MYETTE POINT – The Coteau Bass Hustlers Angler of the Year race was close, too close for comfort, going into the last tournament of 2023.

Jason Jones of New Iberia, who admitted he’s uncomfortable being the frontrunner, had the inside track. Hot on his heels was Brandon Sellers, also of New Iberia.

“I like chasing. I don’t like being in front because everybody’s chasing you. It puts a little more pressure on you,” Jones said.

As it so often happens, it all boiled down to the final regular-season tournament. The CBH bass anglers fished the Atchafalaya Basin on Nov. 19 out of Myette Point Landing.

“If Brandon came out first, I could finish no lower than fourth,” Jones said.

Sellers did finish first with a five-bass limit at 9.85 pounds. And Jones was fourth with five bass weighing 7.05 pounds.

That set up the anxious wait for points to be added and subtracted. After each bass club member’s lowest-finishing tournament was dropped, the deciding factor was points amassed by attendance at meetings, each worth 10 points. Jones was at every meeting while Sellers missed three meetings.

“I don’t like doing (winning) it like that but they’ve been doing that since I’ve been here,” Jones said, noting he joined the bass club around 2013.

When the tweaks were applied for the drop and the meetings, Jones emerged on top by three points, 1,048-1,045, over Sellers. Without meetings points, Sellers would have emerged on top, 1,110-1,109.

Jones and Sellers each won three tournaments in 2023. Jones notched three seconds while Sellers finished second four times.

“Congratulations to Jason,” Sellers said.

It was his second straight runner-up finish in the AOY race. He was four points shy, 849-845, to his WN Hawg Fights BTS partner, Blaine Miller, in 2022.

Jones, 52, said he had no doubt one of his biggest rivals for the title would be Sellers.

“I stayed pretty consistent throughout the year. I just tried to stay consistent. That’s what you shoot for every year. Stay consistent. Be more versatile. Learn something every time,” he said.

“It’s just in the summer it’s hard to beat Brandon in the Basin. I knew Brandon would be the frontrunner. He’s good in the Basin and the lake (Lake Fausse Pointe).”

It was Jones’ second AOY with the Coteau Bass Hustlers. Jones won his first bass club championship in 2020. Which AOY is sweeter?

“I believe this one. (But) They were both good years,” he said.

This one was special mostly because of the bass fishing bonanza he enjoyed in March during the bass club’s two-day tournament at Caney Lake near Chatham. Jones, a salesman for Alamo Hydraulics Inc., and his boss, Damon Bowers of Splendora, Texas, cranked in big bass after big bass to win Day 1 on March 10 with 20.24 pounds and followed up on Day 2 with 18.68 pounds for a combined total of 38.92 pounds.

“It felt good. That’s our first time putting together two days in a row. It was pretty exciting. I was excited,” Jones said in a story published March 19 in The Daily Iberian.

The bigger bass were caught on black/blue Senkos, he said. Bowers used a “redneck Carolina-rigged” Senko to account for 9.14-pounder the first day.

They hooked and boated four other bass from 4 to 6.68 pounds, the latter caught by Jones, during the blitz at Caney Lake.

Jones’ favorite artificials during the year included Speed Craws, crank baits and Chatterbaits.

“I didn’t get too crazy,” he said.

“It’s nice getting Angler of the Year. It’s for bragging rights. Whenever you get to the landing, you throw a few jabs here and there. I enjoy it.”