Morrison, Robin stay on the move while culling to top in an LBC derby

Published 10:30 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025

HENDERSON – Brooke Morrison found the key to catching enough keeper-sized bass to win an all-day tournament July 20 at Henderson Lake. Exercising between beaucoup casts.

The Youngsville bass angler lifted the trolling motor up, moved, put it down, and repeated that umpteen times while fishing with his friend, Neil Robin of Henderson, in the Louisiana Bass Cats’ fifth tournament of 2025. The efforts paid off after culling several times to a five-bass limit weighing an unbeatable 10.58 pounds to top a 12-boat field and win $600.

“We moved around a lot, probably the most I’ve moved around on a fishing day at Henderson,” Morrison said later.

The 54-year-old owner of Billeaud’s Too, a Cajun & Creole restaurant in New Iberia, said the key was “picking the trolling motor up (at least) 50 times a day.”

About his first-ever LBC win in his first full year fishing most of the bass club tournaments, he said, “It feels good. I’m looking forward to the next one.”

It was a tough tournament on a dry, extremely hot sunny day with the lake falling at a fast pace. The winners needed every fraction of an ounce to turn back the team of Kevin Suit of New Iberia and Moon Griffon of Lafayette, who used big plastic worms and were right on the top team’s heels with a limit weighing 10.57 pounds for $360, plus $110 for the tournament’s biggest bass, a 4.27-pounder.

Travis Meche Jr. of Branch and Jacob Shoopman of Lafayette, formerly of New Iberia, were right in the mix of things, too, using crank baits, mostly, and finished third with five bass weighing 10.37 pounds worth $240.

All eyes are on weighmaster Mike Sinitiere, foreground, left, as he weighs bass July 20 after a Louisiana Bass Cats tournament on Henderson Lake. From left, Ben Suit, Todd Robertson, Eric Smith and Wilfred “Tuppy” Gary.
DON SHOOPMAN / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Morrison said he was unsure if he and his partner had enough weight to win at the end of the day. After all, it took 13 pounds to win a tournament Saturday on Henderson Lake, he said.

He caught the most important bass just before they had to pack up and race to Cypress Cove Landing for the weigh-in at 3 p.m.

“We made another move. I wound up catching a good, quality fish, about 2 ¾ pounds, that culled us up and actually won the tournament for us,” he said about the nice-sized bass that bit his shad-colored Bandit 200 Series crank bait.

Half of the several dozen bass they caught came on soft plastics flipped in the flats while the others bit crank baits, he said. For sure, it wasn’t easy.

“We started the day in a series of drains and we never got a bite, so we moved to a flat that I caught some fish on the Saturday before and caught one little bitty one. So after our second spot we were sitting on zero,” he said. “We went to the third spot (on the other end of the flat). I caught the first keeper, then pretty much struggled till 12:30, and finally finished the first limit.

At their next destination, he said, they “found a little group of fish just where some current hit a bank” and culled three times right there before the bite stopped.

“Either we caught ’em all or they broke up or they got wise to us. That was about 1:30. Then about 2:30, we made another move,” he said, and that’s where he hooked and boated the game-winner.

“I knew we had 10 pounds but I didn’t think it was enough to win,” he said.

Four of their bass that hit the digital scale manned by veteran weighmaster Mike Sinitiere were caught on Bandits, he said.

The Louisiana Bass Cats’ next tournament is scheduled for Aug. 24.