Mary Hebert, left, and past Kay-Cee fishing rodeo chairman Wayne Hollier, right, watch as Brock LeBlanc, second from right, and Charles Latham prepare to weigh fish from the Bon Temps.

CYPREMORT POINT — After his daughter took the halfway lead for Best All-Around Fisherman in the Kids Division a week ago Saturday, Lonnie Myers was “kind of worried” she could hold on to it and eventually hoist the huge trophy.

Myers, as it turns out, really didn’t have to be concerned. 

Alaina Myers, 10, was getting extra help. You could tell by the butterflies around the boat most of the time she hooked a fish during the 58th annual Kay-Cee Saltwater Fishing Rodeo.

Those beautiful winged insects were a sign from the late Brad Verret, she said, her paternal grandfather, an avid outdoorsman who died Aug. 4, 2013. He was 59. 

Alaina and Verret had a special, close-knit bond, one that brought him out of his quiet ways, according to his obituary. Verret had an enduring nickname for her, “Monkey.” 

This past weekend, Alaina, her mother, Crystal Verret Myers and Lonnie Myers, who live in rural Iberia Parish, fished in Verret’s 17 1/2-foot long Sprint fiberglass bass boat and the Loreauville Elementary School student caught enough fish, including a big, deciding drum on the second and last day, to win the Kids Division.

Alaina was like a fishing machine, her mother said.

“Alaina took over our boat. She’s proud, too,” Crystal said before the scales closed Saturday at fishing rodeo headquarters along Quintana Canal. 

Alaina stuck four fish on the leaderboard the first day, including a first-place croaker and first- and second-place drum. Her mother said someone was with her the whole way.

“She said when she’d get a bite there were butterflies all around. She said, ‘That’s Pa helping me,’ ” Crystal said.

Thanks to Pa and some timely decisions on where to fish by Lonnie, Alaina clinched the title Sunday by hooking and boating a 24.2-pound drum that took over first place in the Kids Division.

Until then, Lonnie wasn’t breathing easy.

“I was kind of worried with the St. Germains all fishing. They usually weigh in,” he said about Luke St. Germain and Noah St. Germain, the sons of Josh and Brandy St. Germain of Jeanerette. The St. Germain boys put their share of fish on the leaderboard but couldn’t unseat the first-day leader.

Alaina finished with 208 points while Noah St. Germain had 117, followed by Sage Hebert.

“It was really hard,” she said after clutching the trophy all the way home. “(But) mom told me Pa always said, ‘Never lose and work hard.’ ”

She did just that both days of the holiday weekend event.

So did Lynn “The Bear” Hebert of Jeanerette, who captured the Boat Captain’s Award after a productive weekend of fishing with his wife, Mary, and brother-in-law, Charles Latham on Hebert’s Bon Temps. Their boat boasted the fishing rodeo’s biggest entry, a 46.8-pound drum caught by Latham and carted to the scales on Sunday.

It was a close race for the Boat Captain’s Award. Hebert and his crew amassed 238 points, just three points more than that racked up by the Brad Shad and skipper Lonnie Myers.

Competition was just as stiff for the Inside Division’s Best All-Around Fisherman Trophy. Keo Khamphilavong of New Iberia rose to the occasion and notched 160 points to turn back Hebert, 132, and Nicholas Hulin, 110.