Toledo Bend gives up its bass grudgingly to CHS Fishing Team as Daigles notch a ninth
Toledo Bend can be so fickle before the height of the spawn each year, as so many young bass anglers discovered during the Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation tournaments Feb. 8-9.
Three two-man teams found out to one degree or another on the annual visit to the border lake shared by Louisiana and Texas. Catholic High School’s Fishing Team sent two Junior Division teams and a High School Division team to the sprawling impoundment and came back with mixed but encouraging results.
They fished the West Division contest on Saturday, Feb. 8, and the North Division derby on Feb. 9. Two teams put bass on the digital scale both days but the one that scratched the first day rallied to notch a 9th-place finish on Sunday.
“Ummmm, I’m proud of the way they competed on both days. They didn’t give up, all of them,” CHS Fishing Team coach Jacob Shoopman said a few days after all the castin’ and catchin’ was in the books.
“Oh, yeah, any time you fish a couple days like that in a tournament setting you keep getting better and better and you learn a lot.”
The most trying day had to be Feb. 9. A heavy fog that blanketed the lake prevented all the boats from being released for a few hours after the scheduled start. Some LHSBN bass anglers were unable to start fishing until 10:15 a.m.

Catholic High School Fishing Team captain Brock Daigle, center, is flanked by his sons, Hollis, right, and Holden on Feb. 9 after they weighed three bass for 7.62 pounds for a 9th-place finish in the LHSBN’s Junior Division at Toledo Bend.
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The Junior Division team of Hollis Daigle and Holden Daigle, captained by their father, Brock Daigle, bounced back after a disappointing scratch the first day to notch the highest finish among the teams in the four-year-old program started by Shoopman.
The Daigles finished ninth that day in the 27-boat field of Juniors with 7.62 pounds. That catch, although two fish shy of a limit, salvaged the weekend for the Daigles.
“Oh, it was a grind. It was a struggle. (But) they did what they needed to do. They showed more patience and confidence throwing Flukes around. That’s what they wanted to do all day long,” the youngsters’ father said a few days later.
They hooked and boated those three bass in Carrice Creek, he said. The bait of choice was a green/blue Fluke, he said.
Shoopman said, “It was ‘bounce back’ time for Hollis and Holden. The second day was great to see because they probably were disappointed after the first day.”

Greyson Young, left, and Cannon Leger are all smiles Feb. 8 after weighing three bass for 5.07 pounds and a Junior Division 20th-place finish in an LHSBN tournament at Toledo Bend. Captained by Leger’s father, Mark Leger, they fished Negreet Creek and Six Mile Creek.
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Fellow Junior Division bass anglers Cannon Leger and Greyson Young hit the board both days while being captained by Leger’s father, Mark Leger. Leger and Young started strong the first day with 5.07 pounds and avoided a scratch the second day by putting 2.89 pounds on the digital scale on the big stage at Cypress Bend Resort.
“For Cannon and Greyson to stay consistent for both days was good, impressive,” Shoopman said about the team that wrapped up the first half of the 2024-25 LHSBN season with a strong third-place finish Nov. 9 at the Calcasieu River.
The Junior Division’s Day 1 winners on Toledo Bend were Cullen Alton and Roan McClung on the strength of their 17.51-pound limit. First-place on Day 2 was the team of Piers Picou and Zack Picou with 12.35 pounds.
It was hard enough trying to find a successful pattern with two bass anglers in the boat that weekend. The CHS Fishing Team’s senior member, Seth Switzer, did the best he could while fishing without his longtime tournament partner, Jarrett Baquet.

Seth Switzer waits to carry his weigh-in bag to the digital scale Feb. 8 during the LHSBN tournaments at Toledo Bend. Dr. Shawn Baquet, whose son, Jarrett, was unable to fish, was the captain both days when Switzer had 3.14 pounds the first day and 4.08 pounds the second day.
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Switzer hit the High School Division leaderboard the first day with 4.08 pounds and followed up the second day with 3.14 pounds while riding with veteran captain Dr. Shawn Baquet. Baquet pointed out Seitzer hooked and boated by himself 15-20 bass Day 1 but, as luck would have it, most were around 13 inches, one inch under the minimum size limit at Toledo Bend. As a result, he said, they left those near-keeper-sized bass in search of bona fide keepers and the move “just didn’t pan out.”
“For Seth to go there both days and compete by himself, he did good for going up there and fishing solo. That ain’t easy, especially from being from around here and fishing up at Toledo Bend. Fishing’s completely different on that body of water,” Shoopman said.
The High School Division’s Day 1 winning team was Hunter McDaniel and Lane Spel, who came back from the “trailer anywhere” tournament format because of high winds with an unbeatable limit at 23.24 pounds, including a 6.52-pounder, Day 2’s High School Division winning team in the 147-boat field was Carsen Adcock and Colton Arnold, whose limit weighed 18.54 pounds.
Notable for Acadiana area LHSBN bass anglers was the third-place finish on the second day by Travis Meche Jr. and Chance Watson. They put a solid limit of 17.52 pounds on the digital scale Sunday, one day after weighing in 18.35 pounds on opening day to finish No. 6.
DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.