It’s been a winter of content for Noah Louviere of Loreauville, an all-around outdoorsman whose latest achievement gave him an 11-plus pound largemouth bass at Caney Lake.
The 22-year-old was fishing with his brother-in-law, Connor Nimrod, on Dec. 21 when Louviere hooked a “hawg” and fought it to the boat. Nimrod gripped the bottom of the big, gaping mouth and hauled it in.
Louviere had his personal best, an 11.22-pounder, well in hand while fishing with one of the best Caney Lake bass anglers.
“That dude can fish, honestly, from Florida to everywhere,” Louviere said.
The Loreauville resident drove to the Monroe area to visit his sister, Jolyn Louviere Nimrod, and her husband, who married in April 2022. He wasn’t really planning to go bass fishing, since the accomplished tournament archer had been deer hunting in Texas and duck hunting with a buddy around Venice.
“It was a last-minute trip,” he said.
Early start
The brothers-in-law got out at sunrise with temps in the 30s. Soon 3, 4 and 5-pound class bass were caught and released. Nimrod changed locations and bass got bigger as they fished deep over a creek bed.
The host was letting the visitor from Cajun Country do all the fishing early on. Louviere wasn’t having any of that.
“He watched me for a while,” Louviere said. “I said, ‘No, dude. You’re fishing. You’re picking up a rod, pal.’ His first cast was a 7-pounder!”
Nimrod caught that fish on a recently purchased shad-colored, 6-inch long Sixth Sense Crush DD crankbait.
“He said, ‘That’s what they’re biting on. That’s what you need to use.’ I didn’t even think a bass would be able to fit the thing in its mouth,” Louviere said with a chuckle.
Nerve wracking
Nimrod handed him the fishing rod and reel with the large crankbait. The 11.22-pounder hit it and had no trouble getting it in its bucket-sized mouth.
“That was nerve-wracking,” Louviere said. “First it went under the boat. Then it jumped up. When I saw the mouth, it was a straight bucketmouth. It was one of those bass — ‘You’ve got to be serious!’ He (Nimrod) said, ‘Reel in slow. Don’t let him jump.'”
The first thing Nimrod did was deposit it in the livewell to get a digital scale ready and cell phone to take photos. Louviere didn’t admire the bass long because, after weighing it, then taking pictures, he released it.
“I thought it was a 10. Once we weighed it, 11.22, I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding?’ That’s just crazy to see that big bass. If it had eggs, it would easily have been a 13, 14-pound bass, to be honest. I like the idea I was able to do that with Connor. If I was in my own boat, I wouldn’t have been able to do that,” he said, noting his brother-in-law has the latest in marine electronics, including Garmin’s LiveScope System.
“He’s got all the technology, but you’ve got to know how to use it.”
Louviere already was looking into the future.
“This PB is going to be hard to break,” he said. “I mean, if I could catch a 12, that’d be awesome. I talked to Connor yesterday. I may go back up there pretty soon.”
