MYETTE POINT – Two St. Martin Parish bass anglers had an answer for just about everything Aug. 25 when they fished the Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series Classic in the Atchafalaya Basin.

In approximately 3 ½ hours of fishing after leaving Myette Point Landing at safe daylight, Austin Theriot and Gavin Savoy had zero keeper bass in the livewell of their specially rigged aluminum jo-boat. Around mid-morning, they got bit in another area but the bass abruptly quit biting the bladed jig they were throwing.

Theriot and Savoy, who teamed up to win the evening tournament circuit’s 2023 Angler(s) of the Year title and the WN Hawg Fights BTS Classic, were unable to fish much together this year but met each challenge this past Sunday to successfully defend the Classic title with five bass weighing 11.11 ounces worth $1,700.

“It’s awesome and a very humbling deal. They’ve got so many great fishermen we’re fishing against. You have to stay on your toes,” Savoy said the day after adding a second straight Classic.

“It’s a blessing. It’s amazing. It’s exciting,” Theriot said.

The Classic champs credit a lot of their success as a team to another St. Martin Parish bass angler who has fished with both Theriot and Savoy.

“I think both of us learned a lot from Braxton (Braxton Resweber). Braxton teaches a lot and we both learn from him when we go on the water with him,” Savoy said.

Theriot, 23, agreed and said Resweber’s dad, Paul Resweber, also shared his bassin’ knowledge.

Savoy, a 22-year-old welder at GOM Energy Services LLC, and Theriot applied some of those lessons and taught the bass some of their own while catching more than 20 keepers, according to Savoy’s estimate, on Classic day.

“We stayed pretty damned consistent all day and slowly upgraded. Honestly, we didn’t put a fish in the boat till 10 o’clock. Once we caught our first fish we got our limit within an hour,” Savoy said.

They stayed in their starting spot for several hours, despite no results, for a reason, Theriot said. He was biding his time to go to a fishin’ hole after the sun got high in the sky to punch up some bigger than average bass.

Winning back-to-back Classics surprised him, particularly with the Atchafalaya Basin fishin’ success so difficult. Theriot, a helicopter mechanic at Arrow Aviation Co. LLC, credited Mother Nature.

“I thought it would be a lot tougher but the wind helped us out a lot. With the wind it wasn’t a punching day. If the wind wouldn’t have been blowing I wouldn’t have picked up a (chrome) Rat-L-Trap,” he said. “I caught one on the first cast and said, ‘Oh, dang!’ ”

First, however, Chatterbaits were on the menu in their undisclosed fishing location.

Savoy caught their biggest bass, a 2.84-pounder, on a white Chatterbait. He changed from green pumpkin to that color after a bass Theriot boated spit up a shad.

The bite was on from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. but the bass stopped hitting the bladed jig.

“Austin put on a Rat-L-Trap” and started tapping the bass population but good, Savoy said.

“He looked at me (after catching four or five keepers) and said, ‘You going to tie one on?’ ”

Actually, Theriot said, “I said, ‘You going to get tired of watching me tear them up? When you going to tie on a Rat-L-Trap?’ ”

Savoy started throwing a white Rat-L-Trap. They both nailed bass and culled after that.

They weighed each keeper bass that went into the livewell. Did the two believe they could win?

“Honestly, we never talked about it during the day. We both knew if we had 10 pounds that should be around the money. Figured 12 pounds is what it would take to win, I thought,” Savoy said.

Theriot said, “I knew we had a shot. All the fish had to do was bite because we were around them. (But) every day is different. They switched up on the way we were catching them but we figured it out as the day went by.”

All those lessons learned and self-learned paid off.

New Iberian John Gordon rose to the occasion on the big day. The personable bass angler fished alone and finished second with a limit averaging more than 2 pounds – 10.09 pounds for $850.

Gordon, who fished many of the evening tournaments this season with his young son, Owen Gordon, cashed in three times this year, including a win June 5 at Lake Fausse Pointe.

Don Shoopman of New Iberia and his son, Jacob Shoopman of Lafayette, formerly of New Iberia, stuck with their game plan long enough to cull to a limit weighing 9.77 pounds worth $500. The younger Shoopman, who started and coaches the Catholic High School Fishing Team, boated their three biggest bass, including a 2.81-pounder, on a Chatterbait in a 15-minute flurry of bites.

Mike Sinitiere and Mike O’Brien, both of New Iberia, closed out the year on a strong note with a fourth-place finish. Their limit weighed 9.27 pounds for $350.

Sinitiere also announced this was his last year as WN Hawg Fights BTS director and urged a volunteer to step up and take over the circuit in 2025.

Before doling out the Classic prize money, Sinitiere awarded Bo Amy and Donald Romero, both of New Iberia, $350 for their hard-earned Angler(s) of the Year title in 2024.