Aaron Breaux, widower of Denise P. Breaux, started the Denise P. Breaux Memorial Redfish Derby in memory of his wife, who died of cancer Feb. 27, 2011, at age 47.

CYPREMPORT POINT — With the hot weather that has set in, as is the norm for the dog days of summer, Quentin Comeaux knows where to find sizable redfish, the kind that can win $1,498.

The Delcambre outdoorsman and his crew of Buddy Bayard of Coteau and Ryan Landry of Delcambre proved it at the most opportune time Saturday. They took a long boat ride from Quintana Canal Boat Landing here and returned with 13 keepers, of which three “slot fish” were big enough to top a 107-boat field in the Third Annual Denise P. Breaux Memorial Redfish Derby.

Those three redfish, of which two measured 26 ½ inches and one 26 ¾ inches, weighed 23.16 pounds.

The closest any of the other 106 boats and 351 anglers could come to that winning weight was the hard-fishing crew from the Katie O’, a 22-foot long Century with Mike O’Brien and his wife Melanie O’Brien, and David Detwiler, whose three biggest slot fish weighed 21.41 pounds for second place and $1,070.

“Usually, this is the time of year when they (redfish) get in the bayous with the hot weather,” Comeaux said as he waited for the scale to close at 3 p.m.

With that in mind, Comeaux fished his favorite area around Intracoastal City, where he and his crew probed the bayous and canals around White Lake. To get there and back, they crossed a storm-tossed Vermilion Bay.

“All in all, bad weather, a lot of wind,” Comeaux said about the conditions that faced his and every boat that took to the water for the fishing contest honoring Denise P. Breaux, a New Iberia woman and angler who lost a four-year battle against cancer and died Feb. 27, 2011, at age 47. She was a kind-hearted, charitable woman who went out of her way to help people.

Aaron Breaux of New Iberia, her widower, appreciated the show of support from the anglers and the large crowd that showed up under the pavilion along Quintana Canal. He started the fundraising event in her memory with the inaugural Redfish Derby in July 2011.

Breaux looked pleased as he looked around the tournament headquarters a few minutes after the last redfish was weighed. People — anglers and their families and friends and other visitors — were dancing to Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, a popular band that started performing at 2 p.m. and was scheduled to play to 7 p.m., regardless of the weather.

“It’s another great year, another great turnout. The support we get from all of these people year after year … it’s a good feeling,” he said.

Bo Evans, weighmaster for the third straight year, was happy that his friend’s endeavor was another successful fundraising event. He also was pleased with the turnout on a rainy day.

“It’s been busy, real busy,” Evans said after the scale opened at 2 p.m.

It was an especially good day for Comeaux, et al. Comeaux’s 24-foot long Triton “Nothin’ Butt Net” earned its keep carrying its occupants to his honey hole one hour away from Cypremort Point.

The winners caught their fish on Carolina-rigged cracked crab all day long, he said. High winds associated with thunderstorms that rolled through the region periodically didn’t hinder their fishing efforts in the canals and bayous because they were mostly in protected areas, he said.

After Nothin’ Butt Net and Katie O’, the top money winners were Keith Delahoussaye, who won 856.20 with 20.39 pounds; Wayne Maturin, Zack Renard, Danny Dore and Brandon Dore, fourth with 20.30 pounds for $642, and Shane Doucet, Ryan Bonin and Gerrit Derouen, who finished fifth with 18.08 pounds worth $214.