A 42-year-old Loreauville native is enjoying the ride so far in Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation competition for 2022-23.

That’s a good thing because all Brock Daigle of New Iberia can do is drive his 2005 Ranger 176VS powered by a 115-h.p. Mercury outboard, then sit back and watch his son, Hollis Daigle, and Vincent Soprano of Franklin fish and finish strong in three straight tournaments to kick off the season.

Hollis and Vincent, both 11, have turned in impressive showings in the Junior Division on Sept. 9 at Stephensville/Atchafalaya Basin, Oct. 15 at the Calcasieu River and, most recently, Nov. 5 on the Red River.

The Catholic High School Fishing Team members are enjoying their first year on the second-year team started in August 2021 by Jacob Shoopman of New Iberia. They are the most active CHS Fishing Team members this fall on the tournament trail.

The 11-year-old bass anglers — captained by the elder Daigle, who cannot wet a line per LHSBN rules — notched their second fifth-place finish of the season last weekend in the tournament out of Grand Ecore Landing, Natchitoches.

Vincent, the son of Kade and Sarah Soprano, caught a 13-inch, 1.33-pound bass around 10 a.m. that Saturday while the team was fishing in Saline Bayou near the St. Maurice Recreational Area in Pool 3 of the Red River. It was the first bass he caught to weigh in this season.

Daigle, a U.S. Army veteran who teaches welding at the Iberia Parish Career Center, and his son were happy for Vincent.

“I was so excited for him to get it in the livewell I forgot to take a picture,” Daigle said, noting he realized the oversight, quickly got the bass out of the water and snapped a photo of the proud angler, who smiled ear-to-ear.

Vincent, a sixth-grade student at CHS and an avid kayaker who competed in two contests this year on the Bayou Teche, caught the bass on a fire tiger spinnerbait, Daigle said. Vincent fishes for bass as much as possible in a pond owned by Dicky Fitzgerald of Charenton and also along the Bayou Teche, according to his mother.

The CHS Fishing Team’s captain said none of them prefished the Red River.

“I looked on Google Earth, pinpointed the boat landing and looked up and down the Red River,” he said.

Daigle found an area to target with clear water and compared it to other years at this time to see if it was clear then.

Vincent and Hollis, a CHS fifth-grader who fishes as much as possible with his dad and also plays in the Iberia Soccer Association, competed in the 15-boat Junior Division at the Red River tournament won with five bass weighing 7.76 pounds by Kane Milner-Dortlon and Karson Milner-Dortlon of the Riverdale Junior Bassmasters.

The CHS Fishing Team’s Junior Division members opened the season with a fifth-place finish in September out of Doiron’s Landing, Stephensville. Their three bass, all caught on soft plastics by Hollis, weighed 6.66 pounds and included the biggest bass in the Junior Division, a 2.83-pounder.

They fished the circuit’s next tournament in October at the Calcasieu River, where Hollis caught two bass and they finished 12th.

“They’re really enjoying it. They’re getting better casting and identifying where to cast … just not casting in the middle. They’re hitting a target where they think the fish are,” Daigle said.

And the boys are practicing sportsmanship, cheering for each other and motivating each other to do better.

“This tournament Hollis was so excited for Vincent. It didn’t bother him he didn’t catch anything. He knows they are a team,” Daigle said.

The captain is having fun, too.

“The toughest thing is not being able to fish. Giving the boys the opportunity to do this is very satisfying to me. By them fishing and me just watching, hopefully I can learn a thing or two from them,” he said.

Daigle and his wife, Ashley, know their son has a passion for bass fishing. They have told him it’s an avenue to college if he chooses to continue bass fishing.

The team already has registered for the next tournament Feb. 4 at Belle River Public Landing in the Atchafalaya Basin. The next one is Feb. 18 at Henderson Lake.

“Oh, yeah, we’re going to try to make as many as we can,” Daigle said.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.