MYETTE POINT – Considering the conditions, a veteran Hawg Fighter figured it’d take more patience and more casts than ever to boat three keeper bass July 17 in the Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series.

Nevertheless, Don Shoopman was amazed at his long-time tournament partner’s resolve to thoroughly fish their starting spot and avoid giving up on it too soon. He wasn’t surprised, though, considering his youngest son, Jacob Shoopman, has made many more right decisions than wrong over the years on the water.

Mostly, though, his son stayed positive, unlike the oft-grumpy but trusting older tournament partner in the back of the boat. He said he was oh-so proud of his son’s fishing mindset.

Jacob Shoopman finally broke out a hollow body plastic frog to retrieve over a carpet of duckweed and on the third cast brought their first keeper to the net… more than 45 minutes after the 5:30 p.m. start for the 18-boat field. And what a key bass it was, a 2.90-pounder that anchored their hard-earned limit weighing 6.79 pounds.

“It’s been quite some time since I caught one on a frog. To catch an almost 3-pounder was pretty fun. It was a good hit and so was the other one (a few minutes later, perhaps even a real “hawg”) that blew up[ on the frog. I kind of felt it. He hit it a little bit,” he said.

They went home after winning $405 for first place with 6.79 pounds while their biggest bass, the 2.90-pounder, earned another $90 after topping the rest of the field for the second time in July. They also rang up a W on July 3 with three bass weighing 5.96 pounds.

It isn’t the first time the team has won consecutive evening bass tournaments on the highly competitive local circuit.

The Shoopmans last notched back-to-back WN Hawg Fights BTS wins in 2022 on July 6 and July 20 in the Atchafalaya Basin. The sites were the same in 2022 and ’24 — first out of Bayou Benoit Landing, then Myette Point Landing.

Jacob Shoopman said despite challenging water conditions, including the hard-rising Atchafalaya River, he enjoys fishing the Spillway.

“We get in the Basin this time of year, go back-to-back, it’s just fishing the history of it. And getting the right bites. It feels good,” he said.

Don Shoopman, a 71 ½-year-old outdoors writer who retired as The Daily Iberian’s senior news editor in January 2019, agreed wholeheartedly.

Some other familiar names on this year’s circuit finished second and third on an evening that began with downpours in the hour leading up to the takeoff from the G.A. Cut after launching at Myette Point Landing.

Brad Romero and Raven Owens, both of New Iberia, came the closest to the winners with a three-bass limit that weighed 5.94 pounds worth $243.

Donald Romero of New Iberia, who fished alone, kept him and his tournament partner, New Iberian Bo Amy, atop the race for Angler(s) of the Year with another clutch individual effort on a Wednesday. Donald Romero was third with three bass tipping the digital scale — manned by veteran weighmaster Mike O’Brien — at 5.93 pounds for $162.

Donald Romero and Amy remained in the driver’s seat in the AOY race with 858 points, a comfortable margin over the Shoopmans, who charge into the last two tournaments with 824 points. Brad Romero remains in third with 817 points.

Jacob Shoopman, 36-year-old Coca-Cola United salesman who teamed with his dad to win AOY in 2015 and again in 2020, apparently wasn’t too intimidated by the rising river.

“Well, this time of year if you’re around some fish, they move a little bit. It takes a while to find them with all the fluctuation in the water levels and everything,” he said.

After approximately 45 minutes without a bite, he wasn’t worried, he said.

“Not really too much. There were a couple places to run and check out. But we stayed there,” he said with an emphasis on the third sentence’s third word. “I knew fish were in the area. It took a little while to find them … like (nearly) 7 o’clock.”

The key was believing in the area or, as he put it, “Staying confident in our starting spot where we caught some fish in a club tournament (Louisiana Bass Cats) Sunday (July 14). We were just trying to (re)locate them. It ended up we did.”

However, it seemed like it took forever to get the third keeper bass, the limit fish that sealed the deal, he agreed. Doubly frustrating were a few misconnections on their respective buzz baits, including a very heavy bass that charged his buzzer 5 feet away from a point.

“I had confidence we’d get a few more bites. We ended up going back to where we caught the second one (a 2-pound class bass caught by his dad on a buzz bait) to get our third one,” he said.

The CHS Fishing Team coach got that all-important third keeper bass on a buzz bait just before 8 p.m., then a few minutes later boated a smaller one that didn’t help and it was time to weigh-in at 8:20 p.m.