MANY – Toledo Bend usually brings out the best in Ben Suit, who in turn usually brings out the best bass from the sprawling border lake flanked by Louisiana and Texas.

The 34-year-old Port Arthur, Texas, resident and Eric Fuselier teamed up once again for a lofty finish Saturday, March 8, when they grabbed the fourth spot in the Despino Tire Fishin’ for Kids Bass Tournament. Their five-bass limit weighed 25.76 pounds worth $3,000.

Suit, who was born and raised in New Iberia and grew up fishing in and around the Atchafalaya Basin as well as at Toledo Bend, where his family owned a camp on the Texas side, went into the fundraising bass tournament with some momentum after an encouraging day on the water. He had scouted four times in the weeks leading up to the event.

“Fishing had been pretty tough, really. It didn’t click until the Friday before (the tournament). That was my fourth scouting trip. The three trips before that I had caught 10 fish total,” he said two days after their fourth-place finish. “But the Friday before things started to click. I figured something out with a little pattern I was able to run in a couple areas.

“Friday night we were feeling pretty good … that we had a good chance at 20 pounds and, with a little luck, 25.”

He relayed that message that night to a friend and fellow bass tournament angler, Greer Billeaud of Lafayette, who owns Billeaud’s No. 3 in Broussard. It panned out that way but the bite wasn’t fast and furious, according to Suit.

The Catholic High School-New Iberia graduate, who was an ace pitcher for the Panthers, said, “Tournament day was a little slower than practice, naturally, but we chipped away. Between our first and second stop we had probably 10 pounds. We made a quick run around the corner and picked up two more 2 ½-pounders. I said, ‘We need to make a change’ and pulled into a different area.”
It wasn’t long before Suit, who opened a State Farm Agency in Orange, Texas, a few years ago, slammed the hook home on a heavy fish and, with the help of a landing net wielded by Fuselier, an accomplished bass angler who’s also an agent/owner with State Farm in DeRidder, got his hands on a 7-pound class bass.

“That was our first cull. We culled a lot of fish. We fished probably the next three or four hours and didn’t do any good. We had about 22 pounds,” he said. “With about 15, 20 minutes left (before they had to put the boat on the trailer), we went to an area I’ve caught big fish in the past, kind of hoping and praying.”

The artificial lure he was throwing but declined to identify was charged by a sizeable bass that swung and missed, as they say. He saw the swirl.

“I kind of looked at Eric and said, ‘That was a good fish.’ One we needed,” he said.

They immediately made another pass so he could get in a comeback cast. The bass stopped the bait in its tracks, as if Suit’s retrieve had smacked into a solid stump.

“That was huge. We knew that fish would put us somewhere between 22-25 pounds,” he said about the bass that weighed nearly 8 pounds.

Two Vinton bass anglers weighed in the winning catch. Jordan Hollingsworth and Derek Cooper collected the $20,000 first-place check after plopping a bag of five big keepers on the digital scale, which showed a whopping 27.07 pounds.

The winners needed every fraction of an ounce because the runners-up team from Alexandria – Will Carstens and Ross Bryant, who makes his own custom jigs – had a limit that tipped the scale at 27.03 pounds, good enough for $5,000.

Lee Brown of Leesville and his fishing buddy Ike Stephens were third with five bass at 26.40 pounds worth $3,500.

How satisfying was it to finish ahead of all but three boats in a 273-boat field, including so many “locals” and other bass anglers who spend beaucoup hours at Toledo Bend?

“When you compete against some of the best guys on the lake – always on top of the Oilmans or whatever – it felt really good,” Suit said, emphasizing the second-to-last-word of the sentence.

Finishing just 1 ½ pounds from first-place and $20,000 was a little tougher but he took it in stride.

“We were literally a 5-pounder away. At Toledo Bend, that’s definitely doable,” he said.

It was the first time the team had cracked the Top 5 in the Despino tournament that has raised more than $500,000 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals across northern Louisiana. The two fishin’ buddies have several Top 10 finishes to their credit in the fundraiser started by Randy Despino.

Forward facing sonar was banned during the tournament. Suit, who has mastered its use at Toledo Bend and Lake Sam Rayburn, said he used it the day before to determine depths and where bass were positioned, all the while keeping mental notes on where best to put the bait to trigger strikes.

It worked.

Suit and his father, Kevin Suit of New Iberia had a profitable day the next day in the Battle of the Brands big bass tournament with six payouts per hour. The elder Suit, a veteran, accomplished bass angler in his own right, weighed a 5.27-pounder that was third in one of the seven hours and worth $600.

Thirty-one boats entered the tournament at Toledo Bend. Fuselier also fished and cashed in.