CYPREMORT POINT — Two young boys stole the show around midafternoon Friday during the 68th annual Iberia Rod & Gun Club Saltwater Fishing Rodeo, then salty veterans of the sea made it even more memorable down the stretch on Day One under the pavilion along Quintana Canal.

One of the boys, Trey Jordan, 8, grabbed the first-day lead in the race for Best All-Around Fisherman in the Junior Division and another youngster, Layne Davis, 7, smashed a 24-year-old fishing rodeo record in that division with a monstrous 116-pound gar that wowed the crowd soon after the scales opened at 3 p.m.

With weather conditions cooperating for the most part, surprisingly based on the forecast, the rest of the day belonged to Inside Division aficionados like Chad LeBlanc, Lynn “The Bear” Hebert, Gerrit “T Blu” Landry and Blaize Segura, plus a couple big boats with noteworthy catches in the Offshore Division. It was one of the busiest opening days in recent memory with 25-30 boats checking in at HQ.

Layne Davis fished with his father, Dusty Davis of Lydia, on the family’s party barge, Stress Relief, and came back with a gar 10 pounds heavier than one his dad caught four or five years ago in the Inside Division on Fourth of July Weekend. The youngster’s toothy fish broke the ice for the large crew on board.

“We needed that. We didn’t have anything in the boat yet. That got the boys pumped up,” Courtney Delcambre, one of the crew members, said.

Stress Relief encountered a challenging night at its first stop, Boxcar Reef, from approximately 12:30 a.m. to sunrise while fishing Boxcar Reef, according to Dusty Davis.

“It was miserable, just putting up with the sharks and the gafftops,” he said after fishing with his son, Delcambre and Rhett Thibodeaux, Austin Thibodeaux, Melissa Burke, Espn Gary and Kinlyn Gary.

They hooked only two bull reds during that nearly 5-hour span but lost both when the fighting fish cut 150-pound braid at the boat.

The Stress Relief crew motored inside Marsh Island, where young Davis cast a whole flounder for natural bait. The 116-pound gar bit, slowly taking the line out as the clicker clicked.

“It was a fiasco. Poles were everywhere. The fish was running in circles. Layne hollered he couldn’t reel no more,” the elder Davis said. “Then it came up on its side, basically, and Austin hit it three times with a hammer. It floated over on its side at the boat and that was it.”

Layne Davis said, “It was hard. My daddy called me and I started reeling it hard. It hopped out of the water.”

Naturally, it was a long fight between boy and beast.

“He fought it a good while. I couldn’t even tell you how long. The adrenalin was definitely pumping. We didn’t bother or worry about the time it took to reel it in,” Delcambre said.

Before that cart carrying the gar rolled up the ramp to the scale, Trey Jordan carried a bucket with three redfish and a gar. He fished with his grandfather, Keith Delahoussaye, a retired state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agent and defending AOY in the Southcentral Fishing Association.

Jordan’s biggest redfish, too large for the “slot redfish” category, was an 8.5-pounder that stayed atop the leaderboard. But two other “slot redfish” fit perfectly to give him first- and second-place at 3.5 and 3.22 pounds, respectively, to amass 247 points atop the Junior Division.

He was followed in the first-day standings by Karleigh St. Germain, 193, and Drew Guillotte, 173.

Blaize Segura set the early pace for the Best All-Around Fisherman title in the Inside Division with the top two speckled trout (3.20 and 2.55 pounds, respectively) and the top two white trout (.47 and .44 pounds, respectively). He charges into the second day of the three-day holiday weekend event today with 354 points, seemingly comfortably ahead of Drew Romero, 260, and Charles Latham, 234.

Romero had first- and second-place croaker at .97 and .90 pounds, respectively, and a 6.03-pound slot redfish for a total of 353 points. He’s followed in the first-day standings by Charles Latham, who had a second-place redfish (32.5 pounds) and second-place drum (25.1 pounds) and gar (39.2 pounds) for 234 points.

There was quite an onslaught on the redfish category in the Inside Division. Chad LeBlanc, fishing on his Syd-Rock with his wife, Korie, and daughter, Sydnie, boasted the day’s biggest redfish, a 33.2-pounder, one of three huge bull reds in the cart he wheeled to the weigh-in platform from his 22-foot long Blazer Bay.

“If you think those are something,” LeBlanc said, pointing to the bull reds in his cart, “wait until ‘T Blu’ comes in. He’s got one that’ll knock me completely off the board. Those boys were hitting them hard.”

Gerrit “T Blu” Landry, fishing with his daughter, Faith Landry, and his cousin, Nick Sherville, and Sherville’s daughter, Evie Sherville, arrived at the site in his Gotta Have Faith, a 23-foot Key West, with four bull reds and other prime fish for the Inside Division.

Scales open again today from 3-6 p.m. and from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Sunday, the final day.

Following are the results Friday after the first day of the three-day 68th annual Iberia Rod & Gun Club Saltwater Fishing Rodeo at Cypremort Point:

INSIDE DIVISION

Redfish

1, Chad LeBlanc, 33.2. 2, Charles Latham, 32.5. 3, Gerrit “T Blu” Landry, 31.9.

Speckled trout

1, Blaize Segura, .3.20. 2, Blaize Segura, 2.55. 3, Everett Higgins, 2.47.

Flounder

1, Emeria Romero, 1.42. 2, 2, Perry Scott, .56.

White trout

1, Blaize Segura, 0.47. 2, Blaize Segura, 0.44. 3, Venee Segura, 0.33.

Sheepshead

1, Kirk Bourque, 6.36.

Drum

1, Jordan Hebert, 30.5. 2, Charles Latham, 25.1. 3, Perry Scott, 24.5.

Croaker

1, Drew Romero, .97. 2, Drew Romero, .90. 3, Brian Romero, .86.

Garfish

1, Ronnie Dore, 69.0. 2, Charles Latham, 39.2. 3, Ryan Sholamire, 32.55.

Slot redfish

1, Drew Romero, 6.03. 2, Dustin Louviere, 5.39. 2, Brandy St. Germain, 4.17.

BEST ALL-AROUND FISHERMAN INSIDE DIVISION LEADERS: Blaize Segura, 354. Drew Romero, 260. Charles Latham, 234.

INSIDE DIVISION BOAT CAPTAIN’S AWARD LEADERS: Bon Temps, Lynn “The Bear” Hebert, 328. Smokin’ Reels, Drew Romero, 321. Fish Karma, Brooks Amy, 142.

JUNIOR DIVISION

Redfish

1, Karleigh St. Germain, 19.9. 2, Trey Jordan, 8.5.

Speckled trout

None entered.

Flounder

None entered.

White trout

1, Drew Guillotte, .06. 2, Drew Guillotte, 0.3. 3, Grant Romero, .03.

Sheepshead

None entered.

Drum

1, Karleigh St. Germain, 20.3. 2, Kiptyn St. Germain, 19.1. 3, Ethan St. Germain, 16.9.

Croaker

1, Espn Gary, .77. 2, Easton McLean, .63. 2, Wyatt Broussard, .51.

Garfish

1, Layne Davis, 116.0 (New fishing rodeo record: Old record 74-10 by Kendal Migues, 1997). 2, Easton McLean, 54.5. 2, Nash Boudreaux, 38.8.

Slot redfish

1, Trey Jordan, 3.5. 2, Trey Jordan, 3.22.

BEST ALL-AROUND FISHERMAN JUNIOR DIVISION LEADERS: Trey Jordan, 247. Karleigh St. Germain, 193. Drew Guillotte, 175.

OFFSHORE DIVISION

Yellowfin tuna

1, Raymond Shelton, 37.6.

Blackfin tuna

1, Lance Migues, 18.3. 2, Donovan Varnado, 18.0. Donovan Varnado, 12.9.

Wahoo

1, Donovan Varnado, 20.5.

Bonita

None entered.

Tripletail

None entered.

Barracuda

1, Lance Migues, 23.2.

Mangrove snapper

1, Blain Serio, 7.0. 2, Joe Gary, 6.2. 3, Andrew Godley, 5.8.

Lemonfish

None entered.

Dolphin

None entered.

Grouper

None entered.

King mackerel

None entered.

Red snapper

1, Jacob LeBlanc, 14.8. 2, Andrew Godley, 14.5. 3, Joe Gary, 12.8.