Poulsen was flipping a V&M Split Tail Beaver in shallow water up against buck brush
Chad Poulsen was definitely on the fish in Palo Gaucho during a club tournament last weekend on Toledo Bend.
While scouting Friday, he discovered a group of bass moving shallow into buck brush and thorn bushes.
The 19-year-old Bossier City angler started out Saturday by catching five bass on a Rat-L-Trap first thing in the morning.
But the Trap bite eventually waned, so Poulsen went into changeup mode.
“I started flipping the trees with a black-blue-glitter V&M Split Tail Beaver,” he said.
Poulsen had the lure tied to 40-pound braid spooled to a Bass Pro Qualifier 7:1 reel atop a Dobyns 736 rod.
“I was flipping a big tree with thorns with the lure falling in the shade,” Poulsen said “The fish picked it up on the fall.”
When he set the hook, the shallow water erupted in a boil.
“I set the hook and saw a white flash,” he said. “I held pressure on the fish and it stayed in the buck brush as it was hooked well.”
Poulsen said the huge bass continuously jumped in the bushes.
“I put the trolling motor on high and rammed the front end on the thorn bush,” he said. “Then I got on my belly on the edge of the front deck and grabbed her.”
The angler then placed the immense bass in the livewell and motored quickly back to the landing in Converse.
He immediately headed to Toledo Town & Tackle to obtain a certified weight and to enter his bass into the Toledo Bend Lunker Bass Program.
The fish, which had been previously tagged in 2013 after being caught in Palo Gaucho by Kenny Ardoin when it weighed 10.68 pounds, officially tipped T-Town’s scales at 12.12 pounds this time around.
Poulsen’s giant bass was released healthily again, and ranks as lunker No. 67 for the 2015-16 Toledo Bend Lunker Bass Program season.
For his efforts, Poulsen — who earned first place in his club tournament with a bag weighing 25 pounds, 13 ounces — will receive a free replica from the Toledo Bend Lake Association in May.
