Janet Rogers’ 10.46-pounder was taken on a Carolina-rigged Zoom watermelon-red lizard
As Janet and Damon Rogers launched from Palo Gaucho into Toledo Bend’s waters Saturday afternoon, there was little wind and the lake was very calm.
They didn’t know it then, but the Nederland, Texas couple’s peaceful afternoon was about to be shattered when Janet landed a 10.46-pound beauty, her largest bass ever.
“It was the best day of my life,” she said.
The couple settled on fishing a ridge in 18 feet of water in Walter’s Spot on the lake.
According to Rogers, she and her husband had accounted for only two small keeper bass by 5:30. She was fishing a Carolina-rigged Zoom watermelon-red lizard on 20-pound Berkley Big Game mono spooled to a Shimano Citica reel on a 7-foot Shimano rod.
“It was on my third cast,” she said. “I thought I was hung up but my husband yelled at me to set the hook because he saw my line moving.
“So I set the hook and I see this big old bass come out the water. I was in shock.”
The bass pulled some drag and then made a run under the boat.
“I got the bass up to the boat, and my husband lipped it in,” Rogers said.
The huge bass weighed 10.10 pounds on Damon’s scale, and was quickly tucked in the livewell for the return trip.
“We left immediately to head to Toledo Town and Tackle because we really didn’t want anything to happen to that bass,” she said.
The big bass weighed in officially at 10.46 pounds, making it eligible for the Toledo Bend Lunker Bass Program.
Under the program, all anglers who catch a certified 10-plus pounder and agree to have it tagged and released back into Toledo Bend waters receive a free replica sponsored by the Toledo Bend Lake Association.
