BREAUX BRIDGE – The day after he caught the biggest bass of his life, a 9 ½-pounder, on April 20, Matthew Bulliard of Breaux Bridge still was sorting out the sequence of events.

The Teurlings Catholic High School junior who lives in Breaux Bridge was targeting bream and dunking crickets, his plan until the sun sank lower that afternoon at Lake Martin in St. Martin Parish. The lake has given up several “hawgs” this spring and it’s the site for the next Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series on May 11.

Bulliard, 17, son of Brett and Amy Champagne Bulliard, said the bream bite was slow, though.

“I switched to bass fishing and picked up a spinnerbait,” he said the following morning, noting he wanted to scout for the upcoming WN Hawg Fights BTS.

He aimed his first cast at some trees in the water, trees different than the many cypress trees that line the small lake, he said. He told his fishing buddy, Cole Fuselier, who lives across the street from him, he thought there would be a bass around those trees.

Bulliard retrieved the first cast without incident and launched the second cast into the same area. Something heavy and lively in the water latched onto it.

“I told my buddy to grab the net. I knew it was big but I didn’t know what it was,” he said.

When the fish jumped, his heart jumped into his throat. Sure enough, it was a bass.

“My buddy went crazy. He kept saying he never saw a bass that big,” he said.

Bulliard was more subdued.

“I had to pay attention. It was barely hooked. I could see where it was hooked. I wanted to be careful. I was a little nervous,” he said.

He played the fish to the boat, where the big bass’ bid to stay in the water ended in a landing net. They admired the bass.

Bulliard put it on a belly board but the tail extended beyond the length of the board, which was 26 inches long. The digital scale the fishermen had with them bounced between 9.5 and 9.75, he said.

“I was excited. It’s the biggest bass I ever caught. It’s a close race between that one and one I caught in Lacassine (Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge). That one (most recent “hawg”) is bigger, tho. Yeah, it was fun,” he said.

The faithful catch-and-release advocate never considered keeping the big bass to mount or eat.

“I took a few pictures and sent them to people. I kept holding him in the water (between photo ops). I didn’t want to hurt that fish. I let it go and kept fishing. I can’t keep a fish like that. No,” he said.

The ¼-ounce chartreuse/blue/white spinnerbait with tandem gold/silver Colorado blades is custom made for him at Bowie Outfitters.

The TCHS Rebel Fishing Team member and Angler of the Year as a freshman in 2019-20 has fished a lot since his boyhood days with his paternal grandfather, Danny Bulliard, plant manager at Cajun Chef in St. Martinville and an accomplished bass angler who loves to hunt ducks and doves from Catahoula to Gueydan.

His grandpa, who instilled the catch-and-release practice in him many years ago, has been his captain in Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation events since 2019-20.

“My grandpa has been fishing his whole life and never caught one that big,” he said, noting his parents, his friends and Danny Bulliard are all proud of him for that catch in Lake Martin.

Bulliard qualified for the LHSBN State Championship tournament this past weekend on the Ouachita River out of Forsythe Park, Monroe. However, the up-and-coming skeet shooter opted to compete in a skeet shooting state contest instead this past weekend.