CYPREMORT POINT — If football, baseball and tennis are sports with a game of inches, a “slot” redfish tournament is a game of ounces, make that fractions of an ounce.

The 2021 Southcentral Fishing Association Classic title was decided by that margin July 17 when Keith Delahoussaye of New Iberia, 66, fishing by himself, won with 11.70 pounds for a $780 payday. The margin of victory for the recently crowned two-time SFA Angler of the Year was .15 ounces.

Milton Davis and his crew of Jonathan Rush and Bobby Muffoletta Sr. returned with two nice-sized “slot” redfish. Apparently, one or both of those redfish needed to eat another crustacean or two before being caught to give the runners-up crew a chance at the Classic title because the two slots weighed 11.55 pounds worth $500.

Gerrit “T Blu” Landry and his veteran crew of Jeremy “Tooky” Lasseigne and Brady Derise finished third with two “slots” weighing 10.80 pounds for $300.

The door opened for a first-place finish at 3 p.m., weigh-in time, for Delahoussaye, who was pleasantly surprised.

The SFA’s 2020 and 2021 AOY believed he wouldn’t have a shot at first place, let alone finishing in the money, with the two “slot” redfish he had. The somewhat smallish “slots” (compared to past tournaments) being carried in buckets, bags and landing nets to the digital scale by the other members changed his mind.

“I didn’t think I would (win). I didn’t think I had enough weight. When I saw what people were walking up with, I said (to himself), ‘Well this is getting interesting now,’ “ he said. “Everybody was struggling just like me. People came in with one nice fish but it was hard to get two.”

That was the deciding factor, the kicker fish brought in by Delahoussaye. His biggest fish weighed 7.05 pounds while Davis’ biggest “slot” weighed 7.30 pounds.

Davis’ second redfish weighed 4.25 pounds while Delahoussaye’s tipped the scale at 4.65 pounds. Game, set and match.

“My kicker redfish is what put me over the hump. I’m glad, believe me,” Delahoussaye said.

Catching redfish wasn’t a problem for most of the nine-boat Classic field. Catching the right-sized redfish between 16 and 27 inches was the challenge.

Delahoussaye’s biggest redfish came from inside Marsh Island before he moved to the Gulf side below Marsh Island, starting at The Mound. The Classic champ’s all-important kicker was one of an estimated 25 redfish he hooked and boated at the Turtle Hole.

“I probably caught 30 fish Saturday, either too big or not big enough,” he said.

The 66-year-old retired state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agent said he caught all the redfish on shrimp under a popping cork. He had no idea why more large redfish inside the slot weren’t brought to the scales by some of the best redfish fishermen in Acadiana.

The bigger redfish he caught were hanging out around Turtle Hole’s grass beds, according to Delahoussaye. That area, he said, had grass beds that appealed to redfish.

“The first point I passed, five fish, 23 to 24 inches. I just couldn’t top the one I caught in the Island,” he said, noting he kept the same four redfish in his ice chest all day and released the rest he boated.

He prefished for each tournament this year, including the SFA Classic. He went out three days the week before the Classic but when tournament time rolled around a week ago Saturday the redfish were in places he didn’t scout, he said.

Delahoussaye fished the first two SFA tournaments of 2021 with Quentin Comeaux, who he shared AOY with during an unforgettable season in 2020. They notched a first-place March 13 in their first defense as AOY, then finished second on May 8.

After Comeaux turned his attention to targeting speckled trout, Delahoussaye fished by himself and finished fifth June 5. He racked up an unbeatable total of 575 points, just ahead of Eddie Toups and Liz Toups’ 559. They were followed in the AOY standings by Keo Khamphilavong and Craig Landry, who were right behind the Toups family in third with 555. Khamphilavong and Landry won the third and last regular-season tournament June 5.

“Winning the Classic and winning AOY, that’s a great accomplishment. That was pretty neat,” Delahoussaye said.

He didn’t mind fishing alone in the third SFA tournament and the SFA Classic, he said. It’s better, though, he admitted, to have someone to talk to during the decision-making process and rigors of a tournament.

As for Comeaux, he said, “He’s into other things. He loves to fish speckled trout. I say have at it.”