LOREAUVILLE – Two local bass anglers, an accomplished veteran in his late 60s and a younger bass fisherman already making a name at 37, relied on teamwork, experience and confidence during the regular season of the Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series.

Bo Amy and Donald Romero walked away from the 12th and final tournament Aug. 14 with a trifecta — the mini-bass tournament’s biggest bass, a first place finish and the grandest achievement of them all, Angler(s) of the Year.

They saved their best for last. That tournament was their first and only win of the season as a team together in the boat.

“It feels good. The last couple years I had a chance but would have to miss a couple tournaments,” Amy said, noting his full-time tournament partner this year “picked up the slack” and fished every tournament, including two by himself.

Romero’s solo effort June 26 kick-started their run to AOY.

The Atchafalaya River was high – 14.0 feet and falling at Butte La Rose – but he managed to bring in the only three-bass limit and it weighed 5.90 pounds June 19. He found a drain as good as gold while prefishing Charenton Lake and it paid off in that eighth tournament out of Myette Point Landing.

Amy agreed Romero’s effort was the key to winning it all.

“Definitely, that’s what got us back in it. If he wouldn’t have placed we would have been fourth down. We had to keep doing it. If we stumbled one of y’all would have won (AOY),” he said.

Specifically, “one of y’all” were the teams of Brad Romero and Raven Owens, both of New Iberia, and the father-and-son team of Don Shoopman of New Iberia and Jacob Shoopman of Lafayette, formerly of New Iberia.

Amy, a field service thread rep for VAM/USA, and Donald Romero owned a 47-point lead over Brad Romero and Owens going into the last tournament, 955-908. The 2024 “Series Champions” held off Brad Romero and Owens, 1,055-1,005, and the Shoopmans, the circuit’s AOY team in 2015 and 2020, who stayed in third place in the final standings with 994 points.

Rounding out the Top 10 places in the AOY standings were Mike O’Brien and Mike Sinitiere, fourth with 965 points; John Gordon, fifth with 838; Danny Bulliard, sixth with 827; Owen Gordon, seventh with 788; Rusty Owens, eighth with 759; Carroll Delahoussaye, ninth with 732, and Corey Romero and Wilfred “Tuppy” Gary, 10th with 720.

The circuit’s top three teams remained the same, switching places occasionally, the majority of 2024. However, Donald Romero and Amy came from back in the pack and grabbed the lead after the eighth tournament and never let go down the pressure-packed stretch.

Amy said, “It was tough. The competition was tough. There are a lot of good fishermen. You and Jacob, Brad and Raven were on us the whole time. Especially with y’all throwing your buzz baits around and catching big fish on those.”

“You and your boy concerned us the most the last four tournaments,” Donald Romero said about the Shoopmans, who held the top spot after the third, fourth and fifth tournaments. The dad and his son held strong in the second spot following the eighth, ninth and 10th tournaments, a stretch that included back-to-back wins July 3 and July 17.

“Then we see Brad and them moving up. We decided scouting and getting the points, (aim for) second or third each of the last two tournaments to stay where we were,” Donald Romero said.

Brad Romero and Owens leapfrogged the Shoopmans into the runners-up spot after the 11th tournament on July 31 out of Bayou Benoit Landing and held on in the 12th tournament to finish No. 2. The 2024 AOY runners-up team previously owned the No. 1 spot three times early in the season after tournaments No. 1 and No. 2 and again following tournament No. 6.

Amy and Donald Romero meshed in their first full year teaming up.

They double-teamed the prefishing trips as much as possible, Amy said. The strategy was ultra-effective, particularly for the regular-season finale when they went in separate boats, found and shook off bass.

“Scouting helped us out a whole lot. If it wasn’t for scouting, I’m sure we’d be down on the leaderboard,” Amy said the day after the W in Lake Fausse Pointe, where their three bass weighed 5.45. “Like Donald says, that’s what scouting does for you.”

Donald Romero, founder and owner of Romero Fishing & Rental, an oilfield fishing tool company, before he retired, agreed and said, “We’re a good team. I enjoy fishing with him. He fishes hard. You can tell this young guy has the enthusiasm and the drive. He doesn’t give up.”

Amy said, “You’ve got to fish to the last minute. He’s the same way. He don’t put the rod down. Donald’s a good fisherman, too.”

“I’m old but I give it hell,” Donald Romero said with a chuckle.