MANY –- The Teche Area’s Louisiana Bass Anglers bass club proved once again it’s hard to beat quality and quantity combined with consistency in a major bass tournament like the first-ever Southern Bass Club Association Elite 8 held April 26-27 at Toledo Bend.

The jumbo-sized computer screen set up under the pavilion for all to see told the tale in black-and-white after the second day of fishing: Louisiana Bass Anglers 38.72 on Day 1 and 38.1 on Day 2 for an unbeatable two-day total of 76.82 pounds worth $6,500. The bass club from lower Acadiana topped a 19-bass club field.

“Ah, it feels good. We’ve been trying to do this since the club started fishing it in 1997. We never came this close. I think the highest we ever finished was eighth,” Bubbie Lopez of Centerville said the day after the digital scales closed once and for all on the tournament meant to replace the old Top Six.

“We were feeling good once we saw we won it. We started high-fiving everybody, started congratulating each other. It was a team effort.”

Lopez and Dicky Fitzgerald of Charenton led the wire-to-wire effort for this year’s Elite 8 qualifiers from the Louisiana Bass Anglers.

Joining Lopez, 58, and Fitzgerald, 59, on the winning team were Jerry Marcotte of Sorrel, who fished with Johnny Hester of Lafayette; Tony Sinitiere of Franklin, who teamed with Cody Patillo of Loreauville, and Mike Louviere of Jeanerette, who paired up with R.J. LeBlanc of Franklin.

Lopez and Fitzgerald also serve as charter board members for the recently created Southern Bass Club Association, Fitzgerald as vice president and Lopez as tournament director. Other board members are Shad and Sandy Roberts of Ferriday, president and computer technician, respectively; Chad Bowen of Shreveport, special events coordinator, and Grant Dowden of Marthaville, secretary.

Nineteen bass clubs competed in the inaugural SBCA Elite 8. Fitzgerald believes the field can be doubled when the next Elite 8 rolls around May 2-3, 2025.

The Elite 8 runner-up emerged as the Nakatosh Bass Club, which weighed a 12-bass limit the first day for 32.55 pounds, then followed up on Saturday with a whopping limit at 40.05 pounds for a two-day total of 72.60 pounds worth $4,000.

The Toadhunters Bass Club finished third with 72.18 pounds for $2,500 after weighing on Day 1 and 35.03 on Day 2.

The fourth and final payout spot went to the Lake Area bass Club #1 with 37.51 pounds and 32.7 pounds for a total of 70.21 pounds and a check for $1,000.

That a St. Mary Parish-based bass club took home the first-place plaques and bragging rights was lagniappe for Lopez, who said, “Oh, we’re very proud. It’s a big accomplishment for somebody down here fishing up there. We didn’t think we’d have a shot fishing against all those local guys who fish the lake all the time.

“Everything just worked out in our favor. We were just consistent. We got the right bite. Thirty-eight pounds in two days is about as consistent as you can be,” said Fitzgerald, who owns a State Farm agency in Morgan City.

A big key to the door opening for a coastal parish team to win on the impoundment was the weather, according to Fitzgerald.

“I think the wind helped us. It made it really tough for guys to get on the lake. We fished in 2 foot waves. It was like fishing in the Gulf. We knew the fish were there. We just hoped they’d bite for two days in a row and they did, for sure,” Fitzgerald said.

Lopez, a lead production operator for Perdido Energy, and Fitzgerald boated 25 keeper bass each day with “a lot of 3s,” Lopez said.

“That took pressure off the others and they were able to look for bigger fish,” Fitzgerald said.

The long-time fishing buddies had fun rockin’ and rollin’ while catching bass flippin’ soft plastics, throwing spinnerbaits and, of course, Fitzgerald said, bladed jigs like Chatterbaits.

“You know I’m going to throw a Chatterbait,” he said with a chuckle.

Like Lopez, he said it was a complete team effort.

“We definitely had teams catch bigger fish than we did,” Fitzgerald said, noting the numbers game with key kickers from each boat made the difference.

“Everybody participated. Everybody added to the catch. It takes everybody putting in.”

While Lopez and Fitzgerald fished north of Pendleton Bridge between Jolly Rogers and Converse as well as around their favorite area, Circle Drive, Sinitiere-Patillo and Hester-Marcotte concentrated mostly on San Miguel Creek and Louviere-LeBlanc worked over Patroon Bayou.

The New Iberia-based Louisiana Bass Cats bounced back with a vengeance from an uncharacteristic subpar day on Day 1. Their 27.44-pound total the first day represented just a little more than a 2-pound average and left them in 15th place, far back in the pack.

However, Mike Sinitiere, Kevin Suit, Ben Suit, Chris Vedrines, Eric Smith, Gerard Dupuis, Todd Robertson and LBC president Max Stevens figured the bass out the second day and it showed when the 12 bass they put on the digital scale weighed 39.04 pounds, the second-heaviest stringer of the tournament.

That Day 2 showing gave the LBC team a two-day total of 66.48 pounds.

Stevens, the bass club’s president, said he was proud of the comeback.