Part bass, part homing pigeon?
That question has to be on bass fishermen’s lips after 15-year-old Thomas Deshotels of Kinder caught an 11.53-pound bass in a creek that feeds Toledo Bend’s Housen Bay.
When Deshotels arrived at Buckeye Landing on Saturday, March 8, to have the fish measured and its weight certified for the Toledo Bend Lunker Bass Program, it was discovered that the fish was tagged – from being caught earlier as part of the program. A quick check of the records showed the fish had been caught by Craig Bean of Lake Charles on Jan. 15 in Housen Bay, about a quarter-mile from where Deshotels fooled it with a black/blue ChatterBait.
So a huge bass was caught in Housen Bay in mid-January, rode 10 miles in the livewell to Buckeye Landing, where it was weighed, measured, tagged and released on the spot. And seven weeks later, the bass has travelled 10 miles back to what are apparently its home sweet home.
What in the name of Google Maps is going on?
Deshotels can’t begin to imagine, but he’s thrilled that the only bass he caught that day fishing with his father, David – who also caught just one fish – was almost three times heavier than his previous personal best.
“Over the last couple of years, he’s probably had a couple hooked that might have been 5 or 6 (pounds), but he never landed them,” David Deshotels said.
Getting the big fish in the boat
Father and son were fishing a little creek that cuts through a flat and feeds Housen Bay. It was a spot that David Deshotels and his own father had had plenty of spring fishing success in the past. They fished shallow for a while and didn’t do much, then moved out to fish deeper water around the channel, maybe 8 to 10 feet deep.
“I was just reeling in, and (the lure) felt like it kept getting hung up in reeds,” he said. “One time, the rod felt heavy, and I tried to lift it, and I felt the fish on it. I never set the hook; I just kept reeling.
“It felt like dead weight. It felt like a catfish. Then, it popped up in front of us, and when we saw it, we knew it was a huge fish. I got it close to the boat, and I reached out and grabbed it with one hand. When I lifted it, it started to shake its head, so I dropped the rod and grabbed it with two hands. It was barely hooked.”
Deshotels said around eight other bass boats were fishing within hailing distance of his father and him.
“After I caught it, it seemed like they all trolled over toward us,” he said. “When I got it in the boat, there was a guy about 50 yards away who gave me a thumbs-up.”
Previously tagged fish
A sophomore at Kinder High School, Thomas Deshotels figured the fish was holding on the edge of the creek channel, but it was hard to guess, because the depth finder in their boat wasn’t working.
With the big fish safely in the livewell, the Deshotels headed to Buckeye, 10 miles away, to weigh the fish. That’s where the person who weighed and measured the fish discovered the tag, checked and found out the details of its previous catch. The fish had been about an ounce heavier in January, but hey, after a 10-mile swim, who wouldn’t have lost a little weight?
“I went on the (Louisiana Sportsman) website and found the story about Craig Bean catching the bass,” David Deshotels said. “It said he had caught it suspended in standing timber. I think he wasn’t more than a quarter-mile from where my son caught the fish.”
