Ruston angler catches 13-pound Caney Lake hammer

Ogle’s persistence with creature bait pays off with monster bass Wednesday afternoon

Robert Ogle was just about to take a snack break on Caney Lake Wednesday, when he noticed what he thought was a 5-pounder sitting on a bed.

The 36-year-old Ruston angler had launched from Jimmie Davis State Park  around midmorning, and had already caught a few slot fish plus some keepers under the 15- to 19-inch limit.

“I was flipping a Texas-rigged plastic creature at the fish, and worked it for about 20 minutes,” Ogle said.

After several casts, he finally hooked up with the bass – which actually turned out to be a nice 7-pounder.

After releasing the fish, Ogle kept at it. He was pitching the creature bait tied to 15-pound Seaguar InvizX spooled to a Shimano Citica reel on a 7-foot, 3-inch Abu Garcia Veritas rod.

“For a while there, I fished different places and caught some small fish,” he said.

At about 2:20, Ogle spotted a huge fish on a bed in 5 feet of water.

“There was a load of pollen on the surface, and there were ripples,” he said. “You could only see her from an angle.”

Ogle backed off the fish and texted a buddy also on the lake.

A male eventually moved onto the bed as well, and Ogle’s friend came over and pitched at that fish.

“He caught the bass, and it was a 3-pound male,” Ogle said. “He fished for the female for 30 minutes.

“He told me I should maybe take a break from the female and try again later,” he said. “I told him, ‘Man, I’m not leaving this fish.’”

Ogle’s buddy motored away to the shoreline, but he stayed put and kept after the big female.

“I was throwing all kinds of different baits trying to get something to work,” Ogle said. “I had that creature bait in another color so I tied it on and flipped to her.”

That did the trick – Ogle felt a thump, and the fight was on.

“I worked her for about a minute,” he said. “She made three runs and jumped out the water three times as well.

“I had my rod down and was spooling her out with my thumb, but she was just too much fish to keep down. I was really at her mercy.”

When she finally wore out, Ogle got his hands on the big bass and immediately weighed it on his handheld scale.

“For a while there, I was thinking I had a 14.5-pounder, but I later realized I forgot to zero the scale after weighing the 7-pounder I caught earlier,” he said.

When Ogle left the park, rumors started circulating that a bass close to 15 pounds had been taken on Caney.

“I ran down to get the fish weighed on a certified scale at Brown’s Landing,” he said.

Ogle’s Caney Lake lunker officially weighed 13.24 pounds, with a length of 27 inches and a chunky 20-inch girth.

“I really have to give God all the glory on catching this fish,” he said.

After getting the certified weight, Ogle released the monster back into the lake.

“She swam off very well,” he said.

About Chris Berzas 368 Articles
Chris Berzas has fished and hunted in the Bayou State ever since he could hold a rod and shoot a shotgun. Berzas has been a freelancer featured in newspapers, magazines, television and DVDs since 1989.