MYETTE POINT – Levi Louviere warned a long-time friend about the lack of bass fishing success this summer in the Atchafalaya Basin after inviting Trey Hebert to fish a Louisiana Bass Anglers tournament Aug. 3 in the Spillway.

“I told him the fishing was bad down here. He still wanted to come down,” Louviere, a Franklin native who lives in Youngsville.

During the tournament, Hebert must have wondered where Louviere was coming from in his assessment of bassin’ success because they coasted to a first-place finish after culling a five-bass limit numerous times for a total weight of 10.53 pounds.

Louviere, 40, a surveyor for Houma-based civil engineering company T. Baker Smith LLC, was pleasantly surprised, too.

“We probably caught 30 fish, I bet. It was like a whole different day. I had been out five times the last week (and had just about nothing to show for four of the trips). Friday, I figured something out. I caught three fish and went home. That’s where we went.”

Louviere and Hebert, who grew up with his buddy in Franklin before moving to Natchitoches, and whose late father was in the Louisiana Bass Anglers, fish and hunt deer together and go to the same deer camp in Robeline. The former Franklin resident last fished in his old stomping grounds about a decade ago.

This time the bass anglers targeted the bass with a white Spro frog. They limited out within an hour, according to Louviere

“As soon as we started, the fishing started. We culled out throughout the day … a little bigger each time,” he said, adding they fished along shady banks to trigger the bites and blowups in the Amerada area.

Two 71-year-old bass anglers combined their years of experience to finish as runners-up on the long, hot day. Johnny Hester of Lafayette, formerly of Franklin, and Don Shoopman of New Iberia came back after the safe daylight start from Myette Point Landing with a five-bass limit weighing 9.47 pounds.

They needed every ounce to finish ahead of Hester’s longtime friend and former co-worker, Hank Harris of Lafayette, formerly of New Iberia. Harris fished alone and finished third with a limit weighing 9.26 pounds.

Red-hot Bo Amy and Donald Romero carried the tournament’s biggest bass, a 2.51-pounder, to the digital scales manned by weighmaster Bubbie Lopez. Amy and Romero, both of New Iberia, are poised to win the Angler(s) of the Year title in the Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series that winds to a close with the 12th and final tournament Aug. 14 at Lake Fausse Pointe.

The bass club’s next tournament is Sept. 13-14 at Cane River, Hebert’s newer home waters. Perhaps if there’s a bad bite in his “backyard” it might turn great, like it did Aug. 3 for them in the Atchafalaya Basin.

That would help Louviere’s bid for Angler of the Year. He jumped from fourth to second in the point standings following the ninth tournament of 2024.