Robert Rush holds up the eighth heaviest largemouth ever recorded in Louisiana. courtesy of Robert Rush
Bussey Brake has been one in all Louisiana’s top-producing bass lakes for years, however the motion there was particularly scorching this winter, with anglers breaking the lake file twice in February. Todd Herrington of Bastrop caught a 13.58-pound largemouth on Feb. 13, however his file wouldn’t stand for lengthy. It was damaged on Feb. 26 by Arkansan Robert Rush, whose 15.36-pound bucketmouth ranks as one of many prime 10 largest bass ever recorded within the state, in line with the Louisiana Division of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Rush was in a position to launch the bass into Bussey Brake after it was weighed and measured. And since he lives solely 21 miles away from the two,200-acre reservoir, he’ll seemingly be again to attempt to beat his personal file as the large females get into spawning mode.
“I went to church that Sunday morning, and determined it was an excellent day to go to Bussey Brake for large pre-spawn bass,” Rush tells Out of doors Life. “I known as my buddy Mark Beasley to go along with me, however he couldn’t make it. So, I loaded up my boat and headed there alone.”
Rush launched his 18.5-foot Javelin bass boat round noon, and he caught some smaller bass that afternoon. Round 4 p.m. he had a strong hit on a big, weedless-rigged, dark-colored tube jig, however he missed the fish. He saved fishing and caught a two-pounder, adopted by a five-pounder.
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“That’s once I thought I higher flip again and check out for the fish that hit, however I didn’t hook,” says Rush, a longtime bass angler who fishes the occasional native match. “I acquired again to the world the place I missed the fish, made a forged, and he or she jumped throughout that very same lure.”
Then the fish went “bonzo”, in line with Rush, making a couple of highly effective runs and peeling line off his Abu Garcia 5500C baitcaster. At first he didn’t understand how large the bass was, however when it jumped twice and cleared the water, he knew it needed to weigh effectively over 10 kilos.
Rush didn’t have a internet. So, after a two-minute battle that appeared to take so much longer, he drew the fish near his boat, fastidiously lipped the lunker, and put it in his boat’s dwell effectively.
“I went again to fishing for about 10 minutes, however the extra I thought of that large fish, I figured I higher get it weighed,” says Rush.
He known as an LDWF recreation warden and defined what he’d simply caught. The warden instructed Rush there was a storage shed on shore close to the boat ramp of the general public lake, and contained in the shed there was an authorized weigh scale he may use to doc the fish.
“[The warden] gave me the mixture to the lock to get contained in the shed, like they’ve executed with different fishermen who catch large ones on Bussey Brake,” Rush defined. “I acquired again to the boat ramp and Randy Bentz was there, and he requested how I’d executed fishing. I instructed him I had an excellent bass within the boat dwell effectively, and he helped me get into the shed, weigh the bass, and [take] some pictures.”
Louisiana’s Prime 10 Listing
The bass formally weighed 15.36-pounds, with a 26-inch size and 22-inch girth. With the fish weighed and measured, Rush launched it into Bussey Brake. The paperwork for his lake file catch has been registered with LDWF, and the company says Rush’s bass ranks because the eighth largest bass ever recorded within the state.
Taking a look at Louisiana’s Prime 10 listing, all the largest bass in state historical past are inside a fraction of a pound of one another. The state-record largemouth, caught in 1994 from Caney Lake, weighed 15.97 kilos, which is simply over a half-pound heavier than Rush’s fish.
