My good friend across the Atchafalaya Basin in Pierre Part did more than just talk a good game about the need for more young bass in the Atchafalaya Basin and Lake Verret.

Cliff “The Cajun Baby” Crochet took the bull by the horns this summer and raised more than $84,000 at a banquet to buy beaucoup F1 largemouth bass fingerlings to be released next year at two events, one on March 26 and later on April 15. The banquet was quite the quite, a big ol’ Cajun get-together for like-minded people who care about bass fishing and conservation.

Corchet’s inaugural Every Fish Matters fundraiser, held July 28 at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Pierre Part, was the largest of its kind in the history of professional bass fishing, according to Major League Fishing.

“I want everyone to know that by supporting, donating, and attending that they made this event successful,” Crochet said Aug. 25 in an interview published by MLF. “It shows how much our community cares about our fisheries and the area we live in, and I am honored and humbled to have been a part of this event.”

What’s an F1? It’s a first-generation cross between two subspecies of largemouth bass – the Northern largemouth bass and the Florida largemouth bass. They are called “intergrades” rather than “hybrids” because they aren’t a cross of two different species but rather two different subspecies.

Only first-generation F1s exhibit enhanced growth rates over native bass, according to biologists.

Crochet, an MLF Bass Pro Tour veteran who qualified for four Bassmaster Classics, already was one of those good guys we always pull for and it isn’t just because he’s one of us in the heart of Cajun Country. He played prep football at a high level at Central Catholic High School in Morgan City, fished for bass, became a deputy with the Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office, fished for bass, joined a local bass club and took the plunge into pro bass fishing in 2013.

He hasn’t and won’t forget where he came from. That’s why he cares about the fishery he’s trying to grow.

Before 2022, Crochet was thinking about some way to give back to his hometown and the fisheries that launched his career on both sides of the east Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee. As he said in October 2010, when he still was with B.A.S.S., “I want to be remembered as a good fellow who did it the right way and left the sport with more than when I came in.”

His Every Fish Matters idea was born during the MLF’s Redcrest 2022 as he watched Kevin VanDam’s foundation donate $5,000 to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation as seed money for an F1 restocking program for Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees. Crochet had a feeling he could do the same, or more, for the Atchafalaya Basin and Lake Verret.

The Pierre Part native did just that and more. He planned the banquet after meeting with the MLF Fisheries Management Division and its fisheries biologist Steven Bardin on how to get approval to stock fish in the Sportsman’s Paradise.

Louisiana was very receptive, he said. The wheels were set in motion as he tapped his extended network of sponsors and friends after getting a commitment to help set up the event from the MLF.

Widely known Louisiana bass fishing pros Tyler Rivet, Greg Hackney, Gerald Spohrer and Brent Bonadona were among the many people who chipped in, as was Mike Iaconelli of New Jersey.

As a result, more than 100,000 F1s will be stocked in Spring 2023.

The first stocking event will be held in partnership with the Doiron’s Team Bass Challenge on March 26. Each two-man team will be given fingerlings to release in the Spillway or Lake Verret.

All bass anglers are encouraged to participate in the second stocking event scheduled for April 15 at Veterans Park-Assumption Parish Recreation District 2. The public can pick up fingerlings there and release them in a favorite fishin’ hole in the nation’s last great overflow swamp or Lake Verret.

Circle those dates on your calendar. We can do our part then.

Many thanks, Cliff Crochet. We appreciate you giving back to your roots.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.