MILAM, Texas – For two accomplished bass anglers, one in his mid-30s and the other in his late 20s, it starts at the top and ends at the top when they’re on their game, like they were Oct. 12-13.

Jacob Shoopman of Lafayette, formerly of New Iberia, and Zach Suit of Denton, Texas, a New Iberia native, relied on their respective strengths with the former wielding a “red eye” series of Super Bait buzz baits made by his uncle, the late Bill Shoopman, and the latter tattooing bass on a Zara Spook. They sat in third place after Saturday’s weigh-in with 11.30 pounds but bounced back with a solid five-bass limit weighing 15.81 pounds for an unbeatable two-day total of 27.11 pounds. Their nearest challenger was 5 pounds off the pace.

Suit tipped his cap and said about his tournament partner, “It definitely was his buzz bait thing. He was definitely cooking with the (red) eye series. He had it going on for sure. It seems nobody else can catch on a buzz bait but he had it going.”

They caught approximately 40 bass on Day 1 but were “disappointed” the bigger bass weren’t committing fully to the topwaters. It took them 2 ½ hours to get five in the livewell, then they culled little by little.

Still, the team was confident going into Day 2. For starters, there would be 70 less boats on the water because the Fishers of Men regional Championship ended Saturday.

“I knew we would catch but I didn’t know if the size would be much better,” Suit said.

Bass that bit the second day definitely were bigger.

“Going into Sunday morning, we both thought it would be in our best interest to lock our topwaters in our hands, me throwing a buzz bait and him throwing a walking bait. The action started quick and we had three for 8 pounds in no time by 7:15,” Shoopman said.

Then bass anglers in another boat cut in front of them, he said, so they hit the boat lane and moved to one of their most productive stretches Saturday.

“It didn’t take long to fill our limit with two solid fish coming on the buzz bait. Having a solid limit for 12 pounds, we were able to calm down and just stick to the game plan and have fun,” he said. “The bigger fish that we missed on Day 1 did a little bit better job of eating the baits on Sunday and we were able to cull all the way up above 15 pounds. I knew we had a good chance to win considering how tough everyone else was saying it was after the first day.”

Bo Amy and Donald Romero came the closest to the winners with a two-day total of 22.04 pounds on 10.14 pounds Saturday and 11.90 pounds Sunday. Their second-place finish secured the bass club’s Angler of the Year title for Amy, who also won the Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series 2024 AOY while fishing this past season with Romero.

Amy amassed 692 points in eight bass club outings this year, including a resounding win May 9 with his dad, Troy Amy, at Chicot Lake. He was followed in the Top 10 standings by Kevin Suit, 684; Brandon Sellers, 670; Max Stevens, 669; Gerard Dupuis, 664; Dennis Worsham, 664; Michael Sinitiere, 649; Shoopman, 639, and Dusty Rice and Todd Robertson, 623.

The third-place spot at Toledo Bend was nailed down by the husband-and-wife team of Dusty and Stacy Rice. The Rices bagged 10.25 pounds the first day and added 10.48 pounds on Day 2 for a two-day total of 20.73 pounds.

Suit and Shoopman’s early second-day bass fishing bonanza was interrupted by one of the larger bass caught by Suit. While Suit unhooked the Zara Spook, the fish wiggled violently and, suddenly, the topwater bait’s other treble hooks were embedded in the palm of his right hand as well as the unhappy bass’ jaw at the same time.

“After Zach caught a 4-pounder and a walking bait treble hook in his hand, after a 10- to 15-minute break to do surgery, we were right back in action,” Shoopman said.

That was his third “surgery.” Using the braided line method, he extracted a hook from a finger of the maker of the Super Bait, Bill Shoopman, who died Oct. 7, at Millwood Lake in Arkansas in October 2020 and a few years ago from the hand of Zach’s older brother, Ben Suit, at Marsh Field Landing.

“I’m glad it was him. He didn’t panic or nothing,” Zach Suit said.

A win together as a team was a long time coming, according to Suit.

“We normally do well the first day and nothing the second day. We have a good first day and a sucky second day,” he said. “We finally put two days together. That’s what we always talk about … putting together two days. It’s a good time, for sure, especially when you can catch them like that.”

The 29-year-old salesman for Matthew Sand State Farm, where he has worked three years since moving to Denton from New Iberia, said the two complement each other with their preferred artificial lures and a deliberate approach.

“I think it’s that we throw different baits. And I think Jacob’s patience helps me because he’s more willing to slow down than I am. I think that was our biggest key throughout these two days,” he said.

Shoopman agreed and said, “Fishing this tournament with Zach for the past 10 or so years, we have become a pretty good team. We do a good job of using a couple different techniques to target the same group of fish. More importantly, we have fun and stay laughing all day. That makes decision-making a whole lot easier.”

The 36-year-old salesman for Coca-Cola United Bottling Co. prefished the lake Thursday with his dad and Friday with Suit.

“We had a good scouting trip on Thursday. Thinking the bite would get better, we just went play around on the other side of the lake on Friday for half-a-day,” he said, noting bigger bass were in and around thicker mats of hydrilla as were the shad.

Suit said, “Jacob keyed in where the fish were throwing his buzz bait. He kind of knew exactly where they’d be.”

The buzz bait and walking bait did the rest.