CYPREMORT POINT — If a 2.95-pound speckled trout wins this year’s Cypremort Invitational Fishing Association Tournament, it’ll be an off year.

No one knows that better than Shane Johnson of New Iberia, whose 2.95-pound speckled trout caught Aug. 4 remained the o-n-l-y speckled trout on the leaderboard as of Aug. 11. The Acadian Outdoor Charters charter boat captain expects bigger and better from in and around Vermilion Bay.

Will that speckled trout stay atop the leaderboard at Dago’s Mobil & Grocery in Lydia?

“I hope not. I hope somebody catches one bigger than that. If we have stable weather the next 7-10 days, it could get knocked off. Maybe third,” Johnson said Wednesday. “Anybody could get a 5-pounder out there. They’re out there swimming. I hope I can do it. I’ll be working hard to improve on 2.95.”

The 37th annual CIFA Tournament began at 7 a.m. July 10 and ends at 7 p.m. Sept. 30, so there’s plenty of time for jockeying on the leaderboard in the Speckled Trout Division and the Redfish Division. The latter division has been a lot more active than the former. (Each divisions has cash awards for the top five places.)

Larger speckled trout are out there, according to Johnson. While guiding Tuesday, he said, a 3.14-pound speckled trout was caught by an angler in his boat.

“We crippled the trout yesterday. One hundred,” he said.

The Speckled Trout Division’s leader was hooked and boated on the fourth day of August.

Johnson had a few hours to spare that afternoon after returning from a vacation with his wife to Cancun. Neal Onebane of Lafayette, founder and president of Krispy Krunchy Chicken, who called the charter boat captain, also had a few hours to spare.

The nine-year veteran saltwater fishing guide took Onebane to some of his favorite reefs south of Marsh Island.

“We didn’t catch many, maybe six. The fish were all small. I don’t know where the bigger one came from,” Johnson said.

The “bigger one” attacked a lemonhead Matrix Shad under a Four Horsemen Tackle Popping Cork. The soft plastic was threaded on a 1/8-ounce Deathgrip Jighead made by Lane Zimmer, a charter boat captain in South Louisiana who targets the Lafitte area.

Johnson and Onebane were fishing reefs just south of Marsh Island, where the water was “decent” at the time but is far from that as of this past week, according to Johnson. South winds can do that.

“It doesn’t take much to mess a good bite up, especially in the reefs,” he said, noting he’d rate the water clarity a 7 out of a possible 10 the day the first-place speckled trout bit.

The 48-year-old outdoorsman is competing in his second year in CIFA. In 2020, his first year fishing the popular circuit, he finished third in the Speckled Trout Division with a 2.83-pounder. He also finished runner-up last year in the Redfish Division with a 32.58 pound bull red.

Bo Amy of New Iberia won the Speckled Trout Division last year with a hefty 3.56-pound fish worth $500.

Kevin Horton of Avery Island, who won the Redfish Division with a 35.20-pound bull red worth $500 in 2020, has the midway lead this season with an even bigger redfish, a 35.40-pounder he caught July 11. He’s followed in the standings to date by Amy, who wrestled in a 31.58-pounder on Aug. 1; Lynn “The Bear” Hebert, who landed a 29.09-pound redfish on July 17, and John Albert, who posted a 29.08-pounder on Aug. 8.

CIFA members paid dues of $40 per member before the membership deadline July 9. For more information on the local group, call Tori Moss at 577-8818.