Marcus Johns and his son, Austin Lambert, didn’t have any plans on Sept. 10 and the fishing at their favorite spots like Caney had been slow, so they decided to make the drive from their home in West Monroe to Poverty Point near Delhi and spend the day fishing.
It was a good move. Their first fish of the day turned out to be Marcus’ biggest bass ever. It was officially weighed at the marina and tipped the scales at 10.38 pounds. After weighing the fish, they released it back into the lake.
“We were just working our way down the bank and I was throwing a plum colored finesse worm,” Johns said. “I was throwing it right up on the bank and I felt it slide down and hit a limb. I lifted it up and when I did, the big fish hit.
“It swam right back toward the boat and stayed down, then it made a big roll. I told Austin it was just a big old goo. We have caught some good 6-pound bass over there, but none this big. In fact, I quit even fighting it. I just held my rod with one hand and let it swim. I was going to tire it out so I could get it by the side of the boat and get it off with the pliers.”
But in a few seconds, things changed. The big fish came closer to the boat and made a bigger roll.
“That’s a big bass buddy!” I yelled.
A second chance
Then it was like a Chinese fire drill. We didn’t even have the net out of the compartment and I started doing my best to keep it from getting off. It all worked out, but it was an exciting few minutes, especially since what I thought was a goo was my personal best largemouth.”
It’s ironic, but Johns had missed a huge bass in the same spot last year. It could be that she hung around and gave me a second chance, he said.
The duo were fishing in about 20 feet of water, but the fish was up in water that was about two feet deep. Johns said that is the key to catching fish most of the time at Poverty Point. Stay near deep water, but catch them in the shallower water nearby. The water is cooling and shad are moving up in the shallower areas and the oxygen is probably a little better, he said.
While it was a good day for Marcus, it was tough for Austin. Not only did he have to watch somebody else catch the big fish, when they got back to the boat dock, he slipped and fractured his foot on the wet concrete.
Fishing pressure on the lake isn’t as high as it once was, and it is still more popular for big crappie than bass, but Johns’ catch proves they are still there. His suggestion for catching bass is to just fish slow and look for areas with rocks. Those spots seem to hold more bass.
Poverty Point
Poverty Point isn’t on the top of Johns’ fishing lake list, but he does go there often. He loves to catch big bream in the spring, but he may be making more trips that way looking for big bass in the future.
Poverty Point Reservoir is located in Richland Parish and covers 2,700 acres. It is part of a State Park complex and is named after Poverty Point, an archeological site settled between 1,400 and 700 BC consisting of Native American earthworks and other artifacts.
