Graveyard Shift

When the blistering summer sun settles over Scurry and Borden counties, piscatorial titans to shock the imagination go on the prowl on lakes across Texas. Lake J.B. Thomas is an especially dangerous place for a little fish, but one of the best in the world for a bass angler to go gunning for the big bite.

Brandon Burks and Christian Gladfelter have run up the score with double- digit lunkers hundreds of times, often during the wee hours of darkness.

Both men are trophy bass guides on the 7,200acre lake built 73 years ago on the Colorado River. Like many anglers around the state, they have beating summer heat by working the night shift for the better part of three months now. Work typically begins around 9 p.m. and lasts until daylight the following morning, or until somebody gets tired.

To hear the two guides tell it, the night bite has been off the charts for the last month or two. Their social media pages are littered with photo galleries that look like something pulled straight from a monster movie. Burks calls it “The Land the Giants.”

“It’s been pretty incredible,” said Burks. “But people need to know that isn’t easy. A bunch of them see all the pictures, come out here to try and they wind up zeroing.”

Burks and Gladfelter are forward-facing sonar experts who have the technology down to a science and catching big bass down to an art. Both anglers know it when a heavyweight pops up on the screen. They are so in dialed in with their electronics they can usually come pretty close to guessing the weight of the fish before the first cast is made. Burks may not even cast to a fish if he thinks it weighs less than 10 pounds.

He’s seen and caught plenty.

Since late June, Burks estimates his boat has accounted for well over 50 double-digit lunkers. Among them are three giants weighing 13.27, 13.12 and 13.05 pounds. The heaviest was caught by Grant Labriola Kentucky on the night of July 29.

Burks said all of the 13 pounders were weighed on a certified Bubba digital scale he keeps in the boat. Two of them were caught by clients.

“Every client I had between July 10 and August 18 caught at least one 10 pounder,” he said. “I had one client, Tim Huitt, catch four bass over 10 pounds the same night on July 17,” Burks said. “It’s been crazy out here.”

Gladfelter agreed. The 30-year-old fishing fishing guide first discovered the lake in May of 2023 and he’s been fishing it almost exclusively ever since. He calls his business “Slaunched Guide Service.”

It’s a befitting title considering the army of big bass that have hit the deck of his Skeeter. Since Jan.1 alone, Gladfelter has entered 68 bass over eight pounds in the TPWD’s Toyota ShareLunker program, including a 13.01 Legacy Lunker caught on February 6. He said is clients have caught close to 200 bass over the eight pound mark his year.

“I actually don’t fish much when I’ve got clients,” he said. “The number of big fish swimming around in this lake is absolutely phenomenal.”

It hasn’t always been that way.

In 2012-13, years of extreme drought caused the reservoir to shrink to less than 200 surface acres. Oxygen levels dropped so low that it spurred a significant fish kill that it wiped out most piscatorial life.

Big rains came during the following 18 months and the water level jumped 40 feet by Fall 2015, flooding decades-worth of bushes and other terrestrial growth that had sprouted on the dry lakebed. It was essentially like a brand new lake again.

TPWD has helped revitalized the fishery by stocking it with more than 300,000 Florida bass fingerlings since 2015, most of them ShareLunker offspring. The fish have flourished in the forage-rich environment, despite the fact the water stays muddy most of the year. To hear Gladfelter tell it, the fish are football fat and pull like mini freight trains.

“A muddy lake isn’t pretty to look at, but this one grows some really healthy fish,” he said. “They’re tanks. It’s a prayer to get some of these in the net. There is not another lake in the world that grows big bass like J.B. does. Their back thickness, tail thickness and girths are unmatched. I discovered a gem when I found it. It’s a big bass factory.”

Chris Chopelas of Alpine has witnessed the magic multiple times with the help of Gladfelter. In August 2024, Chopelas boated multiple bass over eight pounds, including three over 10 pounds and two over nine in eight hours of night fishing.

One of the fish had a really serious weight problem. The bass weighed 14.09 pounds on an unofficial digital scale.

In July 2025, Chopelas had another storybook experience at the West Texas reservoir. Chopelas boated a pair of 11 pounders and a 10 pounder. Gladfelter caught three over 10 — all on the same night. Chopelas’ wife, Bridgett, witnessed the whole deal.

On Labor Day, Gladfelter’s girlfriend, Bella Lee, enjoyed a night of fishing she will never forget. Together the couple landed four double-digit bass up to 12.01 pounds. Their heaviest five weighed 54.6 pounds.

While the lake record currently stands at 13.79 pounds, both guides believe there are much bigger ones finning around out there.

Gladfelter says he has seen 4-5 fish on the screen he estimates are 26-28 inches long and will weigh between 15-16 pounds. He or his clients have actually had some of the fish hooked up, but were unable to land them before they managed to shake the hook.

“These big fish are acrobatic, strong and they jump almost like smallmouths,” he said. “We’ve educated them too much. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to get one to bite. They are smart and hard to fool.”

The techniques the two guides use to go after the giants at night are essentially the same. They run to a spot using the big motor, drop the troll motor and sneak around quietly until they see the right fish to chunk at. It’s basically a cat and mouse game from there. Sometimes it works out. Other times it doesn’t.

“There’s a lot more to it than turning on your electronics,” Gladfelter said. “I tell my customers it’s more like hunting than fishing. We go out and individually target trophy bass. We’re not just casting. Every cast we make is at an individual fish I believe to be over eight pounds.”

Burks primary bait is an FFS Sniper Jig. Gladfelter likes a custom swim jig called the Space Invader.

“It all about accuracy and presentation,” Burks said. “Casts have to be extremely tight. Plus, you have to know what you are looking at at and know how to stay on them. You have to have the ability to track a fish. It’s way harder out there than some people think.”

Gladfelter said he believes it is only a matter of time until someone closes the deal that rewrites Texas’ record books at J.B. Thomas.

“Mark my words — someone is going to get very lucky within the next year,” Gladfelter said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new state record come out of here. The first 28-inch bass will be the new state record. A 26 inch girth at 28 inches long - I would be scared to say what it weigh, but it’s coming. This lake is blooming. It hasn’t even cycled yet.”

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by email, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com.