Jarrett Gomez was thrilled, yes, ecstatic, when his digital scales registered 10.00 when he weighed a bass he caught on Saturday morning, April 13, at Bussey Brake, the 2,600-acre reservoir near Bastrop that has become Big Bass Central since it re-opened in July 2020.
“I was really pumped up,” Gomez said after he hooked the big fish out of a bush on a black/blue, Texas-rigged Bronco Bug – especially after his brother-in-law, Bruce Bellew, got it in the net the first time the bass got near the boat.
After a few photos, Gomez had the big bass – which broke his personal record by about 2 pounds – back in the water and on its way to freedom.
Gomez didn’t know it, but the best was yet to come. Around 12:30, as he and Bellew were talking about hanging it up for the day to meet their wives in Monroe, he flipped another Bronco Bug – this one green pumpkin because he ran out of black/blue – at a laydown log. A minute or so later, he was admiring an even bigger bass, one that another fisherman at Bussey Brake’s boat ramp weighed at 12.12 pounds on his set of scales.
A great day
For the mathematical minded, that’s 22.12 pounds in two fish. Add in a 3-pounder and a 4-pounder he caught that day and Gomez was looking at close to a 30-pound stringer, without a fifth fish that would have finished out his limit.
“My previous best was an 8-pounder from Bussey Brake in October 2023,” said Gomez, a 23-year-old occupational therapy assistant from Olla. “I fish Bussey Brake about once a month; I’ve been fishing there for about a year.
“For a while, I really didn’t believe it. The 10, I was more pumped up about it. The 12, I was in shock – especially because I caught her on the first flip to that log. Usually, you have to flip four or five times to get a bite.”
A quick 10-pounder
Gomez’s first bite came at about 8:30. He was flipping at a stump with a stick-up in about 7 feet of water.
“It was about the fourth cast I made to that bush,” he said. “The rod (a 7-foot-2, heavy action Falcon Lowrider flipping stick, mated with a Lew’s baitcasting reel spooled with 25-pound fluorocarbon) almost went out of my hands. Then, it was chaos, for the most part. It only lasted about 20 seconds, because my brother-in-law netted him the first time I got him near the boat.
“The bite was an odd feel. It was pulling, and I leaned into it, and it really pulled the rod down. After we got her in the boat, we weighed her at 10.00 on my Rapala scales, took a few pictures and released her back into the water. After I released her, I turned to him and said we should have measured that fish.”
For all intents and purposes, the day was already a huge win for Gomez. He and Bellew kept fishing, and he caught a 3-pounder about an hour later. Around noon, they started talking about leaving to meet their wives, but Gomez wanted to give Bellew a chance at a big fish.
“I was fine with leaving – I had my big fish, but I wanted him to catch one,” Gomez said. “I went to one more spot, idled over to a spot that looked good; the wind was blowing in on it. We fished about 10 minutes, and I caught a 4, then 5 minutes later, I caught the 12. It was about 12:30.”
Twice as nice
Gomez spotted a laydown log in about 7 feet of water, with just one end of it breaking the water’s surface, and he let fly with his Bronco Bug.
“I pitched to where I thought the other end ought to be, and on my first flip, I never felt a bite, but it felt weird when I picked up,” he said. “I set the hook and this one had a lot more fight than the other one. It went digging down into the tree several times and finally came out, then she went around the front of the boat to the left, then she went under the boat. She finally came out, and my brother-in-law tried to net her but missed. After that, she really took off. She pulled a lot of drag, but I finally got her turned around, and he netted her.
“I knew it was way bigger than the first one when we got it in the boat. When I reached down to get the hook out, the line was coming out of a hole in her mouth. The hook had broken off in her mouth and was lying in the net. I guess the line had frayed on that tree. If I hadn’t gotten her then, it would have broken and she’d have gotten away.”
A 12-pounder to end the day
After photos, the bass went on the scales, which said only 9 pounds. Gomez knew that couldn’t be correct, so he and Bellew headed to the lake office to weigh her on certified scales – but he couldn’t get in.
“There were a bunch of guys at the ramp, and one of them had a nice set of scales, and he let us weigh her, and it said 12.12,” Gomez said. “We looked all over for a tape measure, but no one had one, so I laid her down next to the rod and took a picture, then when we got home, I measured the rod, and she was between 26 and 27 inches long.”
The bigger fish got a return trip to the lake.
“It looked like they were both full of eggs, and there was blood on both of their tails,” Gomez said. “They were either on the bed or getting ready to go on.”
