Lake Somerville Breaks Through with Its First ShareLunker

Every now and then, a lake steps out of the shadows and proves it’s been holding something special all along.

That moment came this week at Lake Somerville.

On a Wednesday evening that started like any other, Steven Vela of Lyons landed a bass that rewrote the lake’s history, a 13.6-pound largemouth that now stands as both the lake record and the first ShareLunker ever produced from Somerville.

And like most big-fish stories worth telling, this one didn’t happen in a vacuum.

Just a few days earlier, Vela’s friend Bobby Vanwinkle had hooked what they believe was the same fish in the very same spot near Lake Somerville Marina. It came all the way to the boat… and then got away.

That’s the kind of fish that sticks with you.

On Wednesday, Vela, fishing alongside Vanwinkle and Larry Martinez, got a second chance. Around 6:15 p.m., working a jig in six to seven feet of water, he felt the kind of strike that leaves no doubt.

This time, things went differently.

Martinez leaned over, lipped the fish clean, and brought her aboard.

No second escape. No story about the one that got away.

Just a new record in the boat.

The catch marks the 10th ShareLunker entry of the current season and adds Lake Somerville to a list that already includes Lake Conroe with four fish, Choke Canyon Reservoir with two, and single entries from Lake Fork Reservoir, Caddo Lake, and a private water.

For Somerville, though, this one carries a little extra weight.

The lake was first stocked with largemouth bass back in 1967, the year it was impounded. Over the years, Texas Parks and Wildlife has reinforced that population with stockings of Florida-strain bass, most notably in 1990, 2000, 2001, and 2008. Altogether, those efforts added more than a million fingerlings and fry to the system.

That kind of investment takes time to pay off.

This fish may be the first real proof that it has.

For anglers, the message is simple. There are still lakes out there that haven’t told their full story yet.

And sometimes, it takes a missed opportunity, a return trip, and a little help from friends to bring that story to the surface.

Because every once in a while, the fish that got away decides to come back.