Austin Theriot, left, and Gavin Savoy smile proudly as they show the three bass that won the ninth WN Hawg Fights BTS tournament of 2025. Their limit weighed 7.90 pounds, including the July 9 evening's biggest bass, a 4.22-pounder, in the tournament out of Bayou Benoit Landing in the Atchafalaya Basin. DON SHOOPMAN / THE DAILY IBERIAN

COTEAU HOLMES – The excitement level was reserved, somewhat, among the bass anglers fishing their first Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series of the year in the Atchafalaya Basin.

Usually, the energy is off the charts whenever the popular evening bass tournament circuit finally gets into the Spillway. However, it probably was tempered by the fact the s-l-o-w-l-y falling Atchafalaya River stage at Butte La Rose (around 13 ½ feet) still was 1- to 2-feet higher than many prefer fishing it.

An exception could be found inside the long, slender aluminum boat carrying Catahoula bass anglers Austin Theriot and Gavin Savoy. And how. They can’t wait to get in the nation’s last great overflow swamp for the first time for a tournament and proved it by winning the ninth tournament of 2025.

The fishin’ buddies culled several times before returning three hours after the 5:30 p.m. start to put a three-bass limit on the digital scale for 7.90 pounds worth $405, plus the evening’s biggest bass, a 4.22-pounder for another $90.

The last time they fished the nation’s last great overflow swamp together was a memorable outing. After finishing third in the first WN Hawg Fights BTS tournament out of Bayou Benoit Landing in 2024, they won the WN Hawg Fights BTS Classic a few weeks later on Aug. 25 out of Myette Point.

The latest win was oh-so sweet for the team.

“It’s a good way to start off… and a Basin tournament at that! Oh, it feels great, especially that it was in the Basin. You know I love the Basin. I miss them being in the Basin,” Theriot said.

Savoy agreed and said, “Like Austin said, it’s good to be back in the Basin.”

Theriot, a 24-year-old aviation mechanic for Arrowhead Aviation, said he and his girlfriend caught sac-a-lait in one of his favorite high-water spots three days earlier on a relaxing trip. The river stage finally had dropped under 14.0-feet at BLR.

“I threw for bass and caught 3. I said, ‘I guess this is where we’re coming (for the next Hawg Fight),’ ” he said.

It didn’t take long for the area to pay off at tournament time. Savoy, running the trolling motor up front, slammed the hook home on their first and biggest bass minutes after they started fishing.

“As soon as we got in there, I was trolling and rolled over a log. I said, ‘That looks good for sac-a-lait.’ Austin said, ‘Keep an eye for those logs so you don’t troll on top of them because bass could be on them, too, you know,’ ” Savoy said, recalling those thrilling moments.

“The next log we got to I threw a bait (white Zoom Super Fluke) over it and started working it. When I got alongside it just killed it. Like a bream, it (the 4-plus pound bass) was just running with it. It kind of set the hook by itself. It looked yellow under the water, like a pollywog (catfish). I didn’t think I had a bass at all until he came out of the water. Then it was drop everything and put it in the net.”

Once safely inside the boat, he said, “Austin looked at me and said, ‘Oh my God, Gavin, it’s a giant!’ We knew it was a good one but it came out of the water only one time. As soon as we got it out of the net we couldn’t believe it.”

Savoy, who recently celebrated his 23rd birthday, stayed in high gear with the Fluke. He caught half-a-dozen more bass.

“It was crazy. I haven’t threw a Fluke since … I can’t even tell you when,” he said.

“Oh, the first 10 minutes we had our three fish. It was incredible. It blew my mind. I didn’t think we’d catch three that fast. After the third fish, I said, ‘I need a beer. No more stress,’ ” Theriot said with a chuckle.

The winners’ closest challenger was the team of Matt Hebert and Bucky Crowson, whose limit weighed 7.08 pounds worth $243.

Wilfred Gary and Corey Romero cashed in in third place with three bass weighing 5.34 pounds for $162.

Savoy, a welder for GOM Energy Services LLC, stayed hopeful but far from confident the winners had a first-place catch. With the water falling, albeit slowly, he said, “All it takes is one drain that could have 2 ½-pound bass.”

Nevertheless, he said, “We knew we had a good bag.”

“I didn’t know if we were going to win it. I was just going to catch three fish,” Theriot said.

The 10th of 12 regular-season Hawg Fights is scheduled to be held July 23 at Myette Point Landing in the Atchafalaya Basin.

WN HAWG FIGHTS BTS
#9 AT ATCHAFALAYA BASIN

(Bayou Benoit Landing)

1, (*) Gavin Savoy-Austin Theriot (3), 7.90. 2, Bucky Crowson-Matt Hebert (3), 7.08. 3, Wilfred Gary-Corey Romero (3), 5.34. 4, Don Shoopman-Jacob Shoopman (3), 4.56. 5, Donald Romero-Bo Amy (3), 4.28. 6, Gerard Dupuis-Todd Robertson (2), 4.00. 7, Dylan Kelly-Devin Verret (2), 3.88. 8, Caiden Carline-Zack Savoy (3), 3.59. 9, Brad Romero-Raven Owens (3), 3.38. 10, Hunter Neuville-Andre Weber (1), 2.76. 11, Matthew Bulliard-Danny Bulliard (2), 2.54. 12, Mike O’Brien-Mike Sinitiere (1), 1.33.

(*) Tournament’s lunker bass, 4.22.