Bois d’Arc Lake is Texas’ newest reservoir. The 19,000-acre lake has only been open to fishing since April 2024. But it’s already well on its way to becoming one of the Lone Star State’s top waters for heavyweight largemouth bass. In late July, a young angler on a guided trip caught a 10-pounder that should set the bar as the new junior lake record.
Well-known Texas bass guide Jason Conn says he and his party of three got started that day, July 31, around 7 a.m.
“Mike Burpo and his two grandsons, Caden, 11, and Blake, 8, were fishing with me,” Conn tells Outdoor Life. “We got into some good bass pretty quick that morning. The lake is loaded with 4- to 6-pounders, and the boys were having a great time catching fish.”
But around noon the sun was high, and it was hot. With no wind, Conn could see the youngsters getting a little restless.
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“We were working a flooded tree line area, and there was a lull in the fishing, so I suggested we move 50 yards away from the timber and take a swim,” says Conn, 45, whose been a full-time fishing guide for over a decade. “The kids loved that idea, so I moved the boat a short distance and we all jumped into the lake for a dip.”
After they cooled down and got back in the boat, they immediately started fishing along a dropoff near the flooded tree line in about 12 feet of water. Caden, who lives in Lannius, was using a spinning setup spooled with 30-pound braid and a 17-pound fluorocarbon leader.
“Right away Caden hooked a bass on a 6-inch watermelon-red worm fished off a ¼-ounce Shaky Head jig,” said Conn. “Luckily the hooked bass moved away from the trees and came toward our boat. Caden played the fish well, and I netted it while his brother and grandpa were hooting and laughing and celebrating.”
Burpo videoed Caden bringing the bass to Conn’s waiting net, and he’s as happy as any grandfather should be. In the video, he says the bass is over 9 pounds, and likely a 10-pounder.
Conn had a certified scale on his boat. (The lake has a size limit, ahd he always carries the scale to document his client’s fish.) Putting Caden’s fish on the scale, it weighed 10.06 pounds, large enough to set a junior waterbody record. After taking some pictures, they released the fish back into the lake.
While Caden’s record hasn’t been made official yet by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Conn says they submitted all the required paperwork, and that he expects it to be approved. Conn already holds the current all-ages waterbody record for largemouth bass in Bois d’Arc.
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He says the new lake reminds him of famed Lake Fork Reservoir near Dallas because of the abundance of flooded timber. It also has a bumper crop of Florida-strain lunkers that TPWD released when the reservoir was being flooded.
“The lake is jammed with baitfish, too, and the bass gorge on all of it,” says Conn, who also lays claim to the state’s 8th largest bass, a 17.03-pounder from O.H. Ivie. “The Bois d’Arc record is 10.63 pounds, and the fish are topping out now at about 11 pounds. But I’m sure some monster fish are going to be coming from Bois d’Arc over the next few years.”
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