FRANKLIN – There’s nothing like fishing a bass tournament with a long-time fishing buddy you haven’t teamed up with in a long while, making up for lost time.

Oh, wait, there is. It’s winning the bass tournament while fishing with the long-time fishing buddy whose life has been turned upside down. Lagniappe, people say, and they’re spot on.

That’s how Mike Louviere of Jeanerette and Chris Vedrines of New Iberia regard their Louisiana Bass Anglers win on June 22 out of Fairfax Foster Bailey Memorial Landing. They beat a 16-team field in the bass club’s sixth tournament of 2024.

“That’s a special one,” Louviere said about the hard-earned first-place finish with a five-bass limit at 9.92 pounds, a limit that included the tournament’s biggest bass, a 4.20-pounder caught by Vedrines.

“It was already a good day and we got to win. I know he’s going through a lot. I was more worried about spending time with him. It was good to be with my old partner, for sure. We haven’t been able to spend much time together,” Louviere said.

Vedrines, 63-year-old owner of Advanced Graphic Engraving LLC, a highly respected and successful business he started 27 years ago, said it was a special day, indeed. He has been dealing with serious illness in his family for several years, he said, and that he hasn’t been able to get out a lot.”

“Yeah, that was great. Something I needed really bad. I’ve had so much support,” he said. “It was just an awesome day. I’m so happy we were able to do it. Mike and I used to fish together all the time.”

Louviere has been concentrating on his job as weld leaderman at Chart Industries, where he has worked five years, and fishing out-of-town/out-of-state tournaments. He missed several Louisiana Bass Anglers and WN Hawg Fights BTS tournaments before that Saturday.

Because his boat’s outboard motor was having problems, Louviere wasn’t going to fish Saturday. But, he said, his significant other, Tabitha Landry, said, “Call Chris.’ That’s what I was going to do, call my buddy. He said, ‘I’d love to go fishing.’ ”

“Mike called me and asked me if I wanted to fish it. I was happy to jump on it,” Vedrines said.

As they have grown to realize, an outing, even a bass tournament, can be about more than fishing. But while they talked both fished hard.

“Yeah. That was great, something I needed really bad. I’m so happy we were able to do it,” Vedrines said.

They left at safe daylight in Vedrines’ boat, a Sportsman’s Fabrication aluminum hull by Casey St. Romain. Louviere had a place in mind, the Bayou Teche behind Franklin. Vedrines said he had never fished the deep bayou before.

The action wasn’t fast and furious. Louviere, who obliged the boat owner to run the trolling motor, said he tried one favorite lure, then another — a buzz bait that drew a strike from a solid bass but sans a hookup. Then he boated a keeper on it.

After that, he said, it was “one here, one there” on spinnerbaits and a soft plastic.

Vedrines described the cast that made the day. It produced the 4.20-pounder.

“I was throwing a black/blue Swimming Senko. I threw it right up against the reeds and it fell in the water. He inhaled it. Hit it on the fall … a reaction strike. I felt I must have hit it on the head,” Vedrines said with a chuckle. “I didn’t think it was that big. Mike thought it was 4 pounds.”

They caught their fifth bass at noon and culled a few times before heading back to the weigh-in, Louviere said.

Bo Amy and Donald Romero, both of New Iberia, finished runners-up with five bass weighing 8.83 pounds. Wrenwick Drexler, a Jeanerette native, was third, right behind them, with 8.61 pounds.