Tee Roy Savoy appears to be confident and optimistic as ever in the days leading up to this region’s most unique bass tournament during his 11th go-round as director of the Jackie Savoy Memorial Big Bass Classic.

The all-around Coteau Holmes outdoorsman can’t wait for the fundraising event to get underway Saturday, April 27, at Lake Fausse Pointe. The tournament site at Marsh Field Landing will be set up, for the most part, a day earlier, ready for the caravan of boats the next day in the predawn darkness.

Fair weather conditions are in the seven-day forecast for that day. It might be quite windy with southeast winds 15-20 mph and gusts to 30 mph. Otherwise, it’ll be a fine, mostly sunny, late spring day with a high near 85.

Savoy, 58, said he and other volunteers will start registering bass anglers at 5 a.m. They can leave in their boats and travel to their respective fishin’ holes but cannot make the first cast until 7 a.m.

Entry fee is $150 per boat.

The first hour concludes with weigh-in at 8 a.m. The final weigh-in is at 3 p.m.

Eight hourly payouts for the biggest three bass hourly are $250, $150 and $100 (based on a 40-boat field).

“Those that fish it, they like the way it’s set up,” Savoy said, noting bass anglers have adjusted to the strategy of juggling the big bass division with the big stringer division.

“You’ve got to play the cards. It’s different,” he said.

The stringer division includes each and every bass put on the digital scale up to five, which prompts bassers to weigh fish strategically because they can’t put a sixth “cull” fish on the board. For example, Savoy has said, if a team has put three bass on the digital scale, keep a few small keepers to complete a limit toward the end of the event if necessary.

The five-bass stringer payout (based on a 40-boat field) is $1,000, $600 and $400.

He is hopeful at least 40 boats show up Saturday. It’ll be touch and go because another tournament conflicts with the date.

Trying to find the “perfect date” has been and continues to be challenging. After adding a cooking contest a few years ago to the event, it seems there’s always something else going on.

Still, Savoy expects 10 cooking teams to compete for the coveted paddles in a rice and gravy cookoff. Wrist bands for event-goers to sample the selection cost $5. Serving gets under around 12:30 p.m. and judging starts at 2:30 p.m.

The Cayenne Services owner, who knows his way around a stove and pit, has made plans to ensure there is rice and gravy available to the bass anglers who fish the tournament through 3 p.m. The rice and gravy bowls will be free to participants.

Raffle items and a silent auction add to the opportunity to raise money.

A very welcome addition to the overall fundraising effort a few years ago was the ultra-popular raffle for a bowhunt at the Double Deuce Ranch near Powersville, Missouri. The six-night stay includes a five-day hunt plus $400 in travel expenses to the lucky winner.

Raffle tickets are $5 apiece for the deer hunt package.

Last year’s Jackie Savoy Memorial Big Bass Classic raised approximately $5,000 for, among other charitable causes, the Lydia Cancer Association and Acadiana Hope for a Cure. Savoy also selects deserving individuals and families for assistance and that’s what keeps him going, keeps him on top of this mission started years ago by the late Elvis Jeanminette of Grand Marais.

“Oh, no, I don’t want to stop doing it” after a little more than a decade, he said the morning of April 22.

Aside from donating to Lydia Cancer Association and Acadiana Hope for a Cure, Savoy has relished an added role he took on helping others in the community affected by cancer. Before last Christmas he learned about a local woman diagnosed with cancer who had four children and that people were adopting one or more to gift presents.

Savoy decided to brighten the holidays for three of the children with donations.

“I said, ‘Big Bass Classic will do it.’ The 10-year-old wanted a side-by-side but I knew that wasn’t happening,” he said with a chuckle, noting BBC gave gifts worth $500.

Earlier this year, Savoy was alerted about a third-grade Loreauville High School student recently diagnosed with leukemia. The BBC director went to a fish dinner benefit for the boy, bought two dinners, and gave the youngster $250 to buy games to play on his first visit for treatment in New Orleans.

And, after discovering the student was a fan of horse racing, invited him to the next race Savoy’s horse runs at Evangeline Downs.

“His face lit up,” Savoy said.

And that made his day, too.

“It’s on your mind. I’ve been there,” said the man who knows all about the specter of the disease.

His wife, the late Jacqueline Savoy, died at age 52 on Feb. 1, 2021, after a long, brave battle against cancer. He was at her side throughout as she had been alongside him at so many Big Bass Classics.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.