BREAUX BRIDGE – Following a whirlwind pre-tournament period in which he was, then wasn’t, then was going to fish the third Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament series contest of 2024, everything fell into place for Troy Amy.

What really dropped into the sweet spot was the soft plastic he likes to flip because it must have hit the nose of a big ol’ bass almost midway through the WN Hawg Fights BTS tournament at Lake Martin. That 9.22-pound bass, the New Iberian’s new personal best, was the biggest of only two bass he caught for 11.08 pounds, one that caused jaws to drop at the 7:45 p.m. weigh-in for the 21 boats.

Amy, 57-year-old warehouseman for VAN USA who fished the tournament with Craig Duval of Portage, had a few more moments to savor the catch before releasing the beast of a bass to perhaps fight again.

“No regrets. I’ve got to where I’ve started releasing speckled trout (his specialty, to be truthful)” because bream and sac-a-lait he catches go in the freezer these days, he said, noting he practices catch-and-release, especially with big bass during the spawn.

“I said (to himself), ‘No, man, to spend all that money to hang it on the wall? No. A picture is good enough.”

Amy and Duval cashed in with $473 for first place and $105 for the 9.22-pounder. It was the perfect ending for a rushed day.

His son, Bo Amy, arranged to fish with Donald Romero. The younger Amy called the day of the Hawg Fight and suggested his dad go in the “little boat” but noted he had borrowed the aerator that turns an ice chest into a livewell to fish a weekend bass club tournament out of Myette Point.

Bo Amy brought the aerator for his dad to use to the public landing at Lake Martin. His dad and Duval, a thread rep for VAM USA, met him there.

Troy Amy’s previous PB was a 5.82-pound bass caught two years ago at Chicot Lake. He has 5.74-, 5.20- and 5.28-pounders to his credit from Lake Fausse Pointe with all three of those coming from the “Honey Hole.”

The newest PB bit after he crossed the small, scenic lake from where he started fishing to the right of the boat ramp, then helped Lance Moss replace a shear pin.

“I just pitched by a cypress tree, just an outer tree. I let it hit bottom and started hopping it” like he always does, Amy said.

Suddenly, like the other bass he caught there, the line cut through the water moving in a different direction with the black/red glitter Zoom Magnum Ultra-Vibe Speed Craw under a 5/16-ounce Tungsten weight on a 4/0 Mustad Twist Lock Hook tied to a 1 ½-foot long leader tied to 40-pound braided line.

“I never felt the hit, just the fish swimming off to the side, both of them. I set the hook and a big ol’ swirl came up. I said, ‘Oh, Lord, what do I got?!?!” All of a sudden, it ran in front of the trolling motor, then the whole fish jumped straight out of the water,” he said.

The hawg charged under the boat and, after advising Duval against netting it in those frantic seconds, Amy pulled it to the side of the boat, where his tournament partner netted it … tail first.

“I said, ‘Oh my God!’ We started high-fiving and fist bumping. I was shaking after that. I was excited. Lord have mercy,” he said.

He immediately put it into the ice chest rigged as a livewell. He was worried about keeping it alive in the cramped quarters in which it couldn’t turn around.

“I said, ‘What time is it?’ He (Duval) said, ‘6:20.’ I had just caught him,” Amy said, noting there still was a long time to keep the big bass in the “livewell” until weigh-in at 7:45 p.m.

“I wanted to make sure the fish was still breathing,” he said.

At the same time, he wanted to keep fishing.

“I wanted to catch a third one, too, you know,” he said.

They had that chance but his HF partner hooked a keeper that became unbuttoned in the cypress trees.

“We were one of the first ones in. We went in probably 15, 20 minutes early. We stopped by a duck blind in the middle of the lake and took a couple casts,” he said.

His was one of four bass weighing more than 5 pounds weighed by veteran weighmaster Mike O’Brien. Gerald Dupuis and his brother Daniel Dupuis accounted for a 5.78-pounder while Mike Sinitiere, fishing with Mike O’Brien, reeled in a 5.32-pounder, and Devin Verret and Dylan Kelly took a 5.03-pound bass to the digital scale.

The only three-bass limit was registered by John Gordon and his young son, Owen Gordon. Their limit weighed 7.09 pounds, good enough for second place and $284.

O’Brien and Sinitiere’s two bass weighed 6.16 pounds worth $189 for third place.