Caney hawg is wish come true for Kliebert
There are lots of ways to catch giant bass in the spring. Ross Kliebert and Zane Zeringue of the Lafourche Parish Bassmasters may have come up with a new one.
“The day before the LHSAA tournament last weekend, Zane found two pennies. He kept one and gave one to me,” Kliebert said. “He said throw it in the lake and make a wish. So I threw mine in and wished to catch a double-digit bass. He threw his in. I asked him what he wished for. He said his wish was just that we didn’t zero out in the tournament.”
Well, bass wishes do come true.
The next day, Saturday, March 19, the two didn’t zero out. And Kliebert got his wish. The 10th grader from Hackberry who attends Thibodaux High caught his personal best 12.45-pound largemouth bass from Caney Lake. He also caught a 7-pounder and the duo ended the tournament in third place with five fish weighing 24.29 pounds.
“Oh my gosh, it was such a cool day,” Kliebert said. “We started out slow, but started seeing more fish bedding. We found them along the edge of a cove and as we pulled up to one spot around a point, we saw a giant fish take off. We looked at each other with our mouths open and Zane said, ‘was that like the giant stuffed bass you can get at Bass Pro?’”
The two had a good laugh, but knew they wanted a shot at that fish. They fished on down the cove, then came back again. When they did, Zeringue spotted the big momma and they spent an hour or more throwing every kind of bait they could think of. But the fish would not bite.
6th Sense Stroker Craw
“Our boat captain, Marcus Trosclair, suggested maybe we try a white bait, so we did,” Kliebert said. “Zane tied on a white trick worm and tossed it in there. The big fish hit, but broke him off. We were like ‘oh no…what just happened?’ but I had a white 6-inch crawfish tied on so I threw it up in the bed.”
As soon as he did, a smaller male bass shot over and ate the bait. After a brief battle, he landed the “small” 5-pound male. They again cast at the big fish, but she wouldn’t bite again. Finally after about an hour of trying, Kliebert had cast a white 6-inch 6th Sense Stroker Craw sitting on the bed. Zeringue tied a white chatterbait on and pulled it through the bed.
“When he did that, the big bass hit Zane’s bait hard, but missed it,” Kliebert said. “Then, it just turned and, just like that, ate mine. He was saying to me that the fish had his bait in its mouth and I said, ‘you mean like this’ and I set the hook. The fish went crazy. So did Zane.”
After about a five minute battle, he finally got the fish close enough for Zeringue to lip it and he did. When they got it in the boat, they both went crazy.
“We were screaming and hollering and hugging. It was awesome,” Kliebert said. “Marcus couldn’t believe it and he was just sitting there smiling with his mouth open.”
A very successful tournament
Trosclair said it was an absolute joy to watch the guys fish so hard and for him to serve as the boat captain.
“To watch them fish, man, that makes it worth all the effort,” he said. “These guys fished so hard for those two big fish and they had so much fun. They kept tossing different baits at them and finally aggravated them into hitting that white crawfish. It was fun. This was my first trip back to Caney since the grass got back in it and it makes an enormous difference. If they keep the grass in there, this lake will just keep getting better.”
The two get to talk about the experience quite often. They ride to school together and it’s pretty much all they are talking about.
There were actually three double-digit bass caught during the tournament by the high school anglers. Baylen Guy and Brandt Babineaux of Tuerlings Catholic landed a 10.39 and Cullen Dickerson and Kanin Deal of South Beauregard landed an 11.28. The tournament was won by Tyler Covington and Brantley Tate of Walker High with five fish weighing 26.55, including a big fish of 8.77. Tournament runner-up Cade Walock and Brady Smith had five fish weighing 24.78 including a big fish of 9.61.
