LOREAUVILLE — Two past Top 10 Classic winners teamed up to win the coveted Coteau Bass Hustlers title April 9 at Lake Fausse Pointe.

Joey Trahan, who has won four of the bass club’s last six Top 10s, including this year and in 2019, 2018 and 2017, and Marlin Hebert, who won the tournament last year with Doyle Louviere, combined for the win on a tough day of bass fishing at the lake.

They culled to a five bass limit weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces, to finish ahead of the five-boat field featuring the Top 10 anglers from 2021.

“It was tough. We caught 10 to 12 fish but nothing over 2 pounds. We got a small limit, then we culled with a small limit,” Trahan, 54-year-old owner of Joey’s Refrigeration, said.

“It’s always good to win. We didn’t think we had a chance to win. We just went and had fun. Anytime I get to fish with my closest friend, Marlin. It’s a great time. We don’t fish much together.”

Hebert, also 54, agreed and said, “It was tough, man. But we managed to get eight keeper bites. They were all the same size about.”

They were followed closely in the standings by Steve Doumit of New Iberia and Blaine Miller of Loreauille, whose five-bass limit weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces.

“Yeah, it was pretty close. Three ounces between first and third. We were just hoping to get a limit and have a good time,” Trahan said.

Brandon Sellers of New Iberia and Robbie Mayer were third with a limit weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces.

The winners served meals to the bass they targeted in one of the few clear water areas that Trahan found while scouting Lake Fausse Pointe. He fed them PBJ (peanut butter and jelly) Senkos while Hebert offered a different-colored tasty Senko.

“We were joking in the boat. He’d say, ‘Come get some PBJ for breakfast.’ I said, ‘I’m throwing watermelon/red garlic bread,’ ” said Hebert, an installation manager for Butcher Air Conditioning.

He also caught some of their bass punchin’ through mats with a black/neon Zoom Speed Craw.

At first, Hebert said, they planned to fish Sandy Cove. But high winds, mostly from the north, in the days leading up to the tournament dropped the water level.

He prefished the marsh without promise, so they went to the area Trahan scouted in the borrow pits along the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee.

When the bite slowed down, they left in his boat to try the Little Dogleg and Honey Hole, to no avail because of water conditions.

“It’s low (and mostly) muddy everywhere. I said, ‘Man, let’s go back to the pretty water.’ We did good. What bit our lines we caught. It’s not like we had a big fish story,” Hebert said.

Trahan said they concentrated on fishing drains while many other boats were beating the banks.

He won the bass club’s tournament March 26 at Lake Sam Rayburn with Mike Bourque. Their limit weighed 13.39, anchored by the biggest bass of the day, Trahan’s 4.30-pounder.

Sellers and Miller claimed first place in the March 25 tournament at Lake Sam Rayburn with five bass weighing 13.88 pounds, including Sellers’ 5.47-pounder, the biggest of the weekend.

COTEAU BASS HUSTLERS

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

April 9 at Lake Fausse Pointe

1, Joey Trahan-Marlin Hebert (5), 7-7. 2, Steve Doumit-Blaine Miller (5), 7-5. 3, Brandon Sellers-Robbie Mayer (5), 7-4. 4, () Tim Sturm-Jason Jones (3), 6-8. 5, Keith Altazin-Doyle Louviere (3), 1-12.

() Tournament’s lunker bass, 2-14.

COTEAU BASS HUSTLERS

2022 POINT STANDINGS

1, Brandon Sellers, 285. 2, Blaine Miller, 248. 3, Tim Sturm, 243. 4, Joey Trahan, 242. 5, (tie) Nick Hebert, Robbie Mayer, Keith Altazin and Gerald Frederick, 220. 9, (tie) Doyle Louviere and Steve Doumit, 214. 11, Jason Jones, 207. 12, Marlin Hebert, 180. 13, Colby Hebert, 175. 14, Mike Bourque, 170. 15, Paul Trahan, 165. 16, Spence Falgout, 150. 17, Johnny Schexnayder, 145. 18, Glenn Richard, 125. 19, Cedric Boudreaux, 75. 20, Bryce Louviere, 68. 21, Bobby Louviere, 67.