Louisiana Bass Cat officers Mike Sinitiere, left, and Max Stevens get ready for a weigh-in in this file photo.

MILAM, Texas — The Louisiana Bass Cats haven’t seen the last of two formidable bass anglers in the New Iberia-based bass club’s history. Neither have the bass.

Ben Suit, 31, and his brother, Zack Suit, who were born and raised in New Iberia but moved to Texas in August 2021, combined their talents for a two-day tournament April 2-3 at Toledo Bend. Ben, who lives in Port Arthur, and Zach, whose hometown is Denton, still are members but realistically can fish two tournaments this year, the recent spring contest at Toledo Bend and the fall event at Lake Sam Rayburn.

They didn’t pull any punches the first weekend of April. They went out with the intent of winning because there’s no chance at amassing enough points to win Angler of the Year and win they did, wire-to-wire.

Fishing on the Texas side in a major creek north of Pendleton Bridge, Ben and Zach culled to a five-bass limit for 17.13 pounds on Saturday and returned Sunday with 16.33 pounds for 33.46 pounds to hold off all challengers and win $405. The Suit brothers also won the big bass pot with a 5.17-pounder Ben caught the first day for another $80.

Each brother has been at the top in LBC. Ben won back-to-back AOYs in 2018-19 before his brother snapped the streak by claiming AOY in 2020. They also teamed up to dominate Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series as AOY in 2018 and 2019.

Zach paused a minute before coming up empty on a date the last time the brothers teamed up.

“I couldn’t even tell you. It’s been a while … maybe the last Hawg Fight,” he said.

For the record, the last bass tournament they fished together was July 28, 2021, in the 10th the WN Hawg Fights BTS. The Catholic High School-New Iberia grads missed the last two Hawg Fights because it was time to pack their bags and relocate in Texas.

They both left the first week of August.

Ben pointed his pickup truck west to open Ben Suit State Farm in nearby Orange after working several years at Erik Guillory State Farm in Broussard. Zach and his wife, Melinda, moved away after she was accepted into the chiropractic program at Parker University in Denton. Zach, who was a salesman at Erik Guillory State Farm, works at Matthew Sand State Farm in Denton.

So it was a special reunion on the water with a special result.

Their father, Kevin Suit, an accomplished bass angler in his own right, and Mike Sinitiere, who has won multiple AOYs in the bass club, staged a rally the second day of the tournament to finish second behind the young Suits and win $243. After bagging 10.92 pounds Saturday, the New Iberians went out Sunday and came back with 16.13 pounds for a two-day total of 27.05 pounds.

Lafayette bass anglers Jean Trahan and Jake Beach also rallied on the second day for a third-place finish. On Sunday they culled to 14.18 pounds to go along with 12.07 pounds Saturday for a total of 16.25 pounds worth $162.

Finishing ahead of those and other veteran bass club anglers was oh-so meaningful to the winners.

“I love to compete against the guys in the club. They are some good fishermen. It feels good to come out on top,” Zach said.

Ben agreed with his younger brother and said, “It always feels good to win. I don’t know if you ever get used to winning.”

They had their eyes on the prize but were aware of the moment.

“It was good to get back in the boat with Zach. It was a good time to get together with him. We fish really good together. We had a good time. That’s what’s important,” Ben said.

“I got to hang out with my brother. We live pretty far apart now. We got to spend three days doing what we both love. You can’t really beat that,” Zach said.

Ben knows from fishing the past few weeks the spawning bass were shallow in one of his favorite areas of Toledo Bend. They pinpointed the fish when he and his brother prefished Friday.

“He had an idea already. We just had to make sure they were still there,” Zach said.

The two “Texans,” both former starting pitchers on CHS baseball teams, fished topwaters, including a Spro Bronzeye 65, until the sun got high enough to begin sight fishing. Then they went to work on bass on their beds with a black/blue jig adorned with a black/red plastic crawworm.

Bass bit at times in water 6 to 8 inches deep, Zach said. Hundreds were seen and the bass anglers could pick and choose those that were “set up” right and as a result they passed up many of them.

The Suits got an assist from their dad and Sinitiere minutes before weigh-in at 5 p.m. Their Mercury-powered old Ranger hit a stump and spun a prop, which prompted a call for help that was answered.

Zach rode with their limit to the weigh-in with a few minutes to spare.

The winners caught their limit quicker the second day.

“I knew we could catch 15 pounds. We had four in the livewell before we started bed fishing Sunday,” Ben said. “We had three fish (3-pound class bass) we needed to catch from the day before (they wouldn’t have culled any bass at the time). We went back and caught them pretty fast.”

The biggest bass of the tournament was carried to the scale by New Iberian Gerald Dupuis, a 6.78-pounder he caught Sunday with a Senko. Unfortunately, because he had outboard motor trouble late Saturday, Dupuis — who fished with his brother, Daniel Dupuis — was unsure if they’d fish Sunday so decided against entering the big bass pot.