MILAM, Texas – It might take a lifetime of hooksets and bass catches to even remotely blur Zach Suit’s golden memories of his 29th birthday as well as the day before at Toledo Bend.

Then again, maybe never. The New Iberia native and his older brother, Ben Suit, also born and raised in New Iberia, came up with a “dirty thirty,” i.e., a 30-plus pound five-bass limit, on March 16 and returned the next day of the two-day Louisiana Bass Cats tournament with another heavy bag that included Zach’s 10-plus pound beauty of a bass.

Their 31 pounds, 2 ounces, that Saturday afternoon set the stage Sunday for the “birthday boy” who lives in Denton, Texas, where he works as a State Farm agent. To be sure, it was a two-day blur of blissful bass fishing success after they culled each day for a total of 60 pounds, 14.5 ounces, with 10 bass.

“I didn’t think the tournament could get any better after the first day,” Zach said.

After the brothers waited out a thunderstorm until 8 a.m. Sunday, they got on the water.

“We didn’t know if we could redo it (repeat Saturday’s result). Once we started off it was a little slower. Then we caught a 5, two 4s. … We knew it was going to be another good day,” Zach said.

His 10.71-pounder decided to try to join the birthday party around 12:40 p.m.

“We were fishing an area I don’t think either of us fished before. He (Ben) was catching some just normal. I cast at the grass,” he said, starting a blow-by-blow report.

“I threw out there. It wasn’t like it was a huge bite. I set the hook. I couldn’t move it. I said, ‘Big one!’ Then it started moving to me. I said, ‘Nah, not a big one, nevermind.’ Things changed when I caught sight of it. It came to the top and tried to jump and I actually saw the bait move in its mouth. It might have been 5 feet away. It was close. I fought it not too much longer.”

From his vantage point in the passenger seat, where he waited to lip the bass, Ben also saw the artificial lure shift inside the hawg’s big mouth.

“Everything was going pretty smooth. It gave him hell. Then everything changed on that last little run. I saw the bait shift in its mouth. Trust me, I got a good view. He (Zach) made a good move with his rod … kind of turned the bait back in the top of the mouth. I got my hand on it. Once the bear paw was on it, it was over, all she wrote,” Ben said.

A touch of bedlam ensued inside the elder brother’s Skeeter.

Zach said, “We were whooping and hollering. We ended up weighing it. I think it said ’10.10’ on the scale.”

And with that, he had his PB in the U.S.

“I caught a 12 in Mexico,” he said, recalling the senior trip gifted by his father, Kevin Suit, who also made the run across the border to fish in Mexico, as he did a few years earlier with Ben.

“I always wanted to get a 10-pounder in the states. I was able to check that off the bucket (list),” Zach said with a chuckle.

“It was awesome. You can’t ask for anything else … to have my dad there, my brother. It was really special to have my dad and brother there,” he said, noting his father fished the tournament with New Iberian Mike Sinitiere. “I’ll never forget my 29th birthday, for sure.”

Following the bass club’s weigh-in at Pendleton Park & Boat Ramp, Zach and Ben and their dad headed to Living the Dream Guide Service to get the bass certified in the Toledo Bend Lake Association Lunker Bass Program. It was measured, tagged and released alive in the lake.

Ben, who opened his State Farm office in Orange, Texas, in January ’22, after moving to Port Arthur, Texas, in August 2021, called the weekend tournament easily his best-ever two-day tournament.

“That was something, all right. Something incredible. There’s no comparison. That was incredible. Maybe Mexico. I don’t know if that will even compare,” he said about the senior trip he took and got a 10-10 while his dad got an 11.

The winning team’s closest challengers at Toledo Bend were Jordy Russo of New Iberia and Hagen Riche of Youngsville. Russo and Riche put together a strong 19-pound, 6.5-ounce limit opening day and did even better on Day 2 with five bass weighing 21 pounds, 6 ounces, for a two-day total of 40 pounds, 12.5 ounces, good enough for a runners-up finish worth $432.

The veteran, accomplished team of Brandon Sellers of New Iberia and Blaine Miller of Loreauville cashed in with a third-place result with two limits totaling 32 pounds, 4.5 ounces, for $288. Sellers and Miller have been proving their fish-catching abilities together for the past few years.

Those second- and third-place teams joined the rest of the field in admiring the catches brought in each day by the Suits to the weigh-in at Pendleton Park & Boat Ramp. Ooooohs and ahhhhhhs plus beaucoup heartfelt congratulations were the norm both afternoons.

“It was pretty incredible … not something that happens very often. I didn’t get to scout at all. That’s all that Ben had found,” Zach said.

About the first day’s catch and “dirty thirty” showing at the weigh-in, he said, “I don’t know how to explain it. You see it on TV and think it’ll never happen to you. I don’t know, it’s incredible.

“We honestly didn’t think that it was that much. When things go your way, they just go your way. It was just one of those tournaments. Everything went right.”

Early on Day 1, the 29-year-old State Farm salesman from Denton, Texas, by way of New Iberia cast beaucoup times with “wacky worms” and Senkos that failed to elicit a bite. On his first cast after switching to a moving bait, the younger brother caught a 6. Then he accounted for an 8-6, a 7-6 and one of their two 5-pounders.

Ben pointed out he reeled in quantity while his brother caught quality and said, “Zach definitely carried a lot of the load the first day. He had the bite figured out pretty well. I stayed out of his way.”

They both couldn’t help but laugh incredulously when Zach’s 8-6, the tournament’s biggest bass of the day, culled a 4-pound class bass, Ben said.