MYETTE POINT – Some of the worst weather Mother Nature could throw at Acadiana brought out the best bass bite for the winning team May 6 in the Coteau Bass Hustlers Top Ten Tournament.

The 10 top bass club anglers from 2022 paired up to fish the annual tournament in the Atchafalaya Basin out of Myette Point Boat Landing. Heavy rains, thunder, high winds and a lot of lightning greeted them after the safe daylight start. At least one boat that went into an area through a cut was unable to exit the same way because a tree fell to block it.

Brandon Sellers, who kept a fishing rod in his hand throughout the storms, caught 20-25 keeper-sized bass (12-inch minimum length) on the way to winning with a five-fish limit that weighed 12.14 pounds. Sellers and his tournament partner, Paul Trahan, collected $450 for first place and another $100 for the biggest bass of the day, a 3.52-pounder hooked and boated by Sellers.

“We had a good trip. The fish bit all day. It was a good day. It was nice to catch fish in that nasty weather,” Sellers said.

The winners topped the five-boat field with a cushion of more than 1 pound. Their closest challenger was the team of Tim Sturm and Marlin Hebert, whose limit weighed 10.91 pounds, good enough for second place and worth $270.

Blaine Miller and Doyle Louviere, who caught most of their keepers before the brunt of the storms hit, finished third with five bass weighing 9.20 pounds for $180.

Sellers relied on a 3/8-ounce spinnerbait with double willow leaf blades that pretty much triggers bites anywhere he throws it. The skirt color, which he declined to identify, is the key to its high rate of catchability.

The 52-year-old owner of Sellers Sheet Metal said he and his long-time fishing buddy, Johnny Schexnayder, have used the spinnerbaits “a lot” successfully for years.

Sellers said he prefished for four days prior to the tournament. He settled on one of the spots and it produced bass, which were chasing shad, during the storm.

“It was good to get back safe. One boat couldn’t get out the way it came in. A tree fell over the cut,” he said.

Sellers kept the hot hand in the bass club’s fifth regular-season tournament of the year on May 20 at Lake Fausse Pointe. Sellers teamed with Robbie Mayer to top the eight-boat field with five bass weighing 6.21 pounds.