Thanks to a brother-in-law who’s a whiz around modern marine electronics and a veritable “stick,” Noah Louviere has the “bass of my dreams,” an 11.22-pounder that ate a 6-inch long crank bait.

The Loreauville outdoorsman capped a fall and winter he’ll won’t soon forget on Dec. 21, the day he fished at Caney Lake with Connor Nimrod and got his PB. The trip wasn’t planned but sure was welcome as Louviere got an invite from Nimrod.

Louviere, 22, an accomplished competitive archer who captured six state titles in the Louisiana Federation of Archers Association, was driving back from a Texas deer hunt the week before Christmas. Before returning home he wanted to visit his sister, Jolyn Louviere Nimrod, and brother-in-law who live in Calhoun.

“It was a last-minute trip,” Louviere said about a week later.

It also was an outing with one of the top bass anglers in the region, one who was in the national spotlight recently. Nimrod, 24, wrapped up his University ofg Louisiana-Monroe bass fishing career Dec. 16 at Caney Lake with one of the heaviest five-bass limits ever for a solo tournament angler — 42.10 pounds.

The ULM grad is in select company with that catch. The solo record is held by Arizona pro bass angler Dean Rojas with five bass for 45 pounds, 2 ounces, in January 2001 in a Bassmaster tournament at Lake Toho.

Nimrod, born and raised in DeSoto, Kansas, let Louviere use the rod and reel combos in his boat. The first bass was a 3, then a 4, then a 5, Louviere said. When Nimrod switched locations, the size of the bass increased significantly to 7- through 10-pound class bass.

At first, Nimrod was content to just run the trolling motor, monitor the Garmin LiveScope System and watch his brother-in-law put ’em in the boat on a day that dawned with temperatures in the 30s.

“He watched me for a while. I said, ‘No, dude. You’re fishing. You’re picking up a rod, pal.’ His first cast was a 7-pounder!” Louviere said. “That dude can just fish, honestly, from Florida to everywhere.”

Louviere, who this season has enjoyed deer hunting in Texas and duck hunting in the morning, fishing for reds in the afternoon and more duck hunting in the evening around Venice with a buddy from Thibodaux, is a fisherman who loves to catch anything that bites and not necessarily an avid bass angler. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like to tangle with bass. He hooked and boated a 5-pounder last year about this time at Lake Martin in St. Martin Parish.

Nimrod caught that first 7-pounder of the day at Caney Lake on a recently purchased shad-colored Sixth Sense Crush DD crank bait, according to Louviere. His brother-in-law and immediately handed the rod to Louviere.

“He said, ‘That’s what they’re biting on. That’s what you need to use.’ I didn’t even think a bass would be able to fit the thing in its mouth,” Louviere said with a chuckle, still incredulous.

He found out in a hurry. That 6-inch long crank bait, fished deep over a creek bed, was inhaled around 9 a.m.

The see-saw battle was on.

“That was nerve-wracking. First it went under the boat. Then it jumped up. When I saw the mouth, it was straight bucketmouth. It was one of those bass … ‘You’ve got to be serious!’ He (Nimrod) said, ‘Reel in slow. Don’t let him jump,’ ” Louviere said.

Louviere brought his biggest bass ever to the boat, where Nimrod leaned over, lipped it and lifted it in. They got their first look at his new PB.

“I thought it was a 10. Once we weighed it, 11.22, I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding?’ That’s just crazy to see that big bass. If it had eggs, it would easily have been a 13-, 14-pound bass, to be honest,” the Loreauville native said.

They weighed the “hawg,” then took photos and released it.

Louviere was oh-so proud. And appreciative.

“I like the idea I was able to do that with Connor. If I was in my own boat, I wouldn’t have been able to do that. He’s got all the technology but you’ve got to know how to use it. Learning LiveScope was cool,” he said, noting his brother-in-law has the latest in marine electronics, including Garmin’s LiveScope System.

Nimrod, who is opening Tournament Technology in Monroe, where anglers can get Power Poles, batteries, trolling motors, marine electronics, etc., impressed his brother-in-law with the use of LiveScope. They were fishing deep over a creek bed.

“I looked at them. They were there,” Louviere said.

He also was impressed with Caney Lake. It’s clear, in more ways than one, there has been a concerted effort to enhance the lake’s bass fishery and habitat by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

“It’s beautiful out there. Wildlife and Fisheries is doing a great job. I just read a thing in the Sportsman (Louisiana Sportsman). They put 300 Christmas trees in there. It’s so clear. It looks like a lake up north,” he said.

There might be a return to the lake in the near future for Louviere.

“This PB is going to be hard to break. I mean, if I could catch a 12, that’d be awesome. I talked to Connor yesterday. I may go back up there pretty soon,” he said.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors writer of The Daily Iberian.