CYPREMORT POINT – It wasn’t young Kiptyn St. Germain’s first rodeo, as they say, on May 20 but it was his first win in the Southcentral Fishing Association.

The 13-year-old Jeanerette outdoorsman played a pivotal role in that outcome with an 8-pound class “slot” redfish caught early that morning while fishing with his father, Heith St. Germain, his uncle, Jason St. Germain, and a family friend, Clint ‘PeeWee” Fremin, aboard a borrowed boat.

Their two “slot” redfish limit weighed 15.35 pounds, good enough to turn back the rest of a 13-boat field that fished from 6 a.m.-3 p.m. in and around Vermilion Bay.

“It was a great experience. It was my first win. It was my dad’s first first-place, too (in SFA). And doing that together, too,” the eight-grader-to-be said after the third tournament of the season for SFA members.

The St. Germains’ crew topped a 13-boat field and collected $520.

“I really wasn’t expecting it. We were hoping we’d be in the Top 3. I wasn’t expecting first place but we’ll take it,” Heith St. Germain, who skippered the borrowed boat, said.

His own boat, a 20-foot Sea Hunt, was in the shop with a busted fuel injector in the 150-h.p. Evinrude E-Tec outboard motor. The problem arose on Mother’s Day when he took the family crabbing at Marsh Island in the Pacifier.

During the week before the tournament, Heith St. Germain asked his brother, Josh St. Germain of Sorrel, if he and his crew could fish the SFA tournament in his 21-foot Mako, Quality Time. Josh St. Germain’s son, Noah St. Germain, was graduating the night before the tournament from West St. Mary High School and his family planned a graduation party May 20.

Heith St. Germain said he fished the tournament without scouting. But they overcame that.

“We had some good bait. I went hit a couple spots I like to fish and I paid off. I think we kept 15 redfish and three back four or five that were over the slot (16 to 27 inches long),” he said.

“Kiptyn caught the big fish early that morning. We only had two or three in the boat. A couple hours later I picked up our second fish. That was some nice fish. We had an 8-pounder and a 7 ¼.”

When his son’s fish was in the boat, he said, “We thought it was actually too big. When we put it on the check stick, we were high-fiving. We knew we had a good one. He (Kiptyn) was pumped up. I don’t know if he was as excited as I was.”

“We thought it would be a little too big but it was right what we needed,” Kiptyn St. Germain, who will be an eighth-grader at B.E. Boudreaux Middle School, where he plays baseball and basketball, said.

That redfish bit on a mullet under a popping cork, as did his dad’s redfish.

Caleb Evans, Bo Evans and Cody Haas finished runners-up with two “slots” that weighed 14.75 pounds for $325.

Daniel Prince and Jordan Morgan were third with 14.40 pounds worth $195. They also boasted the day’s biggest redfish, a Calcutta-winning 8.20-pounder for another $200.

Heith St. Germain’s brother had a good time when he found out about the W.

“He told me we won because of the boat. I wouldn’t expect (good-natured ribbing) anything less. I would have told him the same thing if it was the other way,” he said with a laugh.

The crew cleaned the borrowed boat at the camp not once but twice, just in case a favor was needed again, and filled up the gas tank.