LOREAUVILLE – Mike O’Brien and Mike Sinitiere’s win in the 17th annual Louisiana Bass Cats Open on Feb. 19 was even more dramatic than the LBC Open they won in 2022.

The New Iberians ratcheted up the wow factor to successfully defend their title in the Teche Area’s first major bass tournament of 2023. At the 4 p.m. weigh-in, after pulling four keepers from their weigh-in bag, O’Brien lifted a monstrous 7.13-pound bass with big ol’ gaping jaws from their weigh-in bag to wow the crowd at Marsh Field Boat Landing.

Game. Set. And match. That “hawg” gave Mike & Mike a total of 15.98 pounds and another $1,200 payday, plus $320 for big bass, following a memorable day on Lake Fausse Pointe.

Well, the LBC Open was held in the lake last year, too, but O’Brien and Sinitiere revealed after their narrow win with 14.11 pounds they ran 1 ½ hours one-way to catch their fish in the heart of the Atchafalaya Basin. Going back-to-back with the help of a bass-zilla meant so much to them.

“Man, that feels great to win two in a row,” Sinitiere said.

O’Brien concurred and said, “It’s awesome, dude.

After all the scouting we did (the week leading up to the tournament), it wasn’t a lot to get excited about. (But) it was a totally different day.”

“We lucked out. That’s all,” his tournament partner said, noting as the sun rose they were headed to the marsh in his Skeeter but turned into a shallow lake.

When they returned to the boat landing, 32 other boats were ready, too, for the digital scale to open.

For the longest while during the weigh-in under the pavilion, the Gondrons – Nathan and Jerry – looked like the team to beat with a limit weighing 14.99 pounds. Two other very stout stringers hit the digital scale, too.

But Mike & Mike, the last team to weigh in, blew the field away. The four smaller bass were extracted from their weigh-in bag before the giant bass emerged and kept emerging to oohs and ahhs.

The Gondrons finished runners-up with 14.99 pounds for $600. Aaron Choate and Joshua Fawl finished third with five bass weighing a hefty 14.22 pounds worth $400.

Zach Brazda and Ben Berard’s limit checked in at 13.13 pounds, good enough for fourth place and $300. Jimmy Blanchard and Brody Fredieu were fifth 11.99 pounds worth $200.

Bill McCarty and Don Shoopman nailed down the sixth and final payout spot with a limit weighing 11.63 pounds for $100.

Max Stevens, LBC’s first-year president, was happy with the overall results and the turnout.

“Looks like we ended up with 33 boats, same as last year. This was pleasing considering how erratic the weather has been,” Stevens said.

He, too, was wide-eyed when the winning fish were weighed.

The Open’s biggest bass bit on a dark-colored, wacky-rigged Senko on a tiny weedless hook tied to 10-pound test Big Game monofilament line. That’s O’Brien’s bassin’ bread-and-butter and he’s made many a bass pay for biting it.

He missed a bass that bit on his first cast of the morning. On his third cast a few minutes later another bass hugging the base of a cypress tree wasn’t so lucky.

Sinitiere said, “He bumped it (the Senko) by a cypress tree and it just – tooomph – and he set the hook.”

“Well, she sucked it in and didn’t move. She sat right there. I set the hook. She started moving to the side,” O’Brien said, noting he immediately felt the weight of the fish.

“He said, ‘It’s a big one,’ ” Sinitiere said.

O’Brien also said, “Get the (expletive deleted) net!”

The “hawg” jumped only once from start to finish.

“I didn’t see it. It was still dark. I thought it was a choupique. Mike saw it come by the boat. I said, ‘Is it a bass?’ He said, ‘Yeah, a big bass.’ She didn’t want to come out from under the boat. I took my time with it. I took my time,” O’Brien said, adding he also loosened the baitcasting reel’s drag. “She came out from under the boat and Mike netted her. I told him right off the bat it was a 7. Beautiful fish.”

After they high-fived, it was back to business.

“I said, ‘Well, damn, we got that one out of the way. Let’s roll,’ ” Sinitiere said.

O’Brien, 65, a retired outboard motor mechanic who owned Bayouland Marine in St. Martinville, admittedly had the shakes immediately after. However, Sinitiere, a 62-year-old business development manager for Coca-Cola United, got hot right away and pulled a 2 ¾-pound buck bass off the same cypress tree.

“Yeah. It was fun. It took me 15 minutes to retie I was shaking so bad. I caught that big fish and Mike started stroking them. Oh, man. They were eatin’. Really eatin’,” O’Brien said.

They filled out their limit before 7:30 a.m.

“After I put the big fish in (and four keepers followed quickly), I started calculating in my head. I said, ‘We’re over 14 pounds already.’ He said, ‘You think?’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s a 7-pounder, half our weight,’ ” O’Brien said.

They left the sweet spot around midday and fished four other places in the lake trying to cull two 12 ½-inch bass (they got rid of one). Later in the afternoon the bass anglers went back to their starting spot, where O’Brien and an estimated 5-pound class parted ways.

As it developed, they didn’t need that smaller big’un.

O’Brien was inspired by yet another handwritten note of encouragement for a bass tournament left in his lunch for the day by his wife, Melanie O’Brien, a retired educator who taught at Dodson Elementary School. “Mel,” as husband and friends call her, started the practice a while back after learning that Bassmaster Elite bass angler Gerald Swindle’s wife, Lulu, always drops a motivational message with his peanut butter-and-jelly “sammiches.”

“It’s pretty cool. It gives you confidence,” O’Brien said.

In addition to the cheery good luck, his wife also wrote, “Win it for Katie O,” he said, softly.

Katie O’Brien, one of two daughters born to the O’Briens, died in a car wreck in December 2006.

He started winning it for Katie right off the bat that cool Sunday morning when he got his hands on the 7.13.

“That’s what he said. When he caught it he looked up and said, ‘Thank you, Katie!’” Sinitiere said.

“Yep,” O’Brien said, solemnly, proudly.

LOUISIANA BASS CATS OPEN

Feb. 19 at Lake Fausse Pointe

Top Six

1, Mike Sinitiere-(*) Mike O’Brien $1,200 (5), 15.98. 2, Nathan Gondron-Jerry Gondron $600 (5), 14.99. 3, Aaron Choate-Joshua Fawl $400 (5), 14.22. 4, Zach Brazda-Ben Berard $300 (5), 13.13. 5, Jimmy Blanchard-Brody Fredieu $200 (5), 11.99. 6, Don Shoopman-Bill McCarty $100 (5), 11.63.

(*) Tournament’s lunker bass $320, 7.13.