Daniel Dupuis, left, and Gerard "G.D." Dupuis smile broadly April 16 while gripping the lip of the three bass that weighed 10.25 pounds, which gave them a first-place finish in the third Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series tournament at Lake Martin. DON SHOOPMAN / THE DAILY IBERIAN

BREAUX BRIDGE – The best-laid plans do work more often than not, Gerard “G.D.” Dupuis and his tournament partner proved April 16 on the way to winning the third Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series tournament of 2025.

The 35-year-old Dupuis teamed with his brother, Daniel Dupuis, both of St. Martinville, to finish ahead of the rest of the 24-boat field at Lake Martin. He enjoyed the winning experience immensely because it was his first on the popular local bass fishing evening circuit.

“Oh, man, it feels great. A lot of those guys fish those Hawg Fights are the best anglers in the area, easily. It’s a tough one to win,” G.D. said.

Even as they put keeper after keeper in the boat, seven for Daniel and four for G.D., the younger brother realized the bite might be too good to be true. Even at the weigh-in he had his doubts, despite their three-bass limit weighing 10.25 pounds.

“I remember telling my brother after we had a limit in the boat, chances are good the guys, the good anglers, are catching them real good. That’s always the case and that (persevering to finish first) is a first! We were shocked when we found out that we won. It feels good, especially winning against those guys. Those guys are so hard to beat,” G.D. said the next day.

Now Team Dupuis can claim to be among “those guys.” And $540 richer.

“After fishing tournaments for the past four years and always finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack, it feels great to finally place in one, and that place ended up being first. You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face today and I’m glad I got to do it with my brother,” Daniel said the following morning.

The older brother also had the hot hand, er, spinnerbait during the Hawg Fight afternoon as soon as the boat pulled up to G.D.’s starting spot. The beatdown started within his first dozen casts or so and ended just before “chip on the board” at 8 p.m. for weigh-in.

Their closest challenger in the season’s third WN Hawg Fights BTS was the team of Pee Wee Doucet and Jackson Theriot. The two-man team from St. Martin Parish turned in a limit that tipped the circuit’s new digital scale to 9.46 pounds, good enough for second place and $324 in the 24-boat field.

Jeremy Girouard of Broussard and Neil Carret of Carencro boasted the biggest bass of the evening, a 4.79-pounder that anchored their three-fish limit of 9.41 pounds for a third-place finish worth $216. The big bass added another $120 to their payout.

The Dupuis brothers rode a fast start out of the gate to win their first-ever Hawg Fight.

Daniel, a 42-year-old bass angler who works for Brushmasters LLC, which applies herbicides to control vegetation, certainly enjoyed their slumpbuster tournament on the small cypress-tree lined lake in St. Martin Parish. He put a 3.93-pounder in the boat three minutes after his brother stopped the boat after takeoff and added their second-biggest bass to the livewell five minutes later.

“For once we had a plan and it finally worked. I went there to scout the day before and got on a really good spinnerbait bite. I caught 10 on a (homemade) spinnerbait. I figured since conditions weren’t really going to change much, they’d still bite the spinnerbait. They did. That’s all we caught fish on. I tried flipping toward the end when it was getting dark and I tried a buzz bait but the only thing we could catch them on was a spinnerbait,” G.D. said.

His wasn’t just any old (or new) spinnerbait. He made the ½-ounce model himself and attached two silver willowleaf blades and a black/silver skirt.

The heavier spinnerbait allows him to retrieve it deeper. The color was the key.

“I like it because that skirt when it’s in the water looks so much like a little cloud of fry. I’d seen a bunch of fry everywhere that time of year,” he said.

Daniel was using a brand name ⅜-ounce spinnerbait with two silver willowleaf blades and a white/silver skirt, according to his brother, who believes the silver was the common denominator to trigger bites. With all the cypress trees for as far as the eye can see in the scenic lake, they found bass on certain ones.

“It seems like cypress trees that had a stump, laydown or any kind of structure next to it, those seemed to hold better fish. As far as depth, as soon as I’d start kicking up mud with the trolling motor, I’d back off,” he said, adding the 3- to 4-foot range produced more keepers.

The fourth WN Hawg Fights BTS tournament of the season is scheduled to be held April 30 at Lake Fausse Pointe out of Marsh Field Landing.