23 inch bass and the week in creeks

With the rivers all messed up I'd decided to spend the week exploring tributaries to the LMR and GMR. It was mostly slow creek fishing this week, I caught a few small smb's and some longears but as always the scenery more than made up for it. One day where the clear water of the creek mixed with the muddy water of the river I did luck out and catch a 17' inch smallie but that was the only decent smallie in five trips. But all week the forecast had the rivers fishable Friday. And I had Friday off. Then Thursday all he#& broke loose and the creeks and the rivers blew out. So I loaded up the belly boat and made the drive to a wildlife area. Little did I know how lucky things would turn out. I was catching pretty nice bass when it started to rain. I decided to switch to a buzzbait. I threw it along a weedy bank with a overhanging willow when a big fish blew up on it but wasn't hooked. I tried a few more casts then decided to switch lures. I tied on a curly shad I just got a few days before. It's kind of a cross between a shad swimbait and a grub. I cast back in front of the tree. Whap! The rod bent double and I'm thinking wow a five or six pounder. Then it jumped. A field and stream cover jump with that big head shaking. I almost died. It pulled the belly boat around a bit. And then OH GOD it jumped again. Stoppit! Finally I got a hold of that big lower jaw and crashed ashore thru cattails and briars till I was like twenty feet from the pond before I stopped. Ok no tape measure. So I carefully cut a piece of mono the exact length of the fish. It later measured a bit under 24 but Im not sure if in my excitement I layed it on the fish following the curve or held it straight. So I'm calling it 23+. I do know It's one of only three bass I've ever caught that I could comfortably stick my fist all the way in it's mouth with room to spare. The other two came from Florida. I have an old mount of an Ohio 6.5 lb bass that I cant do that to. After a few photos I held it upright in the pond till it kicked with it's tail and swam away...