As bass anglers move around in the predawn darkness before the traditional kickoff tournament for this part of Acadiana on Sunday at Fairfax Foster Bailey Memorial Landing in Franklin, their mind’s on launching, tying up and shootin’ the bull with buddies before safe daylight.

They’ll be fishing for $1,000 guaranteed first-place prize money in the 19th annual Louisiana Bass Cats Invitational Fishing Tournament, also known as the Louisiana Bass Cats Open. They’re focused and zeroed in on the hours ahead, where to go, what to throw, fishing clean and making the right decisions.

Sure enough, in all the hustle and bustle of getting from home to the boat landing, one or more of the bass fishermen or fisherwomen might realize he or she forgot a favorite soft plastic or left a rod-and-reel combo at home. Or they just have a few spare minutes to shop.

Not to worry. Dusty and Stacy Desselle Rice of Breaux Bridge have you covered with their portable bait shop. They opened Tangled Up Outdoors Bait and Tackle LLC last July and go to the fishermen instead of fishermen going to them.

Dusty said they plan to open up the distinctive trailer at the tournament site between 4:45-5 a.m. Sunday.

The idea is refreshingly unique.

“I don’t think we’ll ever quit the mobile thing. It’s a personal thing” getting to meet the sac-a-lait and bass fishermen across Cajun Country, said the personable outdoorsman who was born and raised in Crane, Missouri.

Hence their business slogan: “We are more than fish hooks and lures.”

Dusty, 41, who works in the energy and fuel industry as a site manager for Brown & Root Industrial Services, moved to New Iberia in 2013 and married Stacy in 2015. The avid fisherman was drawn like a magnet to the Atchafalaya Basin, Henderson Lake and Lake Fausse Pointe, plus other popular waterbodies in the region.

He plans to open a stationary, main store at their home but eventually wants to set up shop in Breaux Bridge. Like he said, the wheels to the business should always be on the road, like they are now for major bass tournaments.

Otherwise, they generally park the mobile bait shop most mornings at the public landing at Henderson.

“I felt the whole thing was a good thing to get my name known. My main goal is to have a main store, a one-stop shop where guys come in and do guide trips,” he said.

With Dusty being on the road so much at his main job since 2000, the setup and operation belongs to Stacy, who’s from New Iberia.

“She does an excellent job. She’s learned a lot this past year. She’s helping me fulfill my dreams,” he said. “Man, it’s full time. Stacy’s doing it right now. Next year I’d really like to start guiding and doing trips in the Basin or lake (Fausse Pointe), Henderson or whatever. That’s what I’m shooting for.”

His fishing tackle selection includes everything from Zoom to Reaction Innovation to Strike King to Missile Baits. His bait shop also has everything for sac-a-lait fishermen, including live bait.

“We finally got live bait going,” he said.

And the online store is running at about 90 percent of the products he wants on there.

As of the second week of February, he’s focused on the Louisiana Bass Cats Open, which he also plans to fish what is regarded the big regular-season opener for Teche Area bassers. He’ll team up with Shawn Sinitiere.

Entry fee is $100 per boat with an optional $10 for the big bass pot. For more information call Max Stevens at 281-5018.

The defending championship team is returning with hopes of winning it again. Mike O’Brien and Mike Sinitiere, both of New Iberia, won the “grand” prize at last year’s event with 15.98 pounds, a limit anchored by O’Brien’s 7.13-pounder.

Dusty has shown he can hang with the veteran local bass anglers. He won one of the hours in the Jackie Savoy Memorial Big Bass Classic a few years ago on Lake Fausse Pointe to quiet (for the moment) any ribbing he was taking for being a stick from Missouri.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.