AMELIA – The last bite was the best bite July 16, although the bass angler who coaxed the fish to chomp on a soft plastic was unsure at the time.

Fifteen minutes before weigh-in for the fourth Louisiana Bass Cats tournament of 2023, Mike Sinitiere of New Iberia and his cousin, Tony Sinitiere of Franklin, were racing against the clock to add a kicker to their modest five-bass limit while fishing near the Amelia Boat Landing.

The New Iberian said they fished a boat slip about 100 yards from the ramp. He had just caught a 7-pound class catfish on his black/red Zoom Ultra-vibe Speed Craw.

So he wasn’t too excited a few minutes later when he got another bite and the heavy fish took him into the trolling motor. The 62-year-old business development manager for Coca-Cola United had lost a good-sized bass earlier in the day when it wrapped the fishing line in the trolling motor.

“I figured it was another catfish,” he said.

His cousin said, “Ol’ Mike thought it was a catfish. It was wrapped around the trolling motor.”

Just to be safe, Mike Sinitiere decided against horsing it in and lifted up the trolling motor. He disengaged the fishing line and played the fish.

“Tony said, ‘That’s a good bass!’ ” Mike Sinitiere said.

That “good bass” was a 3.42-pounder that culled a 1 ½-pound class bass. When their recently bolstered limit hit the digital scale a few minutes later, they had 11.58 pounds, good enough to top the 11-boat field and win $495.

The 3.42-pound bass was the big bass of the tournament worth another $100.

Mike Sinitiere said after fishing all day in the Atchafalaya Basin near Duck Lake the cousins culled about three times to amass perhaps between 9-10 pounds. He admitted they believed they were fishing for second because two of his friends in another boat had been catching 3-pound bass regularly while prefishing.

His cousin, a 56-year-old maintenance supervisor for Quail Tools, said, “The whole day he thought we were fishing for second. I said, ‘Mike, it’s tough.’ That (big bass) helped. That was the keeper we needed.”

The tournament’s runner-up spot went to the bass club’s defending Angler of the Year, Kevin Suit of New Iberia, and his oldest son, Ben Suit of Port Arthur, Texas, whose five bass weighed 9.41 pounds for $297.

Another father-and-son team, Don Shoopman and Jacob Shoopman, finished third with a limit that tipped the digital scale at 9.25 pounds worth $198.

“It was great to have a last-minute little flurry. I figured that’d help us at least place,” Mike Sinitiere said.

While in the lower Spillway, he caught the team’s second-biggest bass on a buzz bait, which accounted for the first two bass. Tony Sinitiere went to work in the canal and boated two keepers that hit the scale on a black/neon Strike King Flippin’ Tube.

“I knew the fish were there. It was just if we could get them to bite. With the water low, I think they still hold in the same area,” the younger Sinitiere said.

The bass club’s next tournament is Aug. 20 at a site to be determined later.