Erath Fishing Club members Brayden Landry, left, and Branson Word get their fish sorted out at the last tank with the help of their captain, Clayton Landry, the EHS Fishing Club’s coach, Feb. 5 at a Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation tournament at Toledo Bend. The student anglers were getting ready for a photo op of their five bass weighing 12.91 pounds, which was the third-best catch of the day.

MANY — Brayden Landry and Branson Word finished third as a two-man team and led the Erath High School Fishing Club to a fourth-place finish overall at the Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation tournament Feb. 5 at Toledo Bend.

Landry and Word scratched out a solid limit of five keeper-sized bass for 12.91 pounds on a bluebird day that began with temperatures below 32 degrees. EHS Club members Bradley Gravouia and Chase Mier, captained by Kevin Gravouia, finished 25th in the 155-boat field with three bass weighing 7.77 pounds to give the EHS Fishing Club a total of 20.68 pounds against high schools from across the Sportsman’s Paradise.

Only 88 two-man teams managed to catch at least one bass to carry to the scale on a post-cold front day.

Brayden Landry and Word picked up the right artificial lure at the right time on a tip from their captain and coach, Clayton Landry, and used it to catch six bass, one a non-keeper. Their bass bit on watermelon/red and black/blue Zoom Speed Ultra Vibe Worms. The sophomores fished them on a 5/16-ounce Shaky Head around docks along rocky shorelines in 7- to 8-foot depths.

They were stuck on four bass in the livewell with time running out before check-in time. Approximately 10 minutes before their captain had to crank up and run in, Word hooked their fifth keeper.

“It was up and down. It was slow, then it sped up and we had a good 2-hour period. Then we fought it out till the last one. We were working real hard for that last fish. We were excited,” Word said.

“We caught it and came in. We probably caught it around 3:50,” Brayden Landry said.

Other EHS Fishing Club members who fished were Bradley Gravouia and Chase Mier with captain Kevin Gravouia and Matthew Richard and Cohen Luquette with captain Ryan Richard.

The first-year Catholic High School-New Iberia Fishing Team was led by Luke Landry and Jarrett Baquet, captained by Todd Baquet of Lafeyette. The team got off to a fast start on the cold morning when Landry, a freshman quarterback at CHS, boated a 2.39-pounder on his fourth cast but, alas, bass didn’t cooperate the rest of the day.

Other CHS Fishing Team two-man teams that took on the frigid conditions were Tyler Templeton and William Minvielle, captained by Ryan Hernandez of Lafayette; Mason Ditch and Dyani Bernard, captained by Chris Ditch of New Iberia, and Bennett Woodring and Seth Switzer, captained by Rick LeBlanc of New Iberia.

Young Ditch and Bernard caught three bass that just missed being keepers, according to their coach, Jacob Shoopman.

Switzer hooked a sizeable bass on a crank bait but apparently got only a single barb of one treble hook in the fish’s mouth. The CHS Fishing Team member worked the bass he and his captain estimated between 4-6 pounds to the boat, where it thrashed one last time, spit the hook and swam away.

Danny Bulliard of St. Martinville, a veteran and accomplished bass angler, captained his grandson, Matthew Bulliard, and Will Godchaux, who are members of the Teurlings Catholic Rebel Fishing Team. The younger Bulliard boated a 3.39-pound bass for a 61st-place finish. He was crawling a jig-n-pig on the bottom when the bass bit, his only bite of the day.

Two Teche Area natives fished for Youngsville’s Acadiana Renaissance Charter Academy. Luke Romero and Jett Nguyen had 6.74 pounds while Luke’s twin brother, Benjamin Romero, and Gunnar Pecoraro also fished. The Romeros grew up fishing Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series.

Dennis Worsham of New Iberia captained Southside High School Fishing Team’s Thomas Bourque and Joshua Duhon, who finished 57th with 3.48 pounds.