Aquaholics ‘bring the party’ and spirit to Casting for a Cause (but no fish for board)

Published 11:30 am Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Don’s Boat Landing’s Casting for a Cause tournament continued to grow recently and included in that number were four fisherwomen from the New Iberia area who teamed up for the second straight year to fish.

Nicole Smith, Stacey Romero, Kylie Breaux and Darla Ransonet call themselves the Down South Aquaholics because they eat, sleep and breathe everything about helping Down South Heroes for St. Jude, a nonprofit group dedicated to supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The Casting for a Cause 2025 Benefitting Down South Heroes for St. Jude raised more than the $45,000 the event took in in 2024, according to Shannon Howell, who co-owns Don’s Boat Landing with her husband, Gary Howell.

“I think it was awesome. I think it was for a great cause and we had a lot of fun,” Ransonet said recently.

Nicole Smith smiles as she holds one of the redfish she caught aboard Jack Romero’s Triton during the Casting for a Cause 2025 Benefitting Down South Heroes for St. Jude in June. Smith, Stacey Romero, Kylie Breaux and Darla Ransonet fished the fundraiser near and dear to their hearts as an all-woman crew for a second straight year (minus Amber Palumbo, who was unable to participate). Their team, known as the Down South Aquaholics, made up for no fish on the final leaderboard with plenty of zeal and excitement for the cause they champion as volunteers for Down South Heroes.
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Nicole Smith, aka the unofficial ringleader and spokesperson, echoed her good friend’s sentiment and said, “It’s for the kids.”

“I think I can speak for everybody. It was a great time, a great cause,” said Stacey Romero, whose husband and boat captain, Jack Romero, kept the crew in line on the water aboard his Triton he took inside Marsh Island and around Diamond Reef. Nicole Smith’s husband, Brad Smith, was co-captain.

The all-women’s team was missing a member who fished last year. Amber Palumbo was unable to attend, Nicole Smith said.

The Down South Aquaholics all-woman team had their fair share of “slot” redfish to enter in the mid-June Casting for a Cause 2025 Benefitting Down South Heroes for St. Jude tournament out of Don’s Boat Landing. Alas, none finished on the final leaderboard at the host’s site, Don’s Boat Landing in Vermilion Parish south of Erath.
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Down South Aquaholics contributed mightily to the fundraiser but for the second year in a row the team didn’t sniff the leaderboard in the Inshore Division, which included a three-fish redfish stringer, speckled trout and croaker. Once again, however, they livened up the party at Don’s Boat Landing on the last day, June 22 (more about that later).

Shannon Howell said about the Aquaholics, “They’re awesome … such a great group of people. They’re a great group of women. I’m looking forward to having them again next year.”

The Howells, who purchased the boat landing in 2017, held their first Casting for a Cause tournament in 2018. A 15-member committee votes for the nonprofit recipient a few months after each tournament, Shannon Howell said last summer.

Seventy-five adults and 25 boys and girls entered the recent fundraiser, she said. For the first time, boats participated in the Offshore Division, where anglers vied for top places in the two-red snapper stringer, mangrove snapper and lemonfish.

“This year the weather held out for us and we ended up getting a late boost,” Howell said.

Kylie Breaux smiles while fighting a hooked fish during the Casting for a Cause 2025 Benefiting Down South Heroes for St. Jude with the Down South Aquaholics in June out of Don’s Boat Landing.
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The Down South Aquaholics certainly enjoyed nicer weather.

There was another New Iberia connection to the tournament, Howell said. Action Specialties LLC designed and printed T-shirts and caps, attended daily and sold them at the event, then donated the proceeds to Casting for a Cause. Leftover apparel also was donated.

Howell also pointed out that Precision A/C donated pastalaya for the tournament’s Captain’s Supper held June 17. Approximately 50 people attend, she said.

The overall success of the fundraiser impressed Smith.

“We’re going to continue fishing it. It was nice. The wind was blowing. We snatched up a lot of fish, just nothing too big or too small to put on the board. We had a good day of fishing, though. It was a good day,” she said after catching the team’s biggest redfish and probably the most redfish. “One of these days we’re going to put our name on the board.”

Otherwise, a steady stream of sharks, stingrays and garfish mixed with a few more redfish came over the Triton’s gunnels.

Stacey Romero cradles a nice-sized “slot” redfish she hooked and boated in mid-June during the Casting for a Cause 2025 Benefitting Down South Heroes for St. Jude. Romero, Nicole Smith, Kylie Breaux and Darla Ransonet fish as the Down South Aquaholics.They also volunteer by planning, assisting and hosting Down South Heroes for St. Jude events in and around New Iberia.
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“I did catch a lot of sharks. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Oh, I had a good time,” Romero said, also expressing her thanks to Don’s Boat Landing and Casting for a Cause for supporting Down South Heroes.

Her husband said he’s in for captaining the women again next summer.

“Absolutely. It was a good time for sure,” he said.

“A lot of laughs, for sure,” his wife said.

Ransonet said, “Everybody’s down for one more (tournament). Jack said, and you’ve got to quote that, ‘One more (tournament), one more beer or one more fish.’ ”

Perhaps they saved their best for last. Following the day on the water, the team and captains headed for the watering hole at Don’s Boat Landing.

“We behaved until we went to Don’s,” Smith said with a chuckle. “Look, at Don’s, when we walked in the bar, everybody was quiet. When we walked in we livened everything up.”

“I think people wait for us to come in because we like to party. They were quiet till we got there. We bring the party,” Romero said.

That LSU’s Tigers were busy beating Coastal Carolina for the College World Series title on TV that afternoon certainly helped the raucous cause.

Smith, Romero, Breaux and Ransonet, et al, have been getting ready to assist in hosting the Down South Heroes’ yearly fundraiser, the 2025 Jeepin for a Cause scheduled to be held July 26 and based at Pop a Top in Broussard. Entry for drivers is $30, for passengers $15.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.