The Pearl River in southwest Mississippi is one of the most challenging tributaries in the Gulf South. Fortunately, for 16-year-old Caleb Beaudette of Sun, LA, he’s had the opportunity to learn the river from someone who’s been bass fishing there his whole life – his father, Rustin. Anyone who has fished a jelly jar tournament in Mississippi knows that Rustin Beaudette is a threat to win a tournament on any day; however, he’s especially strong on the Pearl River. Rustin is undoubtedly a great bass angler, but there’s one thing he’s even better at, and that’s teaching.
“My father has taught me everything I know. I cannot ask for a better teacher,” said Caleb.
But there’s one style of fishing that his dad may not be the best person to go to for advice on, and that’s flipping. “Oh, he’s not someone who likes to flip – he hates it – he refuses to do it!” Caleb said. Rustin is known as a power fisherman, which is a quicker style of bass fishing where the fisherman makes overhand casts with a spinnerbait or a crankbait.
During a recent tournament on the river, Caleb and his friend Remington Populis made a two-hour run in his 13-foot flatboat. Their destination was a spot that he scoped out the previous day while scouting. However, upon arriving, Caleb discovered that the conditions had changed. “The Pearl rose so much that it muddied up everything and turned that spot into a garfish hole,” said Caleb.
The friends fished hard the entire morning in the area, and by 12:00 p.m., they only had one fish in the livewell. Caleb decided to make a long run to a creek where he thought he could find clean water. “Time was running out, so I yanked the trolling motor up, and we took off,” Caleb said.
The team motored for over an hour back down to the launch. That’s where they came across the best-looking water they’d seen all day. “The water was muddy when we pulled in, but then the water changed as we pulled up against a bluff bank,” he said. Caleb had fished the area before and knew there was structure about six feet off the bank, so he began flipping his jig. “I told Remington – start flipping!”
Caleb whipped out his rod that had a dark blue beaver-style jig and flipped at a submerged log. “I flipped that bug right beside a tree and felt a little tap.” Caleb reeled in the slack and decided to set the hook even though he wasn’t sure if it was a stump or a fish. “When I set the hook, that fish didn’t budge.” His friend Remington looked over and said, “I think you have a stump!” Caleb felt movement on the line, so he called back to Remington, “This isn’t a stump – you better get the net – this is a big fish!”
Caleb started to reel in the fish, but Remington struggled to net the largemouth because of the size of the bass. “He took four swipes at it and missed! After that fourth miss, I told myself, there’s no way I’m getting this fish in,” Caleb said.
On the fifth try, the bass’s head lifted into the net. Then Caleb reached down and grabbed the tail as they both lifted it out of the water.
There wasn’t much time left before the weigh-in, so the friends tossed it into the livewell and returned to flipping the shoreline. The team picked up two more keeper fish while flipping and were forced to head back to the launch because of time. “The fish was so big that there was water pouring out of the livewell during the run back,” said Caleb. After all the boats had weighed their bags, Caleb and Remington ended up on top with a total of 12.5 pounds, with the big bass weighing 8.1 pounds.
After the tournament, Caleb debated keeping the fish to mount but decided to return it to the river. “That very well may be the heaviest bass I ever catch on the Pearl River, but since I don’t like keeping big fish, I released it back for someone else to catch,” he said. For his father Rustin, Caleb offers advice when bass fishing: “Slow down and flip!”
