It was Friday, July 5, and my dad, Lendel, and I had a fishing trip planned at Bussey Brake that morning. I wasted no time hopping out of bed when my alarm rang at 4 a.m. I was taking my dad fishing with me for the first time in years. I wanted it to be a great day for him. I also wanted to show him I really knew what I was doing.
We arrived at the boat ramp at 5:15 a.m., and we made it to the place I was hoping to get to before anyone else. Things were looking good. I spent about 30 seconds explaining to dad why we were fishing this spot and things to look for when choosing where to cast. I then picked up my rod and made my first cast. Second cast. Third cast. Dad still hadn’t unhooked his bait from his rod.
“Dad, now is the best time of day to be fishing,” I said. “Start casting!”
I turned back around and made my fourth cast. I began reeling and….BAM! I felt a massive thump on my bait and I set the hook.
“Oh my gosh! Dad, get the net! Hurry! It’s a monster!” I shouted.
As I continued to fight what I knew was a monster bass, dad scrambled to get the net. As soon as I got the fish close to the boat, dad was waiting just in time and managed to scoop the bass up. As he raised it over the edge of the boat, I knew it was over 10 pounds. My heart was beating out of my chest as I proceeded to give about 20 air punches with excitement. Dad couldn’t believe it. He had never seen a bass this large before. We took a few pictures and videos of the 10-pound 2-ounce monster before releasing him back into the water. It was my second-biggest bass. I had caught a 10-pound 6-ounce bass in that exact spot back in June 2023.
Go with your gut
We fished the same spot for the next hour and dad was able to catch five or six good bass, with one of them being his personal best (a 3-pounder).
Things started to slow down around 7:30 a.m. After 10 minutes or so of not getting a bite, I decided to crank the boat up and head to another spot. I knew it was a risk leaving the original spot due to the number of boats that were on the water.
We pulled up to the second spot and I turned on the LiveScope. As I stared at my screen, I saw nothing. No bait fish, no bass, nothing. We fished it for about 15 minutes. That 10-pounder I had caught earlier just kept replaying through my head over and over, and I finally told dad, “Let’s go back to where we started this morning. Maybe they will start biting again.”
It didn’t take much convincing. Dad had his rod put away and his life jacket on before I got the words out of my mouth.
After a short boat ride, we had arrived back to the first spot. It wasn’t long before dad had connected with a 2-pounder. Then another. And another. Needless to say, it seemed the bass were back for more.
I saw two little cypress trees that I had a small window of making a good cast between. So I went for it. I felt my line thump. But when I set my hook, I thought I was hung on something. It wasn’t moving. Then I noticed where my line met the water was moving fast to the right.
“Wait a second,” I said. “I think I have a fish.”
I felt it start pulling drag, and then my worst fears came true. I could no longer feel the fish thumping on the other end of my line. The bass had wrapped my line around a stump. I broke out in a panic.
A day to remember
As I was trolling over to the stump she had me wrapped around, I felt some faint thumps.
“She’s still on there!” I hollered.
All of a sudden, the bass jumped completely out of the water, managing to untangle itself off the stump. Just like that, the fight was back on.
“Here she is, get her in the net!” I told dad.
As dad leaned over the boat to net this monster, we saw the bait come flying out of the bass’ mouth. My stomach turned into knots. It felt like slow motion in my head as dad began to raise the net. This was it.
As the net lifted out of the water we couldn’t believe our eyes. Dad threw the net and the bass onto the floor of the boat. We had done it! I proceeded to let out the loudest yell of excitement known to man.
We had started the morning off with a 10-pound 2-ounce bass. And the one we had on the scale in front of us at the moment crushed it! This beast weighed 12 pounds 4 ounces. This was a day bass fishermen dream about.
We took pictures and released her back into the lake to hopefully catch again another day. We went back to the boat ramp, loaded up and headed back to West Monroe. Neither of us could truly believe what had just happened. Shortly after returning home, I received a text from my dad that said “Are we going again next Saturday?”
I laughed when I read it. My dad was hooked.
-Casey Taylor
