LOREAUVILLE — The difference-maker this past week in the Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series was the kind that movie plots are made of.

Two Lafayette bass anglers, Bucky Crowson, who was born and raised in New Iberia, and Billy Billeaud changed fishing locations one hour into the mini bass tournament in search of bigger bass in Lake Fausse Pointe. They had three “dinks” in the livewell but nothing to threaten a field of 30 boats fishing the fifth WN Hawg Fight BTS of 2018.

Crowson, using one of his homemade spinnerbaits, upgraded and soon they had an estimated 5 ½ pounds with their three-bass limit. Time was running short, however, as it was after 8 p.m. with an 8:15 p.m. weigh-in at Marsh Field Boat Landing.

The 56-year-old salesman for Advanced Fire and Safety made one last cast at 8:10 p.m. A 3 ½-pounder bit and soon was deposited in the livewell.

“At 10 after I caught that fish. That was my last cast. It was unbelievable! I’ve never had that happen in my life. That made a difference,” Crowson said a few days later.

“With that last cast we went from fifth or sixth to winning it. Ah, it was our biggest fish, a 3 ½. We had a 1½ (and culled it), which gave us an extra 2 pounds. Without that, you and Jacob (Jacob Shoopman) and Andre (Cazelot) and Neil (Robin) would be first and second,” he said.

It was a photo finish, for sure. Crowson and Billeaud’s three bass weighed 7.27 pounds for $600. Cazelot and Robin’s limit weighed 7.21 pounds for second-place worth $360. And Don Shoopman and his son Jacob’s three fish weighed 6.97 pounds for third place and $240.

Drew Rivet of Breaux Bridge, fishing alone, carried one bass to the scale but it was a winner. His “hawg” looked monstrous in the weigh-in basket and it was at 5.34 pounds, the biggest bass of the evening and worth $300. It bit one of his homemade artificial lures.

Until Rivet weighed his bass, the biggest was a 4.75-pounder caught on a crank bait by Jacob Shoopman.

Going into Wednesday evening’s WN Hawg Fight BTS, Crowson said he was considering a petition to have the lake renamed “Suit Lake,” as brothers Ben Suit and Zach Suit, both of New Iberia, had won back-to-back WN Hawg Fight BTS contests on Lake Fausse Pointe. The streak boosted them to the top in the Angler(s) of the Year point standings and they stayed there despite checking in with 4.30 pounds Wednesday.

Crowson said he had fished the lake exactly two times before fishing there for a Louisiana Bass Cats tournament out of Franklin. He finished third in that bass club tournament May 20. (See related story and results on this page.)

Crowson and Billeaud, 57-year-old owner of Billeaud’s Grocery in Broussard, a family business started in 1889, were fishing their first WN Hawg Fight BTS of 2018. The veteran bass anglers had a little to go on after the former’s recent tournament there and a brief scouting trip the day before.

“Sometimes you just have to have a horseshoe. It all worked out real good,” Billeaud said. “There are a lot of good fishermen in those things, as you well know.”

The horseshoe was in Crowson’s pocket from 5:30 p.m. to 8:10 p.m. He caught all the bass, Billeaud said.

“You know, I was the net man. Someone’s got to net the fish,” Billeaud said with a chuckle.

Crowson, who played defensive end on New Iberia High School’s team led by tailback Johnny Hector that reached the state championship game in the late 1980s, played that “net man” theme up big later in the week. On Friday morning, he had just returned from catching 12 dozen crabs at Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge.

“I thought about him this morning, Billy dippin’ with a net. He would be a great crab man. He would probably catch 14 dozen,” Crowson said, laughing.

Seriously, he said, the fishing was tough. Fortunately, he had his old reliable, a Crowson model spinnerbait, on his side. It accounted for the 3 ½- and a 2 ½-pounder.

“I was just slow-rolling the spinnerbait. They weren’t aggressive that night,” he said. “(But) like Ike (Bassmaster Elite pro Mike Iaconelli) says, ‘Don’t ever give up!’ ”

WN Hawg Fight BTS officials announced the next contest will be June 6 in the Atchafalaya Basin out of Bayou Benoit Boat Landing. Entry fee is $60 per boat and must be paid before 1 p.m. the day of the tournament at Cajun Guns & Tackle in New Iberia.