COTEAU HOLMES – Two young St. Martin Parish bass fishermen who have teamed up six times this year on a popular evening bass tournament circuit made the most of the sixth time on July 31.

Austin Theriot and Gavin Savoy, who won the Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series Angler(s) of the Year title in 2023, won for the first time this year when they busted a 2-plus pound average in the 11th WN Hawg Fights BTS tournament of ’24. They cashed in in three contests, all third-place finishes.

Theriot was pleased they got another chance to fish together last week but even happier for a chance to prefish for the latest Hawg Fight. He was ready for the mini-bass tournament held out of Bayou Benoit Landing.

“We finally had another tournament out of Benoit. I wasn’t able to go scout,” Savoy said.

“Oh, yeah, I finally got to go scout. It felt great to be able to finally go scout, find something and it all works out,” Theriot said, proudly. “I’ve been on ’em most of the year in the Basin, mostly in one spot. I went check ’em Sunday. The bass were coming out of the water to hit my frog. I said, ‘Oh, man, it’s on!”

The winners, unable to fish every tournament together because of their respective work schedules this year, used either Boo-Yah or Spro plastic frogs, then flipped soft plastic lizards, while culling to a three-bass limit weighing 6.50 pounds worth $383, plus boasted the biggest bass of the tournament, a 2.52-pounder that brought in another $85.

Of course, Theriot anticipated a pretty good bite on the day of the mini-bass tournament. But would it be enough to finish the hot and sultry evening ahead of the other contenders in the 17-boat field?

Angler(s) of the Year leaders Bo Amy and Donald Romero, both of New Iberia, all but clinched the AOY title this year with a clutch second-place finish worth $230. Their limit of bass weighed 6.06 pounds as they rose to the occasion once again.

Lafayette area bass anglers Todd Robertson and Eric Smith finished with a hard-earned third-place finish with their best showing of the season – three bass weighing 5.35 pounds for $153.

Theriot, a 23-year-old helicopter mechanic at Arrow Aviation Co. LLC, and Savoy had the bass right where they wanted them after the 5:30 p.m. takeoff.

“We got in there … they were feeding. We caught three (keeper) fish, then they were missing the frog every time they hit it, coming out of the water,” Theriot said. “Gavin picked up a flippin’ rod, mine, and caught one. I looked at him and told him to give me back my pole. We caught three more and culled twice flippin’.”

Theriot said if his younger tournament partner wouldn’t have picked up a flippin’ rod as soon as the frog bite went south, “I was.”

Savoy, 22-year-old welder at GOM Energy Services LLC, talked about the dry spell after the bass stopped inhaling bogus frogs. He decided to try flippin’ a june bug soft plastic lizard.

“I was worried. We had our three fish but they quit biting all of a sudden. But you could tell they still had fish there,” he said.

The younger Hawg Fighter said his fishin’ buddy taught him a flippin’ lesson with a plastic lizard in the first Hawg Fight of 2024. Theriot blistered the bass and outfished him thoroughly, he said.

So Savoy didn’t hesitate to pick up a Texas-rigged plastic lizard under a ½-ounce worm weight when the frog bite ceased and desisted. After he gave the flippin’ stick back to Theriot, they both flipped, caught three more keeper bass and culled twice for precious ounces at the digital scale manned by veteran weighmaster Mike O’Brien of New Iberia.

“Man, that was an awesome win. We had a good time. I can’t wait for the (WN Hawg Fights BTS) Classic,” Savoy said, noting there are concerns whether the bass stay in that location or if they can even access that honey hole on Aug. 25. “I don’t know how it’ll work out with the water falling. It’s going to be interesting. A lot of things are going to change.”

He really enjoyed fishing the tournament without the pressure of an AOY race, he said.

“It was relaxing. We didn’t have to worry about Angler of the Year points. We just went fishing,” he said.