ZWOLLE – Don’t look now but Hunter Neuville has started another run in Louisiana B.A.S.S. Nation.

Two years ago he qualified for the Louisiana B.A.S.S. Nation Team as a Co-Angler, then won the TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Central Regional tournament in freezing weather in May at Milford Lake near Junction City, Kansas, to qualify for the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship on Nov. 3-5 on the Ouachita River near Monroe.

This time Neuville’s doing it as a Boater. The 20-year-old Loreauville outdoorsman finished ninth overall Feb. 23-24 in the Louisiana B.A.S.S. Nation’s first qualifier at Toledo Bend.

Neuville was fifth on Day 1 with a five-bass limit weighing 18.50 pounds from the Blue Lake area. Day 2’s tournament action saw him boat another limit in the same spot but it weighed 12.54 pounds for 33rd in the 69-boat field.

“Oh, it was stressful, for sure,” Neuville said a few days after the 2023 Spring Qualifier. “I mean, I definitely feel good about it, definitely, against those guys. They don’t make it easy.”

He’s in great position to make the Louisiana team when the B.A.S.S. Nation members fish the 2023 Fall Qualifier in September out of Doiron’s Landing, Stephensville. Originally scheduled to be held out of Berwick Landing, it was relocated because of a conflict with the special teal hunting season in the Sportsman’s Paradise.

Another member of the Atchafalaya Bassmasters also made his move the last full week of February. Michael Louviere Sr. of Jeanerette, formerly of Loreauville, had two solid days with 14.45 pounds for 19th on Day 1 and 15.10 pounds for 14th on Day 2 for a 13th-place overall showing at Toledo Bend.

Both Neuville and Louviere, 43, have proven many times they can catch the kind of bass they need out of Doiron’s Landing, so the outlook is favorable for both in the 2023 Fall Qualifier.

Neuville held his own on a body of water he has fished before in big tournaments.

“I scouted all week (Monday through Thursday). I pretty much focused on midlake to the north. I really didn’t mess around too far south,” Neuville said, noting he fished with spinnerbaits, bladed jigs and flipped soft plastics to find bass in 2- to 3-foot depths around bushes and cypress trees.

He fished Day 1 with Co-Angler Jacob Zeringue, a young bass angler from Hahnville High School. It wasn’t long ago the Highland Baptist Christian School graduate was fishing as a Co-Angler.

Neuville, who works at GatorTail Outboard in Loreauville, made sure his Co-Angler got a fair shot at Toledo Bend’s bass.

“It wasn’t bad. I was in the same situation at that point. He had three for 7 1/2 (7.42 pounds). No front ending. I would do that to anybody,” he said. “Between me and him we probably caught 20-25 keepers.

Neuville’s five-bass limit was anchored by a 5.37-pounder. Unfortunately, he didn’t connect on a 5-pound class bass or another approximately 3 ½-pound bass.

“I should have had a better finish,” he said.

The Day 1 winner was Matt Noble from the Ascension Area Anglers with 20.88 pounds while the Day 2 champ was Douglas McClung, also with the Ascension Area Anglers, with 24.33 pounds, including an 8.42-pound bass.

McClung also emerged in first place overall for his two-day showing.