Toledo Bend reigns as a mecca of big bass potential, with dreams of double-digit catches domineering every angler’s mind. Gene Kidder of Opelousas and his son certainly had grand expectations on Dec. 18, but by the end of the day, without even experiencing a bite, they thought for sure they would be returning to land beaten. That all changed when Kidder cast at one last brush pile to catch his personal best, a largemouth bass weighing in at 11.9 pounds.
Kidder and his son had been fishing all day in Housen Bay with no luck, so he pointed his Skeeter ZX towards his camp at Miller Bay Point and was heading in when the pair decided to take one more chance on catching fish. Near his camp, Kidder zoomed in on one of three brush piles and started casting.
“At first, I thought I was snagged, but the rod tip twitched and that’s when I realized it was a fish,” Kidder said. “I didn’t think it was a bass, but a catfish instead.”
The fishing gods must have recognized Kidder’s unsuccessful efforts for the day and rewarded him with an easy landing. As large as the bass proved to be, the fight was far from monumental.
“She really didn’t fight,” he said. “She bellied up about 5 feet from the boat and had just given up. I landed her in the boat with no net.”
Great conditions
Regardless of the intensity of the fight, Kidder’s purple crankbait proved irresistible to the big bass as the retrieve traversed it through 10 to 12 feet of water.
“Toledo has been pretty low lately,” Kidder said. “Other than that, the conditions were great with clear water and sunny skies.”
At the age of 83, Kidder has fished a lifetime and caught several large fish. This year, Christmas came early, as he got his personal best bass. After landing it in the boat, the father and son immediately set a course to Buckeye Landing to record the catch.
“We didn’t waste any time and reached Buckeye Landing at 3:39 p.m.,” Kidder said. “We had her tagged and she weighed in at 11.9 pounds and measured 28 ¼ inches long and 20 inches in girth.”
Of everything he had in his tackle arsenal, Kidder could not fathom that his simple purple crankbait was the lure of the day. He expressed regret that his lucky lure succumbed to a popped line after his son used it to try and duplicate Kidder’s catch. He laughed it off and remains amazed that the largest bass he’s ever caught failed to put up a fight.
“I’ve never seen anything like it, and she was certainly the biggest bass I’ll probably ever catch,” he said. “We were concerned about her since she was so tired it seemed, but I am happy to say she was successfully released back to the water.”
