Brooks Amy, left, and Perry Scott, right, take a redfish off the Up & Down II to weigh in on the final day of the Kay-Cee Saltwater Fishing Rodeo on Monday at Cypremort Point. 

CYPREMORT POINT — Someone in a small crowd pointed at a lone bull red being carted to the scale and said something to the effect that it wasn’t a lot to show for a half-day’s fishing Monday.

To no one in particular, the skipper of the boat responsible for getting that big redfish to land said, “If they only knew what we had to go through to get that … Three long days of fishing.”

That bull red, which tipped the scale at 33.5 pounds, made the difference in the Up & Down II’s successful come-from-behind effort for the Inside Division’s Boat Captain’s Award on the third and final day of the 54th annual Kay-Cee Saltwater Fishing Rodeo. It was caught by Perry Scott, Amy’s stepfather and lone crew member, and finished second on the leaderboard when the scales closed on the three-day weekend holiday fishing rodeo at 1 p.m. Labor Day Monday.

Amy, who also captured the Inside Division’s Best All-Around Fisherman’s title, gave all the credit for the boat’s triumph to Scott.

“Perry, my dad, stepped up this weekend. He was outstanding. His redfish this morning put us on top. He came through,” Amy said before fishing rodeo officials doled out the champagne and cup symbolic of the Boat Captain’s Award.

Up & Down II, a 22-foot long Key West, went into the third and final day trailing the Karl Rouly-skippered Miss Ellie’s Voodoo, an 18 1/2-foot long Sea Hunt, 152-118. Rouly’s boat led after Saturday, as well.

But Rouly and Brady Larive, who boasted the fishing rodeo’s biggest redfish, a 34.6-pounder, failed to put an eligible fish on the leaderboard Monday. However, Larive was proud of a 77-pound garfish he caught Monday and had weighed (even though it was a nonpoint fish) at fishing rodeo headquarters under the pavilion along Quintana Canal.

As a result, the accumulated points race swung in Amy’s favor and Up & Down II finished with 240 while Miss Ellie’s Voodoo had 209. Go Fish, manned by the husband-and-wife speckled trout fishing team of Don Naquin and Valerie Naquin, was third with 108.

Before the scales closed, Larive said, “We fish this every year. It’s been an exciting rodeo. Hopefully, we’ll have enough points to take home the Boat Captain’s Award.”

Like Larive and Rouly, Amy and Scott fished all three days in defense of their Boat Captain’s Award. Amy was missing one of his crew members, he said, noting Jacob Fisher of St. Martinville recently had back surgery at age 26.

“We fish hard. We always give it our best, always,” Amy said. “I feel bad my buddy’s not here. He fishes with me for everything.”

Amy helped his own cause with first- and second-place sheepshead of 3.0 and 1.0 pounds. He also had a second-place drum weighing 21.7 pounds.

Larive’s huge garfish elicited ooohs and aaaahs around the scale. It also left tooth marks on his body when it raked left forearm while being put in the boat.

“He didn’t go down without a fight. When we pulled it over the side of the boat he caught me with his teeth and scratched me up,” he said, revealing the long red marks on the underside of his forearm.

The big garfish bit at mid-morning on a croaker, which he was using because that was what Rouly’s winning redfish was caught on a few days earlier, Larive said.

The Naquins owned the speckled trout category in the Inside Division. Valerie Naquin had the top fish at 2.69 pounds while Don Naquin checked in with 2.4- and 1.75-pounders for second and third.

Keo Khampilavong put two flounder on the scale Monday and they took over the first two places in the Inside Division. They weighed 1.75 and 1.69 pounds. He also had the second-place croaker, a .96-pounder.

Petu, a 26-foot long Hydra-Sport skippered by Johnny Bergeron, who borrowed it from his friend Peter Ronsonet, was the lone boat to weigh in fish in the Runabout Division. Bergeron crew members were Jason Wellbrock and Brad Pisani.

Their boat fished the South Marsh Island 40s blocks, Bergeron said before collecting first- and second-place trophies for two big lemonfish at 44.4 and 36.9 pounds.

He said the red snapper fishing was great. 

Unfortunately, they had to release all those fish because the reef fish isn’t in season.