Date: May 2, 2024
Venue: Lake R, a small flatland reservoir
Water: 72 to 74 degrees, stained
Weather: Partly cloudy, windy, high of 86 degrees
Pro: Logan Latuso, 30, Gonzales, La. The son of former Elite Series pro Robbie Latuso, Logan joined the Elites in 2023 after qualifying via the Bassmaster Opens.
Boat: Bass Cat Eyra with 250-horsepower Suzuki outboard, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird and Garmin electronics and twin Power-Pole shallow-water anchors
Logan Latuso’s dad, Robbie, is a former Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro who competed for five seasons starting in 2017. During this period, Logan fished the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN with the dream of joining his dad on the Elite tour. The younger Latuso found the Opens to be a grueling and sometimes heartbreaking ordeal. “I missed qualifying for the Elites by one point twice,” Latuso recalls. “The first time was in 2016, the year Dad qualified. I was one point shy again in 2019. Then I finally scratched out enough points in 2022 to make the 2023 Elite roster — and that’s when Dad retired from the Elites to return to running our family’s fire and water restoration business.” Latuso knows that in bass fishing, as in life, timing is everything, especially in late spring … which brings us to his early May Day On The Lake challenge! Will bass be moving shallow to spawn, locked on their spawning beds or finished spawning and heading for their deep summer haunts? Stay tuned as this savvy Cajun basser pieces the puzzle together!
6:13 a.m. It’s 63 degrees and clear when we arrive at Lake R’s boat launch. The lake looks high after recent rains. What mode does Latuso expect bass to be in today? “Late spring is always iffy because bass don’t all spawn at once,” he says. “Judging from the recent weather in this region, I’m betting many bass have already spawned, but they should still be up shallow. The males will typically hang around the nests, guarding their newly hatched fry, while the bigger females will gravitate to a nearby holding spot like a dock or isolated laydown where they’ll recuperate after dropping their eggs. Then again, some bass may still be spawning. Being from Louisiana, I’m a shallow-water specialist, so I’m just gonna start pounding likely looking cover and see what happens.”
SEVEN HOURS LEFT
6:30 a.m. We launch the Bass Cat. Latuso pulls an arsenal of Trika rods from storage, then checks the water: It’s 72 degrees and stained. “With this water temp, some bass could be spawning and others could be in postspawn mode. Either way, it should be a fun day!”
6:36 a.m. Latuso makes a short run across the lake to the mouth of a cove, where he makes his first casts of the day to a grassy point with a black quarter-ounce Delta Lures buzzbait with a matching Zoom Horny Toad replacing the skirt. “This grass looks like water willow, which is awesome bass cover.”
6:39 a.m. Latuso enters the cove and switches to a white half-ounce Delta Lures swim jig with a matching Missile Baits Chunky D craw trailer around the grass. He retrieves it rapidly with constant shakes of the rod tip so it runs just beneath the surface, with both the skirt and trailer pulsing enticingly. “This is my go-to lure for covering shallow water quickly. It provokes hellacious reaction strikes.”
6:42 a.m. Latuso burns the swim jig parallel to the weedy shoreline. A bass boils on it; he slams back his rod, and his line breaks. “That’s heavy braid, but it can still get nicked up. My bad; I should have respooled after my last tournament.” He rigs the swim jig on another baitcasting outfit and resumes casting.
6:48 a.m. Latuso casts the swim jig beneath overhanging cypress tree limbs, and a good bass loads on! He boat-flips his first keeper of the day, a 2-pound, 4-ounce largemouth. “That’s a good sign!”
6:55 a.m. A small bass pecks the swim jig.
7:04 a.m. Near the back of the cove, Latuso casts the swim jig to a dock and gets a savage strike; the fish doesn’t hook up. He peers into the water. “That fish may be on a bed. I’ll come back here when the sun gets higher.”
7:10 a.m. Latuso moves to the opposite shore and begins working his way out of the cove with the swim jig. He gets a short strike near a dock, drops his Power-Poles and casts a green pumpkin Missile Baits The 48 worm to the structure; it’s wacky-rigged with a No. 1 Hayabusa Wacky hook. There’s no comeback, however.
7:17 a.m. Latuso returns to the dock where he missed a good fish and shakes the wacky worm repeatedly. “I saw a fish swim off the dock, but it’s still too dark to get a good look at it.”
7:26 a.m. Moving back to the opposite shoreline, Latuso slow rolls a 6-inch albino shad Megabass Magdraft swimbait around docks and shoreline grass. “If there’s a big female nearby, she’ll eat this thing!”
SIX HOURS LEFT
7:30 a.m. Latuso reverts to the swim jig and gets short strikes on two consecutive casts. “I’m seeing balls of bass fry swimming around the weed edges. I’m positive those are small males slapping at the jig.”
7:33 a.m. Latuso exits the cove and casts the Magdraft parallel to a riprap bank.
7:39 a.m. Latuso enters a shallow pocket and catches his second keeper, 1-7, from water willow on the swim jig.
7:45 a.m. Latuso runs a half-mile uplake to a grassy tributary point and tries the swim jig. The water here is 74 degrees.
7:48 a.m. He catches his third keeper, 1-7, from the grass on the swim jig.
7:57 a.m. He follows the shoreline farther up the tributary and gets two short strikes on the swim jig.
8:09 a.m. Latuso switches back to the Magdraft, slow rolling it around several docks.
8:15 a.m. Slowing down a bit, Latuso tries a half-ounce bluegill-colored Missile Baits Ike’s Mini Flip Jig with a matching Missile Baits Mini D Chunk trailer around some docks.
8:24 a.m. Latuso grinds a half-ounce green pumpkin Delta Lures Thunder Jig with a matching Yamamoto Zako trailer around shoreline grass and catches a short fish. “This bladed jig is a good match to the bluegill I’ve seen swimming around the grass.”
FIVE HOURS LEFT
8:30 a.m. Latuso’s trolling motor is kicking up mud as he casts the swim jig around the extreme back end of the tributary. “This is deep water where I come from!”
8:44 a.m. He moves toward the cove’s mouth via the opposite shoreline while alternating between the swim jig and the Magdraft.
8:47 a.m. A 4-pounder slams the Thunder Jig at the boat but shakes off.
8:51 a.m. Latuso is hammering a main-lake seawall with the bladed jig. There’s a stiff breeze blowing out of the south. “That wind should help!”
8:54 a.m. Latuso moves into a quiet cove with several docks and abundant water willow. He tries the swim jig and Magdraft here but hauls water.
9:07 a.m. He moves to a nearby main-lake point and pops a bluegill-colored Spro frog on the surface.
9:12 a.m. Latuso runs farther uplake to a large, shallow tributary and combs a big patch of lily pads with the swim jig.
9:25 a.m. Latuso catches his fourth keeper, 2-3, off an isolated pad clump on the swim jig. “Pad Fishing 101: Always hit those isolated clumps! I’d just fished a half-acre of solid pads without a bump.”
FOUR HOURS LEFT
9:30 a.m. He works the Spro frog around another isolated pad clump without success.
9:37 a.m. Latuso speed trolls to a series of docks and tries the Magdraft.
9:41 a.m. He retrieves the Magdraft along a riprap bank. “I’d like to see a 10-pounder swim out and grab that thing!” Who wouldn’t?
9:44 a.m. The shoreline terminates in a grassy point. Latuso burns the swim jig through the vegetation and catches his fifth keeper, 3 pounds, 5 ounces. What’s his take on the day so far? “I’ve caught mainly fry-guarding male bass from shoreline grass and so far have not actually seen any fish on a bed. I’m a bit surprised that I haven’t seen or caught a big postspawn female around all the docks I’ve hit. The swim jig has been my best bait so far, and I’m going to keep covering water with it; there has to be some big girls still hanging around the shallows. But as long as I’m on this main-lake point, I’m going to move offshore and try ’Scoping bait schools with forward-facing sonar for a few minutes.”
10 a.m. Latuso moves 30 yards off a main-lake point and locates a suspended shad school on forward-facing sonar (FFS). He casts a generic 4-inch soft-plastic minnow on a quarter-ounce jighead to the school. “Dude, I hate this kind of fishing! I don’t even like watching somebody else do it on TV! But I can’t deny that it’s effective. I’ve just got a basic FFS setup with one transducer. Some guys are running multiple big-screen FFS graphs and multiple transducers; [in my opinion], it’s getting out of hand.”
10:16 a.m. Latuso catches his sixth keeper, 1-9, near a shad ball on the jighead minnow. “This is such a no-brainer! [Anyone] can catch ’em on FFS!”
10:23 a.m. Still ’Scoping offshore with FFS, Latuso hooks a crappie and shakes it off the minnow. “That’s probably what all these small blips are on the screen. I haven’t seen anything real big swimming around out here so far.”
10:26 a.m. He catches his seventh keeper, 1-3, on the minnow mimic. “That crappie was bigger than this guy!”
THREE HOURS LEFT
10:30 a.m. Latuso moves farther off the point in hopes of ’Scoping a big female. No luck so far.
10:47 a.m. Latuso bags his eighth keeper, 1-11, on the jighead minnow. “I can catch bass this small up shallow and it’s a lot more fun!”
10:51 a.m. Lake R is whitecapping as Latuso races downlake to grind the Magdraft around a series of main-lake laydowns.
10:54 a.m. Latuso moves into a weedy pocket and catches his ninth keeper, 1-10, on the swim jig.
11 a.m. He reels the Magdraft through a submerged tree limb and braces for the strike that doesn’t happen.
11:02 a.m. Keeper No. 10, a 1-5, grabs the swim jig in shoreline grass.
11:09 a.m. He swims the Magdraft down another laydown. “So far they haven’t been on this wood cover, which is surprising.”
11:17 a.m. Latuso moves to nearby marina slips to try the Magdraft, swim jig and wacky worm, expertly delivering all three lure styles into some remarkably tight places. “The FFS crowd doesn’t need to know how to flip, pitch or skip a lure. To me, these are basic bass fishing skills.”
TWO HOURS LEFT
11:30 a.m. Latuso races back to the weedy point where he started his day and rips the swim jig through the water willow.
11:36 a.m. He moves into the cove, retraces his path along the shoreline with the swim jig and promptly snares a 2-1 keeper (No. 11).
11:45 a.m. Latuso casts the Magdraft to a rickety dock. A 4-pounder follows it all the way to the boat, then turns away. He pitches the wacky worm to the dock but can’t interest the fish.
11:55 a.m. Latuso is back on the dock where he missed a good fish earlier. “I just saw it swim out and circle back around; it’s gotta be on a bed.” He casts the wacky worm to the dock and shakes it gently. No takers yet.
12:08 p.m. Latuso opts to change The 48 worm colors to green pumpkin/gold and resumes trying to entice the bedding fish to bite.
12:13 p.m. He switches to a white Zoom Speed Craw; it’s Texas-rigged with a 4/0 Hayabusa hook and quarter-ounce sinker. This, too, fails to interest the spawner.
12:18 p.m. Latuso pitches the Magdraft to the bedding fish; the pricey lure hangs up in a rope tied to the dock and he moves shallow to retrieve it. “I’ve spooked that fish for now, but it should move back on its nest after a few minutes.”
12:23 p.m. He’s on the cove’s opposite shore, grinding the Magdraft around docks.
12:26 p.m. Latuso gets three strikes on his next four swim jig casts, none of which hook up.
ONE HOUR LEFT
12:30 p.m. Latuso catches a 2-3 (keeper No. 12) off shoreline grass on the swim jig.
12:36 p.m. The wind is howling as Latuso moves to the cove’s mouth and catches keeper No. 13, a 1-14, on the swim jig.
12:38 p.m. He catches a 1-8 (keeper No. 14) off shoreline grass on the swim jig.
12:41 p.m. Latuso races back to bedding bass. He wacky rigs a Missile The 48 worm in the goby bite color and shakes it around the adjacent dock.
12:45 p.m. Latuso rigs a light red 6-inch Missile Baits Magic Worm on a No. 1 hook with a drop-shot sinker, pitches it beneath the dock and shakes it enticingly.
12:48 p.m. He finally catches the bedding fish off its nest; it weighs 3 pounds, 1 ounce. “Not as big as I thought, but I’ll take it!”
12:53 p.m. Latuso resumes casting the swim jig to shoreline grass in the cove. “I’ve got time to make one more run down the bank; hopefully, I can catch a big female.”
12:55 p.m. Latuso burns the swim jig through water willow between two docks, and a big fish loads on! He works the bass closer and swings aboard his 16th keeper, 4 pounds, 4 ounces. “What a chunk! I knew there should be some big girls up shallow!”
1:06 p.m. Back at the grassy point at the cove’s entrance with the swim jig. “I’ve done enough damage in this cove. I want to try a couple more nearby spots before my time’s up.” He cranks the Suzuki and races straight across the lake to a shallow pocket with mixed laydowns and grass.
1:17 p.m. Latuso catches keeper No. 17, 1-8, off shoreline grass on the swim jig. “There must be a million fish this size in this lake!”
1:22 p.m. A nonkeeper grabs the swim jig in the grass.
1:30 p.m. Time’s up! Latuso has had plenty of action up shallow on Lake R. His five biggest keepers weigh 15 pounds, 1 ounce.
THE DAY IN PERSPECTIVE
“The shoreline grass on this lake held plenty of male bass in the 1 1/4- to 2 1/4-pound range; these fish had recently spawned and were guarding fry,” Latuso told Bassmaster. “I only caught one fish off a bed and was surprised that I only caught one big female; this fish looked like it hadn’t even spawned yet. If I were to fish here tomorrow, I’d sack a quick limit from the grass early, then maybe move out a little and drag a jig or worm around some slightly deeper cover where those big girls might be chillin’ out.”
WHERE AND WHEN LOGAN LATUSO CAUGHT HIS FIVE BIGGEST BASS
(1) 2 pounds, 4 ounces; 1/2-ounce Delta Lures swim jig (white) with Missile Baits Chunky D craw (white); overhanging cypress tree limbs; 6:48 a.m.
(2) 2 pounds, 3 ounces; same lure as No. 1; isolated lily pads; 9:25 a.m.
(3) 3 pounds, 5 ounces; same lure as No. 1; grassy point; 9:44 a.m.
(4) 3 pounds, 1 ounce; 6-inch Missile Baits Magic Worm (light red) on No. 1 hook with drop-shot sinker; spawning
bed near dock; 12:48 p.m.
(5) 4 pounds, 4 ounces; same lure as No. 1; shoreline grass between docks; 12:55 p.m.
TOTAL: 15 POUNDS, 1 OUNCE
