A 21-year-old bass fisherman from Loreauville, already accomplished on the regional and national stage in both high school and higher competition, could have played it safe on the first day of the 2024 B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier at Arkansas River out of Three Forks Harbor, Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Instead, Hunter Neuville opted to make a long, long run south on a windy day to an area he had the most confidence in after four days of practice — Robert S. Kerr Reservoir. The 15th pool along the McClellan Kerr navigation system is the third-largest lake in Oklahoma, one that has bass in hydrilla mats, as well as around wood structure and borrow pits, just like his hometown waters in and around the Atchafalaya Basin. He called it a cross between the Basin and Lake Fausse Pointe.

The decision cost him dearly in time and productivity on April 3. And it contributed to his near-miss on qualifying for nationals because he missed the cutoff to fish Day 3 by 3 ounces.

Neuville, one of two Teche Area bass anglers who qualified for the regional tournament as members of Team Louisiana, returned with only five keeper bass for 5 pounds on Day 1, which put him way back in the pack in the 195-boat Boaters Division fishing for a berth in the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship in November, also in Oklahoma.

“It’s nobody’s fault but mine. I just made a bad decision. It’s a learning lesson,” he said, noting he had to lock through with 70 other boats, then navigate the 43,000-plus acre lake whipped by 25- to 30-mph winds.

“It was just so rough getting there. I wasted three hours of time getting there and back.”

In other words, he had approximately 1 ½-2 hours to fish that Wednesday.

Nevertheless, Neuville retraced his lines and went to the same spots on the south end of Kerr Lake on Day 2. Despite some costly misses, including a 4-pound class bass, at his first stop he deposited two nice bass in the livewell, then fared much better at his next destination to the point of culling.

He caught a total of seven keepers before pointing the bow of his boat north and running back to Muskogee. The five bass he put on the digital scale April 4 on the big stage weighed 16 pounds, 5 ounces, which upped his two-day total to 21 pounds, 5 ounces.

With much calmer winds, he had more time to get the job done.

The cutoff for the Top 20 after two days was 21 pounds, 8 ounces, which meant Neuville missed out on fishing the third and final day by a mere 3 ounces.

On his Facebook page after the weigh-in April 3, Neuville wrote: “Had us a rally day today and brought in 16-5 that jumped us from 102 to 22nd! Unfortunately, only the Top 20 fish championship day and qualify for nationals. Made a terrible decision to make a long rough run Day 1 and wasted most of my day and losing good fish that could’ve saved my day at the end of the day.”

The production manager at Gator-Tail Outboards LLC in Loreauville talked about the experience on Friday via cellphone while fishing for smallmouth bass with a veteran Team Louisiana member, Jamie Laiche. Neuville and Laiche, who both missed the cut, fished in their respective boats that day on Lake Tenkiller.

Enjoying the opp for fun fishing, Neuville caught smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, a 6-pound class drum and a 4-pound class catfish before heading back to the Sportsman’s Paradise.

Neuville said his go-to artificial lure during the B.A.S.S. Nation tournament was a Delta Lures Thunder Jig, either a white or green pumpkin model. On the back of the white the trailer he used was a white Cajun Lures Crackin’ Craw and on the green pumpkin a watermelon/red Cajun Lures Crackin’ Craw.

Another Loreauville native who enjoyed a banner year locally and statewide last year also fished with Team Louisiana in the 2024 B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier at Arkansas River.

Michael Louviere of Jeanerette, who finished a lofty eighth in the four qualifying tournaments in 2023, logged a fairly good day on Day 1 when he weighed four bass for 10 pounds, 12 ounces. He went out the next day and came back with one bass, a nice-sized one at that, weighing 3 pounds, 6 ounces, for a two-day total of 14 pounds, 2 ounces, which left him in 62nd place.

Farmington, Arkansas, bass angler Chris Johnson, who led wire-to-wire in the Boater Division on the Arkansas River, punched his ticket to the 2024 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship on Nov. 6-8 at Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees in Grove, Oklahoma. His three-day total weighed an unbeatable 51 pounds, 3 ounces.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.