ZWOLLE – Two of the biggest stories for Teche Area bass anglers March 2-3 at Toledo Bend during the Louisiana High School Bass Nation tournaments belonged to Brayden Landry, a senior at Erath High School, and the Catholic High School Fishing Team’s Roman Segura and Walker Hidalgo.

They stood out for their respective high schools on the first day, the North Division Qualifier on Saturday, March 2. Landry, who fished alone while representing the EHS Fishing Club, qualified for the state tournament May 3-5 with a 14th-place finish while Segura and Hidalgo finished fifth in the Junior Division the same day at Toledo Bend out of San Miguel Park SRA Site 7A.

The LHSBN’s popularity was underscored by the turnout both days, particularly on March 2 when 201 boats fished the High School Division and 62 boats fished the Junior Division. It was the largest tournament field ever for the circuit.

Mother Nature cooperated with light winds following extra chilly mornings on the water that included foggy conditions. The border lake’s bass cooperated for many of the teams.

Culls on way to state qualification

Landry was by himself both days because his longtime tournament partner, Branson Word, had a commitment to prom night that Saturday at EHS. His most successful day was Saturday, the first tournament, when he culled to a five-bass limit weighing 10.93 pounds.

He was relieved to punch a ticket for him and Word to compete May 3-5 at the LHSBN State Championship on the Calcasieu River.

“It feels good. It needed to be done,” the EHS running back/track and field athlete said on the ride home to Erath.

Captained for a fourth year by his father, Clayton Landry, 43-year-old owner of Venture Auto Parts in Delcambre, Landry went out Saturday morning and took a long boat ride south close to the dam. He fished on the Texas side where they found clear water and grass, the elder Landry said.

The senior did the rest and went to work with a shad-colored Rapala CrushCity Customs Mayor Swimbait. He put the first keeper-sized bass in the boat around mid-morning.

“It was just a slow rev working it in the grass,” he said. “I had a limit by 12, I think.”

Landry culled twice after that to rid the livewell of two 1- to 2-pounders. One of the cull fish, a 3-pound class bass, came off a bed.

His outing the next day in the West Division Qualifier didn’t go as smoothly at the beginning, according to his father. They made a much shorter run and fished Palo Gaucho and Carrice Creek, he said.

“His first bite was a big one. It came out of the water and spit the bait. His next two bites did the same,” the high school bass angler’s father said.

Landry recovered to put four keepers in the livewell that weighed 8.36 pounds, good enough for 65th place on Sunday.

The Bossier Parish Bass Team’s Carsen Adcock and Graham Locke topped all high schoolers March 22 with three bass weighing 20.46 pounds. Their kicker was a giant 10.70-pounder.

Teurlings Catholic’s Brandt Babineaux and Chandler Hulin finished first in the High School Division the next day with a limit weighing 16.91 pounds.

Baquet, Switzer rebound second day

CHS Fishing Team’s lone High School Division team of Jarrett Baquet and Seth Switzer carried four bass weighing 6.88 pounds to the big stage the first day for 51st place and bounced back the second day with a five-bass limit for 8.66 pounds for 62nd. They were captained by their father, Dr. Shawn Baquet. They caught 25 bass over the two-day period.

Meanwhile, Roman Segura, an eighth-grade student at Catholic High School, and his fishing buddy, Walker Hidalgo, a CHS seventh-grader, paced the Junior Team boats Saturday by reeling in four bass that weighed at 8.78 pounds. The captain was Segura’s paternal grandfather, Vic Segura, who started fishing bass tournaments with the Basin Boys Bass Club in the 1970s in and around the Atchafalaya Basin and at Toledo Bend.

“This is a great experience for everybody, especially for captains, spending time with kids and teaching,” the elder Segura said after the weekend’s trips to the great fishery and stay at the lakeside camp of the Baquets, who played host to Shawn and Mary Switzer and their son, Seth; Mark and Tracie Leger and their son, Cannon, and Sara Kristicevich Bergeron and her son, Greyson Young. Jeneen Baquet, Dr. Baquet’s wife, had breakfast ready for the boys and captains when they got up in the wee hours of the morning to get ready for each day on the water.

Segura and Walker, who stayed at an uncle’s camp with their captain, went out on a full stomach that first frosty morning and almost won their division.

“If we would have had a fifth one we would have won. I really think we would have won it,” the eighth-grader said.

The March 2 Junior Division’s winning team was Bossier Parish’s Tallen Toups and Dylin Mizell with a limit weighing 10.66 pounds. Toups and Mizell wowed the crowd the next day with a winning weight of 17.12 pounds, including a 5.56-pounder.

Nevertheless, Vic Segura said about his young bass anglers, “They were smiling ear-to-ear on that stage. Like I said, it was a great experience for them.”

Segura team finds four for 5th

The younger Segura caught three keepers on a june bug GYCB Senko, a black/blue Z-Man Jackhammer, then a white Jackhammer, both with a Missile Baits Spunk Shad soft plastic trailer, in 1- to 3-foot depths. Hidalgo caught their fourth and biggest bass, a 3.09-pounder, on a Senko.

The younger Segura praised his grandfather and said, “Without him, I wouldn’t even be fishing. He’s teaching me everything in the Basin (Atchafalaya Basin). He just passes his knowledge on to me. I’m lucky to have him.”

The CHS Fishing Team’s Junior Division team of Cannon Leger and Greyson Young, captained by Leger’s father, Mark Leger, also had a great start to the weekend. Leger and Young started culling early Saturday and finished with five bass weighing 7.44 pounds for a lofty seventh place in the 62-team field. They also fished on Sunday and made another trip to the digital scale with one keeper.

Hollis Daigle, fishing alone with his father and captain, Brock Daigle, enjoyed fair to good prefishing but was unable to put a keeper on the board either tournament. The Daigles, who stayed at a family camp, are enjoying their second year on the LHSBN circuit.

A fourth CHS Fishing Team made its first-ever LHSBN tournament appearance as Cullen Beslin and Gavin Switzer fished March 2 with captain Kyle Speyrer.