Thibodeaux catches the largemouth casting fast-diving Rapala crankbait on Toro grasslines
After a pretty uneventful morning fishing at Indian Creek and Mills Creek at Toledo Bend Thursday, Lake Arthur’s Dustin Thibodeaux and Shayne Teal decided to change things up and headed to the Toro area after lunch to test their luck.
That decision paid off pretty quickly as the anglers fished points on the edge of the lake, with Thibodeaux casting a Rapala Helsinki Shad DT 20 crankbait about 18- to 20-feet deep on submerged grasslines.
He was using 12-pound Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon on a Shimano Calcutta TE DC 200 reel with a 7-foot St. Croix crankbait rod.
About 2 p.m., he caught a small 2-pounder that he released.
“Right after that, I hooked a bass which came up and out of the water, and I immediately told Shayne that it was a 10-pounder,” he said.
The big fish ran under the boat twice and Thibodeaux had Teal trim up the motor so his line didn’t get wrapped up.
“The fight just took a minute and the bass was netted,” Thibodeaux said.
The angler knew it was the biggest bass he’d ever caught.
“We weighed it on my boat,” he said. “It weighed 10.5 pounds on my scale.”
Thibodeaux and Teal quickly secured the big bass in the livewell and headed to Fin & Feather Resort to have the fish officially weighed for possible entry into the Toledo Bend Lunker Bass Program.
The big bass officially weighed 10.48 pounds and qualified for a free replica from the Toledo Bend Lake Association. The fish, which was the 61st entered into the program this season, was later tagged and released back into Toledo Bend waters.
