LOREAUVILLE – Facing a lake looking about as swollen and ugly as could be put frowns on many a face June 5 at Marsh Field Landing.

John Gordon, though, was smiling, as he always seems to be, before, during and after the seventh Wednesday Night Hawg Fight Bass Tournament Series tournament of 2024. Why? The New Iberian was going out to fish another evening tournament with his 9-year-old son, Owen Gordon

Lake Fausse Pointe’s high water, which looked like chocolate across a majority of the lake, also was into the woods in most areas. The Gordons just went fishing and came back with one of only two three-bass limits in an 18-boat field that started fishing at 5:30 p.m.

Their three fish weighed 5.58 pounds, just enough for first place.

Flashing a smile even bigger than his dad’s, the 9-year-old multi-sports athlete collected the $405 from Rusty Owens for the father-son team first win on a Wednesday. It was a memorable night for the Gordons.

“He was happy, man,” the elder Jordan said before sharing some of the conversation on the ride home.

“He said, ‘Dad, we finally won one!’ ”

It’s about more than that in the big picture, he said. He’s fishing with his son, a special time any time.

“There is, actually, nothing like it. That’s the best right there because I get to show him (how to fish) and I can fish with him. He’s doing, actually, very well. For the past month-and-a-half now he’s fishing a frog, spinnerbait, squarebills, buzz bait and a worm,” the boy’s father said, noting the younger’s catching bass mostly on the latter three.

After two prefishing trips, Gordon was well aware of the high-water conditions caused by local and regional heavy rainfall, then compounded by high south winds for days leading up to the tournament. Naturally, he checked his favorite canal in the Texas Field.

“I went out Sunday and Monday. Sunday it (water clarity) wasn’t bad. It wasn’t bad all the way back there. Monday it was worse. Monday it was getting worse. Wednesday it was horrible. Wednesday it had gotten dirty. All of it was dirty. I was worried, like, ‘Aw, man,’ ” he said.

Gordon realized like everyone else on the water that evening that the options were limited. So he stayed put and fished hard as did Owen.

His outlook brightened considerably about 20-25 minutes into the seventh evening tournament of the year.

“I caught one at almost 6 o’clock. I was like, ‘Hey, dude (Owen), we got one!’ Probably one-half hour later, I caught another one. I thought, ‘We’ll be OK. One more,’ ” he said.

The 53-year-old oil field quality “elevator” (slip type and tubing) inspector for Keystone Energy Tools got that coveted third bite, set the hook and reeled it to the boat, where it shook off, unfortunately, before he could flip it in the boat. Gordon shook the miss off, too, and around 7:40 p.m. boated the clutch limit fish on a black/blue speed worm.

Gordon was proud to have a limit when he got back to Marsh Field Landing. As to how it would fare after the onslaught by some of the area’s top bass anglers, he was unsure for a minute or two but found out something in a hurry back at the ramp before the 8:20 p.m. weigh-in under the pavilion.

“I said, ‘Look, dude (Owen), we got us a limit. We should be OK.’ I started asking around (at the weigh-in site), ‘Hey, catch anything?’ It was nope … nope … nope … nope … nope (and so on). I said, “Ummmmmmmmm, we ought to be OK today, buddy,’ ” he said.

They definitely were OK, although Mike O’Brien’s limit came agonizingly close to knocking them out of first place.

O’Brien — fishing alone because his tournament partner, WN Hawg Fights BTS director Mike Sinitiere, underwent knee surgery earlier that Wednesday — took off in the No. 1 spot, got to his destination and put a three-fish limit in the boat on his first six casts with his favorite buzz bait.

O’Brien’s best chance at the win, an estimated 3-pounder, became unbuttoned on the way to the boat later in the tournament at another location, much to his dismay. Still, his limit weighed 5.03 pounds, good enough for second place and $243.

The local circuit’s veteran weighmaster also had the tournament’s biggest bass, a 2.40-pounder that fetched another $90.

How tough was the bass fishing on the lake that night? Only two other teams weighed in one bass each while 14 other boats scratched.

Austin Theriot and Gavin Savoy, defending AOY champions on the WN Hawg Fights BTS circuit, finished third with a bass weighing 1.21 pounds worth $162.

The eighth WN Hawg Fights BTS tournament is scheduled to be held June 19 at Myette Point Landing in the Atchafalaya Basin.