look 100% like a Guad. This may actually be a largemouth Guadalupe bass hybrid, which does happen in this river." Jon uses the moment to explain how the hybridisation arises in Hill Country water. "Obviously, the bass are stocked in many lakes and rivers here in Texas, and the natural fish like a Guadalupe bass isn't afraid to make babies with an LMB. They're so closely related that they can do that."
The fish is photographed and released. By end of float the day stacks up as a near-miss on the record but a high-quality largemouth session. "Although we did not succeed in catching a state record Guadalupe bass, we came fairly close," Jon tells his audience. "Caught two two-pounders and a couple other smaller ones. And on top of that, probably had one of my better largemouth days on a river in spring."
He ends the episode selling Hill Country rivers — Brazos, San Marcos, Comal, Devil's — as an underused resource. "There's so much flowing water in this seemingly dry state that you might surprise yourself to find and fish."
