Lake Concordia is slowly and quietly regaining its status among area anglers as the place to catch a double-digit bass in Louisiana.

The numbers of bass are down but the quality is there. Some very large, well-educated bass have survived the Largemouth Bass Virus and the meat hunters. The smaller, dumber bass usually end up as the featured guest at a fish fry.

That explains the lack of numbers.

The most recent and largest Lake Concordia trophy bass and the largest so far this year was landed exactly a week a go by my longtime fishing bud. Danny Smith of Monterey and Jody Smith of Clayton began the day on the Tensas River pre-fishing for the upcoming MDA/Benefit Team Bass Tournament to be held on Aug. 28.

The Smith brothers found (or didn’t find) what they were looking for and decided to load-up and head to Lake Concordia.

Danny figured the recent record-setting August cool front might turn the big Lake Concordia bass on. He was right. Smith cast a Craw-Gator Jig to a group of cypress trees and set the hook on what he described as &8220;something big.&8221;

It was big.

The bass weighed 10.97 pounds, only 3 1/100’s short of 11 pounds. That is the largest bass caught from Lake Concordia in years.

The fish now stands as Danny’s personal largest bass to date. If you know Danny, that’s saying a lot. He’s a fishing machine and a constant threat on the tournament scene.

This guy has made many, many cast. Danny and I have fished for pleasure and competition for the past 28 years. We don’t hunt, play golf or have any other hobbies &045; we fish and fish long hard hours.

When a tournament rolls around, I’m not comfortable about winning the event unless he’s in the back of my boat or I’m in the back of his boat.

Congratulations to Danny Smith for his outstanding catch.

On the down side, if he had landed the trophy bass on Sept. 18 or 19, it may have netted him a Mercury powered Triton Boat. The Isle of Capri Casting for Cash Big Bass Tournament is set for Lakes Concordia and St. John.

With up to $35,000 in cash and prizes on the line, there will be many contestants casting for Danny’s 11-pound bass, which, by the way was caught, photographed and released.

That’s not something many people could or would do. Would you fish hard for 28 years, catch your largest bass to date and turn it loose? You would if you were a sportsman, and Danny Smith is a true sportsman.

Entry forms to the Isle of Capri Tournament are available at Bryan’s Marine, The Sports Center and several locations around the Miss-Lou. You can contact me for more information.

On Saturday anglers will be Fishing for a Cure during the MDA Benefit Team Bass Tournament on the 4-Rivers at Jonesville, La.

The Ouachita, Tensas, Little and Black rivers are open for this annual fund-raiser. You can launch from Harrisonburg Landing or Little River Park.

The weigh-in will be held at Little River Park. Just after the awards presentation, we’ll raffle off a fully rigged Triton bass boat.

This raffle is open to the public, and you can pick up a ticket for $5 at Bryan’s Marine this week. Better yet, show up at the weigh-in, buy a ticket and you might get lucky.

All proceeds from the Triton Boat raffle, a portion of the entry fees and sponsor funds will be donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. McCartney Oil Company of Jena will host the event.

The major sponsors are Triton Boats and Bryan’s Marine and Casting for Cash along with a host of co-sponsors.

Each year the majority of winners donate all or a portion of their winnings to MDA to help combat a horrible disease. Come join us Saturday for a fun-filled day at Little River Park in Jonesville.

Eddie Roberts writes a weekly fishing column for The Natchez Democrat. Reach him at

fishingwitheddie@highstream.net

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