After work one evening in November, relaxing and playing “fetch” in the yard with his golden Labrador retriever, Ricky Watkins started thinking about a bass fishing contest that would be unique to the Teche Area, heck, to all of Acadiana.

Watkins, 55-year-old owner of Rapid Lube & Tire, thought about it some more and eventually firmed up plans for the Big Bass Spring. Bass anglers who enter the contest before the deadline and catch the three biggest bass from Feb. 1 to March 17 while fishing Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe will share first-, second- and third-place money with a 100-percent payback.

The avid bass angler first talked about his idea in early December. He was pretty excited and said he’d get back with me.

“I’m trying to do something different for the area,” he said at the time.

Big Bass Spring is similar to that big redfish contest held by the Acadiana Redfish Association and closely resembles that S.T.A.R. contest put on every year by the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana.

Entry fee is $25 per person, Watkins said. Bass must be caught in Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe, he said, with boundaries being the Catahoula Pits on one end and Grand Avoyelles Cove on the other side.

Entry fees must be paid before February. A good time to enter will be Friday at a 6 p.m. event at Fox’s A/C at 2316 Sugar Mill Road. A free gumbo will be served. If bassers are unable to attend the meeting, they can come by his shop or call him. The deadline is Feb. 1, he emphasized.

People can fish from land, from a kayak, from a canoe, from a conventional bass boat or from a surface drive boat with the stipulation the fish must be caught in the lake and in public waters, Watkins said.

While it is an honor system, anyone who enters will be subject to a stress test (polygraph test), he emphasized.

All “weigh-ins” will be at Marsh Field Boat Landing near Loreauville. Bassers who catch a potential money winner can call Watkins any day between 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m. and he’ll go to the landing and weigh the fish, which must be alive, on a digital scale. For it to be eligible, he must see it swim away after being released in Marsh Field Canal, he said.

His cell phone number is 658-4248. There will be a notice posted at the boat landing of the current leaders so that bass anglers can easily determine if their bass might be in the top three.

If a bass angler doesn’t have his “ticket” before Feb. 1, any bass he catches isn’t eligible.

Watkins said the winners will get their money at his Hawg Fight opener on March 21.

It’s as simple as that.

“I talked to a bunch of guys who are excited about it. There’s nothing like that in the area,” Watkins said Thursday afternoon.

“I just love spending time with everybody and it might turn into something big to help the lake, you know?” he asked.

He emphasized there is a 100-percent payback this year. If the contest is successful and there are more entries next year, he has some other plans.

“If it turns into something this year, I’d like to keep a small amount (of the pot) next year to stock the lake with 1- and 2-pounders,” he said, noting the larger fish have an astronomically higher survival rate than fingerlings that often are stocked in the lake.

“I’m trying to do this for the lake. I love the lake, like everybody else. I’m passionate for the lake. I’ve been fishing the lake for 47 years. That’s a long time,” Watkins said.

The percentage of the payout will be determined by the number of anglers entered, he said. He said it would be nice to get at least 30 boats involved.

“If we get 30 boats, I’d be happy. I’d like to see us get 30 boats. I hope it takes off,” he said.

 

DONSHOOPMANis outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.