Moss Bluff angler hooks 11.27-pound Toledo Bend largemouth

Guidroz used a Texas-rigged Strike King Rage Thumper Worm to catch the lunker

Marcel Guidroz enjoyed a productive day at Toledo Bend last Friday, catching lots of quality bass working grass lines along creek channels in the Six Mile, Mill Creek and Housen areas.

But when the sun went down, the action heated up — big time.

Guidroz, who was fishing alone, reeled in an 11.27-pounder about 8:30 in the pitch dark for a new personal best, easily eclipsing the 10.01-pound lunker he caught earlier this year in March.

“I set the hook, and said, ‘This looks like a pretty good fish’ and I pushed save on my depth finder to mark the spot,” Guidroz said. “And then I guess she realized she was hooked.

“She made three good runs and then just laid up on the side of the boat and I lipped her.”

Guidroz was fishing in 15- to 18-feet of water with a 7-inch Strike King Rage Thumper Worm in junebug, Texas-rigged with a 3/16-ounce tungsten bullet weight.

He was working grasslines next to deep water along the creek channels.

“I pulled up on that spot and made three casts and caught three fish — good quality fish but nothing big,” he said. “Then I kept working around a nice bend in the creek channel with some grass on the edge, and that’s where she was.”

Guidroz used a 7-foot, 3-inch Kistler KLX heavy action rod and a Lew’s Tournament Pro reel spooled with 16-pound Sunline fluorocarbon to land the fish.

The bass weighed 11.17 on his handheld scale, and since he quickly released the 10-pounder he caught in March because it was full of eggs during the spawn, he wanted to try to make this monster official.

He ended up arriving at Fin & Feather resort just in time.

“They were actually closed, but they were still in the building and they took the fish and made sure she was okay,” he said. “They did a good job.”

On official skills, the bass weighed-in at 11.27 pounds, easily qualifying Guidroz for the Toledo Bend Lunker Bass Program, which awards anglers with a free replica mount for catching and releasing any double-digit bass back into Toledo Bend waters.

After some quick pictures with the fish, which was 24 inches long with a 19-inch girth, Guidroz motored it back to Housen and personally released the lunker himself.

“We tagged her and I went and released her and made sure she was doing fine,” he said. “She was biting my hand, so I let her go. That was a pretty sight. She just went straight down.”

Guidroz fished for about another hour after releasing the fish, and caught a nice 6-pounder before calling it quits and wrapping up a very special day (and night) on the water.

About Patrick Bonin 1315 Articles
Patrick Bonin is the former editor of Louisiana Sportsman magazine and LouisianaSportsman.com.