Capt. Dickie Colburn

For the Record

Catching fish is not simply a matter of being in the right place at the

right time. Just ask Orange angler, Eddie Hudson!

Not only is a little luck required, but more importantly, it is a matter

of having your lure or bait at the right place at the right time.Last

week Hudson did just that and officially owning the new Toledo Bend lake

record for spotted bass is now little more than a formality.

“I had fished virtually every lure in the box at every depth and hadn’t

gotten the first strike when I opted to give a spinnerbait a shot,” said

Hudson.“The strike wasn’t anything special,” he added, “and I just

flipped her over the side without even looking for the net.”

Enter his first acknowledgement of a little luck. As soon as she hit the

bottom of the boat she flopped one time and the spinnerbait fell out of

her mouth. “She was just barely skin hooked so I was lucky to even land

her!” Unaware of the significance of what was now lying on the floor of

his boat he would never have given it a second thought had she fallen

back into the lake.

Pleased, but not overly impressed with her size, he still elected to put

her in the livewell and let the kids share in releasing her the following day.

Yet another bit of luck!

“She was not only the only bass I caught, but the only bite I got,” said

Hudson. Before locking everything down that evening, he snapped a few

photos to post on a report he would share on Facebook. “I had scarcely

hit the “send” button when my sight started lighting up.”

After two hundred plus hits proclaiming his bass to not only be a spot,

but possibly a new record, he sent a picture to an area Game Warden. When

the response came back “no doubt” Hudson and his fish hit the road in

search of certified scales. After much driving around, his bass was

officially weighed and certified in nearby Fairmont.

As it would turn out, all of the folks that were so excited about his

catch were right. His new record, which is now little more than a

formality, pushed the needle to 4.5-pounds. His huge spot eclipsed the

existing record, caught in 2009, by nearly a pound.

A little luck played a role in Hudson’s memorable feat, but it was far

from being the determining factor. He could have easily given up earlier

in the day or tied on the wrong spinnerbait or lowered his troll motor

on the wrong shoreline.In addition, he took the time to share his catch

with folks he didn’t even know as well as his own grandkids.

Eddie Hudson deserved to catch that bass!

Amazingly enough, on the same day, Connie Allen may well have caught and

later eaten a record white perch that she duped with a minnow in

twenty-eight feet of water. “I never caught a bass, that big,” she

stated.“I don’t know if it was a black or white crappie,” but it weighed

over three pounds on our scales.”

Allen said she was fishing right in the middle of a cove east of the

Arnold’s Bay area. “It was so foggy we couldn’t see the bank so we didn’t

go very far.” Unlike Hudson’s afternoon, they boxed nineteen other keepers.

On the local scene, I talked with Trey Smith earlier this week and he

said that the bass bite had slowed down for him, but wouldn’t blame it

on the rain and dirty water. “We have seen all of this before,” he

pointed out, “but we will get it figured out,” I don’t doubt that!

At the same time, the redfish continue to warrant burning any gas in

saltwater. The saltwater is not very salty, unfortunately and it has kept

the trout pinned down to very small areas. Jason Lott and a friend did

have fourteen trout up to five pounds that they caught wading 3 to 4 feet

of water Saturday night.

The numbers game has also improved a little on the south end of the

lake, but size is a problem. Regardless of size, the improved bite is

encouraging.

We have fished some very dirty water lately, but had little trouble

catching redfish. They have been mixed in size, but are hitting the same

baits for us. Square bill crankbaits and quarter ounce spinnerbaits have

worked best. A GULP trailer on the spinnerbait is hard to beat, but we

have done well with a red shad Sea Shad as well.