MYETTE POINT — One of the Louisiana Bass Anglers’ most accomplished bass club members rebounded from a narrow miss at his fifth Angler of the Year title by winning his fourth LBA Classic.

Bubbie Lopez, 54, of Centerville, said the year-end finish was bittersweet as he lost his AOY lead in the regular-season finale and finished runner-up but bounced back a few weeks later to win the LBA Classic on Nov. 1. He topped the 12-angler field with a five-bass limit weighing 14.90 pounds.

“Ah, it feels good. It’s my fourth one (Classic win),” Lopez said a few days after the Classic held out of Myette Point Boat Landing in the Atchafalaya Basin.

Lopez, who joined the bass club in the late 1990s, soon after it was formed, and served as president eight years before taking other offices, said he just went fishing and didn’t even wet an artificial lure in practice where he caught the majority of his bass on the way to culling a winning catch. He fished with chartreuse/blue/white spinnerbaits and bladed jigs in and around Mud Cove, where the bite got better once the north wind blew harder on the shoreline he was fishing.

His first five keepers were in the livewell of his 21-foot Legend with a 250-h.p. Merc before 9:30 a.m., he said. He stayed there until about 11 a.m., then went to Crew Boat Chute, which didn’t give up any fish, before finishing up around the boat ramp.

That move was special because he hooked and boated two 3-pound class bass to cull two 2 ¼-pounders. Otherwise he might have had approximately 14 pounds.

Lopez needed every ounce to turn back the bag brought in by Phil Ransonet, whose limit weighed 14.45 pounds.

Hunter Neuville of Loreauville finished third with five bass weighing 13.71 pounds.

Johnny Maynor boasted the tournament’s lunker bass, a 4.24-pounder.

Lopez, a production operated for Industrial Oilfield Services, won bass club titles in 2008, 20190, 2016 and 2017. His Classic victories were in 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2020.

He lost the AOY title to his friend and scouting partner, Dicky Fitzgerald of Charenton, in the 12th and final tournament of the year on Oct. 18 at Myette Point. (See related story on Page B4.)

He was proud of his buddy.

“Oh, yeah, I was glad Dickie won it,” Lopez said.

LOUISIANA BASS ANGLERS 2020 CLASSIC RESULTS

Nov. 1 at Atchafalaya Basin

1, Bubbie Lopez (5), 14.90. 2, Phil Ransonet (5), 14.45. 3, Hunter Neuville (5), 13.71. 4, Jerry Marcotte Jr. (5), 13.69. 5, Mike Louviere (5), 12.87. 6, (*) Johnny Maynor (5), 12.49.7, Gerald Buck (5), 11.37. 8, Ron Boutte (5), 10.93. 9, Jim Alexander (5), 10.29. 10, John Gordon (5), 10.07. 11, Seth Comeaux (5), 9.34. 12, Johnny Hester (5), 9.03.

(*) Tournament’s lunker bass, 4.24.