Caney bass continue to show off
Those Caney Lake lunkers keep showing up in wads like giant strings of beads off a Mardi Gras float. This week there were three anglers who teamed with the Caney Lake monster bass for some pretty impressive photo catches and photo ops.
11-pound giant
Kaycee LeBrun of Pea Ridge near Ruston proved you don’t have to be a touring pro to catch a giant on this 5,000 acre secluded Jackson Parish Reservoir. She landed the largest fish she’s ever had on her line, an 11.14 pound largemouth.
The fish on Caney are still staging for the spawn, but some are already patrolling the shallows during the warm part of the day preparing for the spawn. It should be on the next two to three weeks.
Kaycee and her husband met some friends this past weekend and had a fun fishing trip and caught a few fish. The friends had to leave, but Kaycee and her husband stayed. As they were getting ready to leave, she cast her blue/black Z-man Original ChatterBait with a black and red sparkle craw trailer just outside a small inlet and, “Pow”, the huge largemouth smacked it in about six feet of water.
“When I first hooked her and felt her, I knew she was a big fish,” Kaycee said. “She swam to the boat, then under the boat and then back out. When she came up and I saw how big she was, I just knew she was going to break off or something. But she didn’t. When we got her in the boat, I was shaking. In fact, I’m shaking now even talking about it. It was something.”
It was almost dark by the time they made it to Hooks Marina, but the big fish lit up the scales and everyone around watching.
The pros
And, it doesn’t hurt to be a touring pro, either. FLW touring pros Tyler Stewart and Hunter Freeman took advantage of a couple of weeks off from the pro circuit to return to their home lake and posted some amazing catches.
Stewart made a short trip and caught four bass between six and seven pounds Saturday. He was fishing hard spots on secondary points on the lake that he located with his electronics. All the fish were holding in one area still staging for the spawn. He landed them on a 6th Sense C-20 crank bait.
He was fishing in 17-20 feet of water and was digging the bait fast and deep drawing reaction strikes. Stewart says the next two weeks will be a transition time for the fish with lots more fish moving shallow to spawn in 2-5 feet of water. He says the return of the grass to the lake is the key to all the monster bass that it has produced the last few months.
“The whole food chain on the lake has benefited,” he says. “It’s amazing.”
The right time
Freeman landed four fish that weighed 30 pounds Saturday, then went back on Monday morning and his biggest three, anchored by a 9.50, weighed 23.5 pounds on his scales. He also caught his on deep diving crank baits.
“These big fish are mostly still holding out on points and hard spots, but a few are drifting up in the daytime,” he said. “The biggest bite is coming right at daylight. And they are stacked early. It won’t be but a few days till they are starting to move up into the grass to spawn. When that happens, it’s some of the best fishing of the year and it’s easier to catch them most days. You just work the shallower water. I would say that 75% of the bass in Caney will be in six foot of water or less.”
Both Tyler and Hunter guide while they are home from the tour events and you can get in touch with them on their Facebook accounts.