LOREAUVILLE – A bass angler who has won multiple bass club championships, i.e. Angler of the Year titles, wanted in the worst way to forget an off year in the various bass tournaments he fishes from February-October.

Mike Sinitiere of New Iberia did just that Oct. 26-27 during the Louisiana Bass Cats Classic held out of Marsh Field Landing at Lake Fausse Pointe. Sinitiere put an exclamation point on his season with a come-from-behind win over nine of the Top 10 bass anglers who qualified for the LBC Classic.

“It felt great. I needed a win like this. Now’s the time to rest and recharge, maybe go speckled trout fishing,” he said, happily, noting only one bass club win and a second in bass club tournaments this year. His only W was a long time coming, too, when he and good friend Brook Morrison took the bass club’s two-day tournament Sept. 7-8 out of Myette Point Landing and Marsh Field Landing.

Sinitiere jumped from third to first to win the Classic with a two-day total weighing 16.46 pounds to win $500. He had a nearly 3-pound margin of victory over his nearest challenger, Todd Robertson of Lafayette, who finished second for $300 with seven bass over two days weighing 13.63 pounds, including a 5.32-pounder worth another $100.

Dusty Rice, the first-day leader, slipped to third and finished the Classic with 13.43 pounds to pocket $200.

Two Classic qualifiers managed to bring back a limit both days – Rice and Jacob Shoopman, who finished a close fourth with 12.90 pounds.

Sinitiere was able to prefish on Friday, the day before the tournament began. Taking accounts about water conditions and stubborn bass in Lake Fausse Pointe into consideration, he decided to scout around Quintana Canal … to no avail.

“I didn’t have enough gas (fuel tank capacity) to run into the Basin, so I decided to stay in the lake, win, lose or draw. I knew how the lake was fishing,” he said.

After a tough day for all on the water Saturday, Sinitiere definitely was in the hunt with five bass weighing 7.30 pounds. Rice set the halfway pace with 8.16 pounds while Robertson, riding his 5.32-pound bass, was right behind with three bass for 7.93 pounds.

“I wasn’t far off. I knew a limit would be important. I knew I had a shot,” Sinitiere said.

The 63-year-old business development manager for Coca-Cola Bottling United roared away from the T intersection at Marsh Field Canal and Teche Lake Canal at “safe daylight” with the other eight boats on Day 2 and headed to Big Dogleg. He put a 3.8-ounce chartreuse/white War Eagle spinnerbait with gold/silver “turtleback” blades to work to catch two of his five keepers there the day before while the other three bass he weighed came from the borrow pit canal near Lake Fausse Pointe State Park.

Five bass bit his spinnerbait again Sunday in Big Dogleg. He hooked and boated four of them, including a 3-pound class bass. He left around 10:30 a.m. with four keepers.

“I didn’t think I would win without getting a fifth keeper,” he said, lamenting losing a good-sized bass around 9 a.m.  However, he nailed the next bass, his fourth and biggest keeper of the morning, a few minutes later.

The borrow pit canal’s keepers weren’t cooperative as he flipped a june bug Zoom Speed Craw. He did catch two bass but they were undersized. He also missed another keeper bass.

At the 3 p.m. weigh-in, it all boiled down to the tale at the scale. Rice’s second-day catch weighed 5.27 pounds while Robertson’s four bass weighed 5.70 pounds.

Sinitiere emerged with a satisfying win to close out 2024.

“It’s been a very challenging year. Competition’s getting tougher. Physically, you know what’s going on. I’m getting old,” he said with a chuckle, noting he recently had out-patient surgery on the back of his right shoulder that resulted in a few complications. That followed a knee surgery that hobbled him several weeks ago.

The tournament’s biggest bass hit the digital scale manned by Sinitiere on Day 1. Todd Robertson carried it to the weigh-in basket along with his other four keepers.

Robertson’s big bass, which bit on a wacky worm in a borrow pit along the levee, weighed a whopping 5.32 pounds and anchored his first-day limit that weighed 7.93 pounds. The Lafayette bass angler charged into the second day in second place and, after boating 5.70 pounds, finished runner-up with a two-day total of 13.63 pounds.

Dusty Rice set the pace on Day 1 with five bass weighing 8.16 pounds. However, Sinitiere and Robertson leapfrogged him on the second day when he came back with 5.27 pounds to finish third to pocket $200.