Lunker bass pushes Joseph Savant and Gavin Latour to 2nd place finish in Haynesville Shale Bass Tournament
Joseph Savant and Gavin Latour teamed up for an impressive day on Toledo Bend last Friday, Feb. 28, weighing in more than 28 pounds of bass on a five-fish stringer that featured a 10.2-pound lunker caught north of Pendleton Bridge.
The anglers from Washington were participating in the two-day Haynesville Shale Bass Tournament, and powered by Savant’s hawg, the team was in 1st place in the 265-team field after day one.
The duo had launched at Pendleton Harbor and were on Toledo Bend’s waters by 6:30 that morning after a successful scouting trip two weeks earlier north of Pendleton Bridge.
“We went straight to that area,” Savant said.
Savant began by throwing a ½-ounce Rayburn Red Craw along grass patches and points in 6- to 8-feet of water. He was casting the Rat-L-Trap tied with 15-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon spooled onto a Shimano Curado reel on a 7-foot-3-inch Duckett rod.
In five minutes, Savant had a 5 ½-pounder in the livewell.
“We fished for another hour without a bite,” he said.
They decided to motor to another nearby area with similar contours and grasslines.
“On my first cast there, I caught a 6-pounder,” he said.
At that point, the anglers had two really nice fish in the livewell, but they didn’t know their day was about to get a whole lot better.
“It was five minutes later when I made a long cast in front of the boat,” Savant said. “A fish hit the bait and immediately started pulling drag. I told Gavin to get the net.
“Then the fish wrapped me up on a stump. I had to troll up to the stump to get to the line. I still didn’t see what was hooked while I released the line from the stump.”
The big fish began a run again, and kept fighting as it pulled even more drag.
“I finally was able to get the fish to the net,” he said.
Seeing the bass on the deck of the boat, Savant figured he had about an 8-pounder.
“I didn’t think it was 10, and we didn’t weigh her,” he said. “We just put her in the livewell.”
They continued fishing, and in another five minutes they each caught another bass, and two more 3 ½-pounders were added to the livewell.
“After we put them away, we left there to fish it again on Saturday since it was a two-day tournament,” Savant said. “We called it a day because the winds were picking up. I figured we had over 25 pounds in the livewell, and that was by 8:45 a.m.”
At weigh-in, the pair was in 1st place after day one with an impressive 28.1 pounds, and Savant’s 8-pounder actually weighed-in at a hefty 10.2 pounds.
The fish were held in the tournament tanks and were later released into Toledo Bend waters.
On the next day, Savant and Latour decided to try their luck again in the same area.
“We didn’t do as well on Saturday,” he said.
The anglers caught their five fish, weighed in another 15 pounds of bass, placed 2nd overall with 43.07 pounds and also took home the Big Bass award for Savant’s 10.2-pound lunker.
