King, LaGroue land “Well Hooked” hammers
They say the third time is the charm. For Lake Charles fisherman Jared King and Denham Springs angler Michael LaGroue, it was the second time that counted when it came to landing 10-pound-plus Caney Lake largemouths Saturday, Feb. 26.
King and LaGroue traveled with the south-Louisiana based Well Hooked Bass Club up to Caney and they were both rewarded with their personal best bass. It was the second trip to the lake for both anglers.
King’s giant bass
King landed a monster 13.01-pound bass and LaGroue landed a 10.77-pound lunker during the tournament. Both fish were caught in areas where the bass were staging for spawning and the key to catching them was fishing slow and near the grass.
“It was very exciting to say the least,” said King of his 13-pounder. “It was my second time to fish the lake, so we had some idea of what we wanted to do. I caught the fish at 8 a.m. on the dot and it was not easy knowing she was in the livewell all day long before I got to weigh her.”
King, the owner of Southland Environmental, a consulting firm in Lake Charles, said he must have checked on the fish two dozen times to make sure she was doing well.
“I didn’t want to lose her, that’s for sure,” he said, noting that the club released every fish caught over the weekend back into the lake in good condition. “We preach doing everything we can to keep the mortality down. if somebody wants to catch some smaller fish and eat, that’s fine, but with a big one like that, we need to put it back in for somebody else to catch.”
The monster bass was 27 inches long and had a 21 ½-inch girth. It was caught on a green pumpkin color Jackhammer Chatterbait in about eight feet of water with scattered grass. King gave special thanks for his big day to his dad, Tommy King, who taught him to love fishing.
LaGoue’s big fish helps get win
LaGroue, a realtor for Covington & Associates in Denham Springs, said he didn’t know that he would catch his personal best on Feb. 26, but when he and his partner Danny Walker went fishing, he felt like it was going to be a special day.
“I was expecting big bites because it was just one of those days,” he said. “We found some fish in practice on Thursday and shook them off. We went back there and ran up into the back of a creek and just shut it down there. We worked up and down a hundred yard stretch of the creek in the grass and just fished as slow as we possibly could.”
They won the event with 21.07 pounds and were dead-sticking Senkos to catch their fish. LaGroue also landed his bass early Saturday morning and had a grueling wait to bring the trophy to the scales. He said the big ones were an obvious thrill, but the bite was tough for the most part.
LaGroue said that even though the weather is tough on fishermen, days like Saturday with temperatures in the low 30’s all day long and steady rain in a north wind are good for big bass bites.
“I really believe that you have a good opportunity to catch a big one in conditions like that,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity to fool a big fish. I guess we proved that.”
Well Hooked
Well Hooked Bass Club was started in 2012 and is comprised of members from throughout Southwest Louisiana and beyond. The club fishes nine regular season tournaments a year, a Tournament of Champions for the top 10 in AOY points, and a 2-day tournament in the fall on Toledo Bend. You can check out their Facebook page to find out more about the club.
