MYETTE POINT — Brad Romero didn’t like the color of the water at his first stop of the safe daylight tournament start Sept. 24.

So the 28-year-old Youngsville resident cranked up and headed to his second spot, which he probably had more confidence in but was much more difficult to access because of the ultra-low Atchafalaya Basin.

Once there, color came into play again because he didn’t get bit like he wanted while punchin’ until he switched from a California 420 Zoom Speed Craw to a plain ol’ black Zoom Speed Craw.

“Honestly, to tell you, if I didn’t change the bait I don’t think I would have won. I couldn’t get a bite on that any more. Then I switched to the black Speed Craw,” Romero said after he teamed with Nick Hebert of Abbeville to win the Coteau Bass Hustlers ninth tournament of the year with five bass weighing 9.23 pounds (after a .25-pound penalty for a dead bass).

They also boasted the biggest bass, a 2.84-pounder.

Romero, born and raised in New Iberia, stayed hot down the stretch of the bass tournament season. He sandwiched a third-place finish in the Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series Classic on Sept. 11 around a WN Hawg Fights BTS win in the regular-season finale Aug. 31 and the Coteau Bass Hustlers win Sunday out of Myette Point.

Even with the penalty, Romero finished ahead of Tim Sturm and Joey Trahan, who used crank baits to boat a five-fish limit that weighed 8.63 pounds to finish second in the 10-boat field. Jason Jones and Blaine Miller combined to finish third with five bass weighing 8.52 pounds.

“I was just on the right fish at the right time at the right place,” Romero said. “I didn’t really think I was going to win anything. I started off in the Amoco. The water was kind of muddy, murky. It wasn’t right, not like I like it.”

So he motored away to one of his hard-to-get to hotspots, where he had dug a ditch the week before by traversing it with a Gator-Tail. Still, getting into the body of water was iffy, just the same, and his other boat came close to getting mired on a sandbar.

The winners caught at least six keepers, by the hardest, as they say, before leaving. Romero boated four of the bass that hit the digital scale.

“It was a tough day Saturday, for sure. I didn’t think we’d win it with 8 or 9 pounds. I should have stayed all day and had 11 or 12 pounds,” he said.

COTEAU BASS HUSTLERS

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

September 24 at Atchafalaya Basin

1, () Brad Romero-Nick Hebert (5), 9.23. 2, Tim Sturm-Joey Trahan (5), 8.63. 3, Jason Jones-Blaine Miller (5), 8.52. 4, Brandon Sellers-Jarod Guilbeaux (4), 8.42. 5, Doyle Louviere-Guest (5), 7.94. 6, Dwayne Broussard-Guest (5), 7.67. 7, Marlin Hebert-Guest (5), 7.43. 8, Paul Trahan-Guest (3), 4.66. 9, Steve Doumit-Guest (2), 2.49. 10, Robbie Mayer (0).

() Tournament’s lunker bass, 2.84.

COTEAU BASS HUSTLERS

2022 POINT STANDINGS

1, Brandon Sellers, 750. 2, Blaine Miller, 744. 3, Joey Trahan, 720. 4, Tim Sturm, 716. 5, Jason Jones, 700. 6, Steve Doumit, 673. 7, Robbie Mayer, 635. 8, Marlin Hebert, 634. 9, Paul Trahan, 601. 10, Nick Hebert, 531. 11, Brad Romero, 525. 12, Doyle Louviere, 521. 13, Keith Altazin, 461. 14, Johnny Schexnayder, 335. 15, Gerald Frederick, 320. 16, Glenn Richard, 295, 190. 17, Cedrick Boudreaux, 180. 19, Mike Bourque, 170. 20, Spence Falgout, 155. 21, Bryce Louviere, 133. 22, Jarod Guilbeaux, 75. 23, Bobby Louviere, 72. 24, Dwayne Broussard, 65.