Banner Labor Day

Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Cameron Hebert (10), right, won the Best All-Around title in the Kids Division and her father Trent Hebert won Best All-Around in the Inside Division at the 53rd Annual Kay-Cee Saltwater Fishing Rodeo that concluded Monday with weigh-in at Cypremort Point. - Don Shoopman / The Daily Iberian

CYPREMORT POINT — What a banner Labor Day Monday it was here for one happy Hebert family from New Iberia.

For Cameron Hebert, 10, it was time to clear more space on the expansive trophy shelves in her room.

For Trent Hebert, her father, it was time to pop open the bubbly  — er, fizzy — and celebrate a rare double in the history of saltwater fishing rodeos at Cypremort Point. They were both crowned individual champions in their respective divisions of the 53rd annual Kay-Cee Saltwater Fishing Rodeo that began Saturday and ended at 1 p.m. Monday.

It was that kind of day for Cameron, who rallied to claim the Best All-Around Fisherkid title in the Kids Division, and for Trent, who held onto his second-day lead and captured the Best All-Around Fisherman trophy in the Inside Division. Cameron’s huge trophy came with a plastic bucket with a large bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling cider — white grape — for the occasion.

After three hot and windy days on the water, that was sure to go down well as it was destined for a birthday party for another family member later Monday. For sure, the proud moment had sunk in minutes after they received their trophies at fishing rodeo headquarters under the pavilion along Quintana Canal.

“I’m glad for her. Mine was a bonus. Mine was extra,” Hebert said after his last fishing rodeo trip of the year in the Gettin’ Closer, a 19-foot long Pro Master.

No boat in recent memory has boasted both Best All-Arounds in the Kids Division and Inside Division. Hebert thought about that a moment and said, “That is kind of cool. We’ve been fishing the last few rodeos because she wanted to win and she was close.

“That’s what it’s all about right there. The bottom line,” he said as he and his wife Suzi looked at their daughter surrounded by trophies.

About his own achievement, he said, “I didn’t know I was in the running for it. I’m surprised.”

Cameron, a fifth-grade student at North Lewis Street Elementary School, was in a tight race for the title from opening day with Jacob LeBlanc, 13, of New Iberia. She finished with 365 points while LeBlanc was right behind her with 363.

The Best All-Around Fisherkid finished with first- and third-place redfish at 10.0 and 9.1 pounds, third-place speckled trout at 2.3 pounds, and first- and second-place drum at 29.7 and 29.5 pounds. She brought the biggest drum in Monday to knock her other entry into second place.

Cameron said she wanted to win it all “really bad.”

“I was nervous, too, because I really wanted it. It’s exciting,” she said, adding she couldn’t believe it when the announcer called her name as the individual winner. “I was kind of shocked that I actually won.”

It was lagniappe that her dad did the same in his division, she said.

“That’s exciting, too. I was shocked that we both won,” Cameron said.

The Inside Divison’s Best All-Around Fisherman accumulated 235 points to finish ahead of runner-up Brooks Amy of New Iberia, who walked away with the Inside Division’s Boat Captain’s Award after fishing all three days with his father Perry Scott and fishing buddy Jacob Fisher in the Up and Down II, his 22-foot long Key West. Amy had 174 points in the Best All-Around Fisherman race and the Up and Down II he skippered amassed 329 points to finish ahead of Hebert’s Gettin’ Closer, 238, and Karl Rouly’s Miss Ellie Voo Doo, 156.

Hebert, 46, who finished with a first-place redfish at 9.7 pounds and first-place drum at 30.2 pounds, said the key was staying in one spot, The Worm inside Marsh Island, and “waiting ’em out.”

“We sat in the same spot all three days. We went back for redfish and drum and caught a few extra fish that helped us out in the points,” he said, singling out the third-place speckled trout his daughter caught Saturday, as well as flounder.

“That was a bonus … catching that trout in The Worm,” he said.