COTEAU HOLMES – After the trials and tribulations he met and solved the previous day and day of, catching bass in a tournament probably seemed less challenging for a Teche Area bass angler.

Chris Vedrines, also known in the Lafayette Oilmen’s Bass Fishing Club as “The Coteau Cannon,” went out on the first day of February and came back with a catch good enough for a first-place individual finish in the bass club’s opener out of Lake Fausse Pointe State Park.

Vedrines, who fished with Chad Babineaux, reeled in a five-bass limit weighing 11.23 pounds, good enough to top the 14-boat field. Vedrines, who also boasted second-place big bass of the day, and Babineaux also finished second in the two-man team format with seven bass weighing 13.74 pounds.

It was a welcome result for Vedrines. His hectic and trying 24-hour period began when he arrived around midnight Thursday at Lafayette Regional Airport following a snow skiing trip to Vail, Colorado, the last week of January. The owner of Advanced Graphic Engraving LLC awoke to go to the office at 4:45 for a little while. Then his sister, who stayed at his house to care for his wife, met him at the office and he took her to the airport for her return home.

He went home, got his boat out, hitched up and towed it to Marshfield Landing for a day of fishing on Lake Fausse Pointe. It didn’t last long.

“I went to my first stop and caught two fish. I said, ‘I better get out of here’ ” to avoid pressuring the bass, he said. The outboard motor failed to start.

Vedrines called Jimmy Hammons at Jimmy’s Outboard Services near New Iberia, who had him check a few things but still no go. So Hammons asked him to bring it to the shop.

He got a tow back to the boat ramp from a kind and gracious Good Samaritan. The news at Jimmy’s was all bad – the starter slipped into a cracked powerhead and wasn’t engaging the flywheel.

“He (Hammons) had never seen anything like that before,” he said.

Vedrines, who admittedly has had a dark cloud over him for the past few years, called a friend, Jean Trahan, who he often fishes with, and borrowed his 16-foot tunnel hull that’s been parked since last fishing season. The boat was in one place and makeshift ice chest livewell somewhere else.

He got it all together eventually at his residence, then stored his fishin’ stuff in the borrowed ride. By that time it was very late.

Throughout the seemingly never-ending issues his tournament partner remained positive and optimistic, Vedrines said. And he got to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park in plenty of time to launch before first cast at 6:45 a.m.

That cloud, though, moved overhead again during the tournament. At the start, the boat wouldn’t get on plane for the first five minutes.

Derek Picard, also fishing the derby, took the time to stop to help with a few suggestions. The Picard’s Fishing and Electronic Services owner suggested revving the outboard motor high in neutral, which worked, probably removing old gas in the tank, according to Vedrines.

“We went to the first spot. It was all muddy. We went to the next spot. I got there … I caught a fish. It’s a miracle!” he said, happily.

However, after depositing the keeper bass in the livewell, the livewell failed to work as that cloud’s shadow closed in again. Vedrines called Trahan, who suggested fiddling with the timer and, voila, it worked.

Vedrines went back to work, nailed a keeper with his ¼-ounce Humdinger spinnerbait, trolled around a point and caught two bass over 3 pounds back-to-back. He caught another one soon after to get his limit, including the 3.7- and 3.4-pounders.

He retrieved the red-hot spinnerbait around laydowns and cypress trees, he said.

“All I can say is that was a really awesome day to be on the water. It was just the day I needed for my black cloud to have vanished for at least one day,” he said.

“Huge thanks to Jean, Jimmy and Derek for all the assistance.”

Rounding out individual results, Ray Vaussine was runner-up with 10.56 pounds while Steve Mouton finished third with 10.54 pounds.

Todd Robertson and Mouton won the team format with nine bass weighing 16 pounds, followed by Vedrines-Babineaux and Neil Carret and Vaussine with 12.4 pounds.