With three days remaining to sign up for Big Bass Spring, the outdoorsman who came up with the idea is optimistic.

“I’ve got 22 boats (anglers) so far. I said if I got 20-30 boats for the first year, I’d be happy about that. The word’s getting around. It’s something new, something different. Everybody loves the concept,” Ricky Watkins of New Iberia said Friday morning.

Along the lines of the CCA-Loiuisiana’s S.T.A.R. contest, Big Bass Spring will pay first-, second- and third-place money for the heaviest three bass caught in Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe Feb. 1 through March 17. Entry fee is $25 per angler and it must be paid before 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Watkins is collecting entry fees at Rapid Lube & Tires on Main Street in New Iberia. He welcomes the feedback he has been getting and wouldn’t be surprised if the field grew before the deadline.

“I talked to quite a few guys and they are excited. Hunting season’s almost over” and many outdoorsmen are ready to pick up their rod-and-reels and go bass fishing. Veterans and bass anglers just getting into the sport are equally interested, he said.

“I wish somebody would have come up with this years ago. You know I would have fished it,” Watkins said.

Boundaries are the Catahoula borrow pits and Grand Avoyelles Cove, he said previously. 

If an angler catches a big bass, he can call Watkins from Marsh Field Boat Landing between 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m. at 658-4258. He will go there and weigh the fish on an electronic scale.

To avoid unnecessary trips, he will have a board at the boat landing with the current leaders, so if the third-place bass is, say, a 5-pounder, anglers won’t need to call if they have a 4-pound class bass, he said.

Watkins believes it might take at least an 8-pounder to win.

“I was lucky last year and caught an 8-9 in Sandy Cove. It’s going to take an 8-pounder to win first unless it’s a fluke year,” he said.