Of all the countless hours he has spent over the years in a bass boat on his favorite lake, lower end to the upper reaches, Louisiana side to Texas side, in pursuit of a double-digit bass, a Prairieville angler never imagined when and how it would happen like it did.
Johnny Fulkerson, 73, was fishing alone in the middle of the winter, standing on a pier 6 feet over the water when he felt the tell-tale “bump” of a cooperative fish on his second cast around 6:30 p.m. or so. So many minutes, predicaments and decisions later he finally had his PB, his first double-digit bass, an 11.23-pounder from Toledo Bend.
“I reared back and set the hook and all hell broke loose. The fish took off pulling drag. I was not sure what I had on my line,” Fulkerson said about that crucial moment on Jan. 22.
The following chain of events were trending to be one of those “woulda, coulda, shoulda” got away stories that break an angler’s heart. Fulkerson and his friend Jim Bob Jackson, 73, double-teamed that bass, which became the 21st 10-plus pound bass entered in the Toledo Bend Lunker Bass Program for 2025-26.
A helping hand
Fulkerson, a retired mechanic/electrician for ExxonMobil Pipeline Co., lives on Toledo Bend six months of the year and serves as a “host,” along with his wife, Denise, at Cypress Bend RV Park. That evening, he cast a rusty old ¼-ounce Buckeye Lures Spot Remover Shaky Head with a green pumpkin Zoom Paddletail Speed Worm on the business end of 12-pound test Red Label Seaguar Fluorocarbon line on a Shimano Curato reel seated on a 7-foot-11 Lew’s fishing rod.
He had tossed the shaky head combo into about 12-foot depths and was working it back to 6-foot deep around the pier, where 46 Christmas trees had been planted the past two winters. The fish, which he soon realized was a “hawg,” knew what to do.
“So when I set the hook, the fish was running into all those Christmas trees,” he said. “I just knew I was not going to get that fish up.
Fulkerson’s experience paid off as he reeled the big bass under the pier. However, the next challenge was a doozy. He kept the line tight, then called Jackson, also a “host” at Cypress Bend RV Park.
“He said, ‘Hey, I need the big net and bring a scale. I’m kind of busy right now. I’ve got a 6-pounder on!’” Jackson said.
He went to his buddy’s motor home, got the 6-foot long net and a digital scale, then hurried to the scene, where he realized Fulkerson had a bass a lot bigger than a 6-pounder. He calmly lowered the long-handled net to land the bass. The duration of the fight was between 1 ½ to 2 minutes.
As they admired its size, Jackson weighed it. Three times.
“All three times it weighed 11.2 on that scale,” Fulkerson said. “I was floating. I was on Cloud 9.”
Weighing the fish
The next challenge was to get the bass over to Living the Dream Guide Service, where Gloria Thompson, who along with her husband, Jerry “JT” Thompson, own LTD, was still working. She said she would stay to officially weigh it. It was around 7 p.m. when Fulkerson and Jackson decided against going by boat in favor of a 50-quart ice chest, which they filled with lake water.
After weighing it and a quick photo session, the three opted to release it instead of keeping it overnight. Jackson did the honors and let it go.
Fulkerson has caught more than a dozen bass in the 9-pound class since he started fishing the lake in 1970. He “possibly” has had several double-digits on that broke off.
“So this was exciting. My first double-digit bass,” he said, very proudly, about the one that didn’t get away.
