SFA President Gerrit "T Blu" Landry, left, takes a redfish out of a landing net to be measured during the weigh-in May 8 of the second Southcentral Fishing Association tournament at Cypremort Point. Blake Delcambre was weighing in his boat's best two "slot" redfish and eventually finished fifth in the 15-boat field.

CYPREMORT POINT — Eddie Toups’ conversion from an accomplished bull red fisherman many years ago to a successful “slot redfish” fisherman is complete.

The Delcambre native who lives in New Iberia adjusted his game after joining the Southcentral Fishing Association for the 2020 season and it paid off May 8 with a first-place finish in the SFA’s second tournament of 2021.

Toups, who stood out in the old Acadiana Redfish Association, which targeted bull reds each fall, said the switch requiring the targeting of redfish between 16 and 27 inches was a true test of his saltwater fishing skills.

“It’s all good. It’s fun. I had to figure it out,” he said two days after winning the SFA tournament with two redfish weighing 15.95 pounds. His boat also boasted the biggest redfish of the tournament for a total take of $735.

Toups’ crew members were his wife, Liz, and 13-year-old grandson, Maverick Broussard, a student at Belle Place Middle School.

“This is our second year of fishing SFA,” he said.

They fished out of his 22-foot Sea Chaser, which doesn’t have a name, per se.

“I call it ‘Bad News,’ but my wife doesn’t want me to call it that,” he said with a chuckle.

Toups, 65, said he picked out about three spots to fish during the tournament. Before leaving Quintana Canal Boat Landing, he heard others in the 15-boat field talking in the predawn darkness about starting in the Gulf of Mexico along the southern shoreline of Marsh Island. That would have been his first destination, he admitted.

He chose to make his initial stop at Indian Point on the western end of Vermilion Bay. It proved to be a good choice, except for execution early on.

“I missed a good fish. I pulled and he came off,” Toups said about the first swing and a miss on a hookset. “Then my grandson hooked one and fought his a good while. Then it unhooked. I was very disappointed. That’s been our luck every tournament, either I, my grandson or my wife.”

Lady Luck pretty much smiled on them the rest of the day before the 3 p.m. weigh-in. They hooked and boated 14 redfish, six of them good “slot redfish,” he said.

Toups, shaft inspector at Cargill Salt, Avery Island, where he has worked 43 years, said they fished mostly with Carolina-rigged shrimp dragged across the bottom. They also caught some keepers on shrimp under an H&H Popping Cork.

Both redfish that put them over the top bit on his fishin’ pole.

“Those two fish right there I caught. My grandson caught some. My wife caught toooo big. She had 29-inch redfish,” the winning skipper said.

He acknowledged his family is fishing against the top redfish fishermen in Acadiana. Some of them, like him, were members of the defunct ARA.

“They’re all some good guys. I have a lot of respect for those fishermen. I’ve been fishing with them a long time. Don’t think you’re going to walk in that park and take it. These fishermen are for real,” he said.

Toups and his crew had a razor slim margin of victory, to be sure.

Defending Angler(s) of the Year Quentin Comeaux and Keith Delahoussaye, who won the SFA opener on March 13, finished a couple fish scales behind the winners. Comeaux and Delahoussaye’s best two “slot” redfish weighed 15.45 pounds.

Blake Delcambre, Kim Romero, Jacques Delcambre and Ryan Huval were third with 10.55 pounds.

Fourth place money went to Keo Khamphilavong and Craig Landry, whose top “slots” weighed 10.50 pounds.

Shane Doucet, Jacob Comeaux and Dustin Broussard finished fifth with 10.50.

Winning was special for Toups, who found the result doubly rewarding.

“Oh, my grandson, he was proud. I gave him $200. He was happy. I could’ve give it all and it wouldn’t bother me,” he said.

“He’s a good fisherman. He never stops. He never complains. He don’t want to eat. He don’t drink. His grammy always says, ‘Drink something. Eat something.’ I don’t want to push him, discourage him. I say, ‘Sit down, take a break.’ He don’t want.

“I just wanted to get my grandson started, keep him off the street. If you can get them going in the right direction …”

Toups said he also has a granddaughter that he can’t wait to get in the boat with them for SFA tournaments. Jersey Toups, 11, fishes with them often, he said, and is a “good fisherman. She fishes all day. She doesn’t stop.”

Sounds like she’ll fit right in with his crew, keeping it in the family.

The next regularly scheduled SFA tournament is set for June 5 at Quintana Canal Boat Landing. The circuit’s second tournament, which would have been April 10, was postponed twice and has yet to be rescheduled.