HENDERSON – A 16-year-old bass fisherman from Branch recently confided it has been at least two months since he hooked and boated a 3-pound class bass at Henderson Lake, where bass that size have been rare this summer.

“Over there, it’s (a 3-pound class bass) like a 10-pounder at Chicot,” Travis Meche Jr. said after teaming with Jacob Shoopman of Lafayette, formerly of New Iberia, to win the sixth Louisiana Bass Cats tournament of 2024.

Meche, who excelled in state and national high school bass fishing competition this year, reeled in a 3.38-pounder netted by his tournament partner around midday. That key cull pumped up the team and anchored the limit.

He was pleasantly surprised they fared so well because his scouting trip two days earlier was far from impressive.

“Ah, I didn’t think we’d even catch 8 pounds for that tournament because I went right before the tournament and caught 10 fish but nothing over a pound-and-a-half,” Meche said. “I wasn’t too confident until Jacob started catching big ones on a buzz bait.”

The winning team got its limit early, before the sun roasted the lake. The second- and third-biggest bass were in the first five, one on Shoopman’s Super Bait Buzz Bait and the other on a Chatterbait thrown by Meche.

“We had five for about 8 pounds, probably, around 7:30,” Shoopman said.

They wound up catching 10 keepers and culling all the way to 11.13.

“I thought we had a good shot when we got up to 11 pounds. Going into the tournament, we knew we’d have to get a big bite at some point in the day to separate ourselves from the field. We knew everybody would be catching a good bit of fish but mostly smaller ones. We knew the key would be fishing for the bigger than average bite,” Shoopman said.

Knowing it is easier said than doing it but they did get their hands on three of the real right-sized bass, including the 3.38-pounded Meche hooked on a shad-colored Bandit 200 crank bait around 11 a.m. That was the outlier needed and it also raked in big bass money to bring their total winnings for the hot day to $815.

Meche, whose go-to baits are topwater poppers and plastic frogs, said they moved around multiple times and concentrated mostly on points. The key baits were crank baits, buzz baits and bladed jigs, he said.

“This time of year you’ve just got to junk fish. I was trying hard for the tournament, throwing at everything I saw nonstop all day,” the teen bass angler said.

Randal “Rooster’ Savoy of Catahoula, and his nephew, Ry Savoy of St. Martinville, were right on the winner’s heels with 10.41 pounds for second place in the 15-boat field. The veteran bass anglers, both all-around outdoorsmen, won $405.

Lafayette area bassers Moon Griffon, a widely known radio talk show host, and his son, Steve Griffon, were third with five bass weighing 9.87 pounds worth $270.

Meche, a junior at Summit Christian Academy, led his Rayne High School two-man team into the Top 12 at the 2024 Strike King Bassmaster High School National Championship at Chickamauga Lake. Meche, captained by his father, Travis Meche Sr., and RHS student Chance Watson qualified for the third and final day Aug. 3, then finished 12th among 271 teams on a clear water lake in the hills of Tennessee.

He enjoys fishing alongside Shoopman.

“We fish good. I like to fish with him. He catches fish,” Meche said.

Shoopman, who has won two AOYs on the Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series and several major team tournaments over the years across the Teche Area, said he’s impressed with Meche. They also fished an LBC tournament together May 19 and were runners-up with 19 pounds, 0.5 ounces, at Chicot Lake.

“There’s a reason he’s the No. 12 high school angler in the country this year. He’s a real good angler,” he said.

The 36-year-old salesman for Coca-Cola United Bottling Co. said he was proud of the win and the turnout.

“It felt good. It’s an exciting time for our club this year averaging 15 boats a tournament. It makes it more enjoyable when you’ve got participation like that,” he said.