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Fish of a Lifetime
 Keith Lusher
For most anglers, catching a 10-pound bass represents the ultimate high-water mark or gold standard. For Ron Hindman of Slidell, it’s always been a dream to catch “The Big One.”
It all started in 1979 after moving to the Northshore. Growing up in Chalmette, Hindman was used to fishing for trout and redfish in the marsh. But the world of bass fishing was introduced to him when he fished a tournament at Fort Pike with a club called the Honey Island Bassmasters. “After that, I began watching more fishing shows like Bill Dance — Roland Martin — Orlando Wilson and started learning a lot about bass fishing,” he said. As he gained more knowledge about bass fishing, he joined more tournaments on the Northshore. However, he quickly learned that if he was going to catch a 10-pound bass, it would have to come out of a reservoir farther north. “Toledo Bend, Sam Rayburn, Lake Fork, I’ve fished them all,” he said. With numerous trips to what is considered “Trophy Lakes,” all Hindman could manage was a 5.5-pounder on Toledo Bend. As the years passed, Hindman refined his bass fishing skills and has grown accustom to the smaller bass that is normally caught in the local bass tournaments in South Louisiana. “I have a 6-pounder on my wall that I caught in the East Pearl and I’ve always considered that a big fish for this area,” the 65-year-old said. While Hindman still fishes a few local jelly jar tournaments on the Northshore, he had relegated himself to the belief that he would never catch anything larger than that fish — that is until this past Tuesday. Hindman is a member of the Double Nickel Bass Club. An organization of anglers who are 55 years of age or older. The club gathers every Tuesday at the East Pearl River launch on Hwy 90, AKA “The Green Bridge.” It was a cold morning with the forecast calling for a high of 68 degrees. Hindman launched his flatboat with a 40 hp Yamaha, then waited for the the all clear. “I usually pull to the side and let the big boats get out in front,” he said. He then headed through Friday’s Ditch into the muddy, West Pearl River. He was throwing a 1/4 oz. white and lime green Strike King spinnerbait casting it into some cuts that contained cleaner water. Hindman picked up two undersized bass in two separate drains, then came upon a cut which he ventured into to find more stained water.
Clean water drains out of a trenasse into the West Pearl River
It was around 8:00 a.m. when he finally caught his first keeper; a 12-inch fish. He continued with the spinnerbait and things were looking bleak as 40 minutes went by without a hit. His day soon turned around as he was able to catch a 4-pound bass on the spinnerbait. After the excitement, the bite went cold. “I didn’t get another hit for about 30 minutes so I decided to switch baits,” he said. Hindman started pitching a worm with no success and around 9:45 he tied on a black and blue jig with a crawfish trailer. “There was this drain coming out a with a ton of structure in it,” Hindman said. “I was about 15 feet from the drain and I pitched my jig into it.” Hindman waited for the lure to sink and then went to bump it. “When I reeled in the line went tight so I thought I was hung up on a stump,” Hindman said. “I reared back to pull it loose and when I did the stump took off!”
The fish made a run to the left and it pulled drag. “When it did that I thought for sure I had a catfish,” he said. The fish then turned and ran to the right as it made another drag-pulling run. After changing directions one last time the fish lost strength and Hindman was able to start reeling it in. “It made one jump about 10 feet from the boat and when I saw the mouth on this thing, everything went into slow motion,” he said. The bass turned on its side and he was able to bring him in with barley a fight. Hindman reached down and pulled it out of the water. “It was so heavy, I just kept saying — ‘it’s gotta be a ten…it’s gotta be ten.” Hindman popped the hook out with ease and snapped a quick picture before putting the monster bass in his live well. “My live well is only about 16 inches long so I had to bend the fish to get it in,” he said. 
 Hindman manages to snap a photo of himself with the fish at arms distance
After closing the lid on the live well, the shocked bass fisherman sat down and tried to reassess what just happened. “Oh it was a good seven or eight minutes that I just sat there. I was literally shaking,” he said. With only an hour before weigh-in, Hindman thought about heading in but wanted to try and cull his smallest fish. “I was a mess! For some reason I grabbed my rod with the spinnerbait on it and when I went to cast, it got all tangled around the rod tip,” he said. After he untangled the mess, Hindman made a cast but it landed in an overhanging tree. “I pulled up to the branch and was able to untangle the line, but it was clear that I wasn’t going to be able to behave like a functional fisherman for the next hour so I decided to head back to the weigh-in early,” he said. When he returned back to the launch, he insisted on weighing the fish last so that he could return it back to the river without delay. All the anglers gathered around Hindman as he pulled the fish out to weigh it, and when the fish exited the bag there was an eruption of noise that sounded like a mixture of celebration and unbelief. Hindman hung the fish on the scale and it flashed a total of 11.373 pounds. He held the fish up for a more-than-normal amount of pictures and proudly returned to the river where it swam away briskly. At last the lifelong bass angler had caught his “big one” and all these years it was in his own backyard.
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 Keith Lusher
I created NFR.com in the spring of 2012. Since then it has helped link Northshore fishermen to valuable information and has filled the void of absent information on the web about fishing on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Northshore Fishing Report has morphed into a brand name and can be found not only on the web, but on radio and newspaper. As NFR grows I will continue to work hard at keeping NFR local focusing on local anglers, reports, seminars, and fishing tournaments in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parish. I hope you enjoy the website and If you have any questions please email me at: Keith@NorthshoreFishingReport.com
Look for the Northshore Fishing Report publication every Thursday in The Slidell Independent Weekly Newspaper!
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The Marsh Martian Corey LaBostrie joins the studio by phone to talk about his latest speckled trout tip to Bayou Lacombe
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