There was a day around this time of year six years ago when an elementary school student fished with his dad in a borrow pit along the levee and caught three money-winning bass in an annual bass tournament.

Fast forward to Sunday, March 30, the day of the same tournament in the same borrow pit for Travis Meche Jr., now a high school junior and fishing with his paternal grandfather, Neal Meche. The 17-year-old bass angler caught the two biggest bass at $215 apiece and his team boasted the biggest five-fish stringer worth $850 in the Jackie Savoy Memorial Big Bass Classic.

“Oh, I feel good. I didn’t think I was about to win that. I didn’t think that would be the big one. I thought they’d catch one bigger,” Travis Jr. said after the fundraising bass tournament ended.

He had the BBC’s biggest bass of the day, a 4.24-pounder, on the leaderboard in the third hour and stuck a 4.18-pound bass on there for all to see in the seventh hour. The grandfather-grandson team’s five biggest bass weighed 13.48 pounds.

The elder Meche, who celebrates his 61st birthday April 9, wasn’t surprised by their success on Lake Fausse Pointe. He tipped his fishin’ cap to Travis Jr.

“It looks like my grandson has a little knack for the above average fish the last couple of years,” Meche said. “But he’s young and he can see everything. We’re fishing frogs and he says, ‘You’ve got one under it. You’ve got one behind it.’ This and that. I don’t see that.”

“Oh, I love it. I like seeing him follow in my footsteps a little bit. I might be a little more experienced but I don’t question what he does. He’s had more success than what I’ve ever done with the little experience he’s got. He does good.”

“Anytime I go with him, I know we’ve got a shot. We might not win all the time but we’ve got a chance. I’ve got confidence in him.”

Theirs was the top boat in a 34-boat field that fished Lake Fausse Pointe a day later than scheduled. The event that benefits Lydia Cancer Association, as well as cancer patients and their family, was postponed from March 29 to March 30 by veteran tournament director Tee Roy Savoy of Coteau Holmes.

Eight cooking teams also vied for the two handsome and engraved wooden first-place awards for the Rice and Gravy Cookoff. Momma’s Good Cooking team of Christie Collins and Kimberly Moreaux was the crowd’s favorite, followed by Brothers with Chris Melancon and Troy Melancon; I Cook, They Clean’s Mitch Blanchard and Patti Blanchard; and the Back Porch Sippin’ and Stirrin’ team of Johnny Trimble and Dawn Trimble.

Savoy, whose reign as BBC director began in 2015, was pleased by the overall turnout and the fact the event raised approximately $9,000. He was happy with his decision to postpone due to a forecast for inclement weather on Saturday.

“We lost a couple (boats) but we gained more that wouldn’t have showed up if it was raining. We probably would have 10 boats less,” he said, adding while the weather was nice most of Saturday there was a violent storm between 2-3 p.m., which would have been the eighth hour of the weigh-in.

The lake was muddy and rising hard on Sunday, he agreed, but bigger bass were caught most of the morning.

“There were 3s and 4s early. It seems like the minute the sun came out, come noon, that was the end of that. There was one good one caught in the afternoon. People were throwing (back) their 1-pound fish,” he said.

Savoy praised his core group of dedicated volunteers led by Angela Mayeaux.

“The help, they’ve got it going on. It just gets easier because people know what to do. Angela takes care of organizing paperwork and sheets and all that. I go hustle money,” he said with a chuckle.

Muddy and rising water hardly deterred the Meches from Branch. They joined the many boats in the “back borrow pit,” also known as the “stump field.”

And Travis Jr. never prefished the lake because he’s aiming for Angler of the Year on the Louisiana High School Bass Nation circuit that has two tournaments remaining on the schedule this coming Saturday at Henderson Lake and the following Saturday at Stephensville. He scouted Henderson Lake on Thursday and Friday.

“I wasn’t that worried about that tournament (BBC). I’ve got to win AOY,” he said, frankly.

He put on a show in the borrow pit but caught only 1s and 2s early on a black/blue Senko. He gave topwaters – plastic frog and a big prop bait – a try without a bite before he picked the Senko up again and was rewarded around 10:30 a.m.

“All of a sudden I set the hook into one. It wasn’t no little one. There was a big (willow tree) laydown. I threw off the end of it. When the fish grabbed it, I let him have it for 5 or 6 seconds. Right when I set the hook it jumped about 2 feet out of the water. I fought the fish forever because I had light line (15-pound test fluorocarbon) and a small hook. My grandpa was struggling to get it in the net. I was hollering at him,” he said.

They left and weighed the fish at Marsh Field Landing. Then returned to the borrow pit.

“We pulled back into the fish and, same thing, little one after little one, then the bite just stopped. After that we went to the Mardi Gras Pit trying to catch a good one but we weren’t catching nothing in there. My grandpa said, ‘We better go back (to the other borrow pit).’ That’s where I caught the big one (4.18-pounder). We weren’t in there five minutes. I threw in there and caught the other one on a black/blue Senko.”

They added to their limit when they returned from the weigh-in site.

“Right after I caught our second 2-pounder my grandpa caught a 2-pounder on the next cast (Texas-rigged wacky worm). We had 10 fish in the livewell at the end of the day. We culled them right there in the pit before we left,” he said.

The key to their overall success in a crowded borrow pit?

“You know they’re in there. You’ve just got to make them bite. You’ve just got to fish different than what they’re doing and slow down,” he said.

Also cashing in in the “stringer pot” were Travis Meche Sr. of Branch and Don Shoopman of New Iberia, whose tale at the digital scale read 13.24 pounds for second place and $510. Morgan City’s Bill McCarty and Boo Grizzaffi’s limit weighed 12.56 pounds for $340. McCarty won the first hour with a 4.04-pounder.

Chris Vedrines of New Iberia, who’s enjoying a successful late winter/spring of bass fishin’, also boasted two first-place fish, a 4.08-pounder in the second hour and a 2.90-pounder in the eighth hour.

BIG BASS CLASSIC

First hour

1, Bill McCarty, $215, 4.04. 2, Johnny Hester, $125, 3.32. 3, Travis Meche Sr., $85, 3.20.

Second hour

1, Chris Vedrines, $215, 4.08. 2, Austin Theriot, $125, 3.80. 3, Travis Meche Sr., $85, 2.40.

Third hour

1, Travis Meche Jr., $215, 4.24. 2, Hagen Riche, $125, 3.30. 3, Bradley Raniers, $85, 2.40.

Fourth hour

1, B.J. Maturin, $215, 3.80. 2, Raven Owens, $125, 3.36. 3, Nick Derouen, $85, 3.16.

Fifth hour

1, Kevin Speyrer, $215, 3.10. 2, Rusty Owens, $125, 2.18. 3, Randal “Rooster” Savoy, $85, 2.16.

Sixth hour

1, Nathan Gondron, $215, 2.30. 2, Brad Romero, $125, 1.82. 3, Nathan Gondron, $85, 1.52.

Seventh hour

1, Travis Meche Jr, $215, 4.18. 2, Don Shoopman, $125, 2.62. 3, Raven Owens, $85, 2.54.

Eighth hour

1, Chris Vedrines, $215, 2.90. 2, Nick Derouen, $125, 2.36. 3, Dylan Kelly, $85, 2.10.