CABOT — Bubbie Lopez saw his long-term hopes for a Louisiana Bass Anglers tournament win disappear when a 4-pound class bass got away around midday June 11 deep in the heart of the Atchafalaay Basin, which is rapidly dropping to a highly fishable level.

The Centerville bass angler, paired with Max Stevens of Lafayette, wasn’t upset for long. A few minutes later, close to 11 p.m., Lopez hooked up with an even bigger bass.

Lopez, 56, reeled in that bass, a 4.83-pounder, and that “hawg” anchored their five-fish stringer weighing 14.30 pounds, more than enough to top a 21-boat field that launched at safe daylight from Cabot Landing along the Intracoastal Waterway.

The accomplished bass angler’s spirits sank, then rose, in a matter of minutes while fishing in Stevens’ bass boat along a 150-yard stretch in Duck Lake, which is closer to Morgan City than Cabot.

“I told Max, ‘That’s the one we needed’ and then, boom, I caught the big one,” Lopez said about the successful catch off a deadfall. “It pulled pretty good. I knew it was a good one.”

That 4.83-pound bass was the biggest of the tournament.

Johnny Hester of Lafayette, who was fishing solo, finished second with 11.29 pounds of bass from Lake Fausse Pointe. Allen Guillotte and Cohen Pellerin were third with five bass weighing 9.17 pounds. Tony Sinitiere finished fourth with 8.78 pounds.

Lopez, a production operator for Perdido Energy LLC, and Stevens, who works as a Perdido Energy contract mechanic with K&S Compression, had a feeling other bass club anglers would come in with weights as heavy or heavier than theirs. They didn’t have to worry.

They were concerned early Saturday morning after a 20- to 25-minute boat ride to the Duck Lake area. They scouted Thursday and caught only “a couple of 2-pound fish” in an area.

“That’s all we had to go on,” he said.

When the two bass anglers arrived, they found the water had dropped significantly but, more importantly, brought bad, black water out of the swamp. They followed the black water to where it mixed with muddier water and caught the fish around lily pads, cypress trees and deadfalls, mostly on buzz baits.

How many bass? Approximately 30-40 from 6:30 a.m.-11 a.m., Lopez said.

He caught regularly on a 3/8-ounce chartreuse/white Delta Lures buzz bait while Stevens used a buzz bait made by Humdinger.

The bass, Lopez said, “Were spread out in about a 150-yard stretch. Every time we’d make a pass, we’d catch a fish, a better fish.”

Lopez made up a lot of ground in the bass club’s Angler of the Year race to get closer to two-time defending AOY champion Dicky Fitzgerald of Charenton.

“I just made a big jump. I’m 33 points behind,” he said about the race against his good friend.

Fitzgerald leads, 610-577, after seven of the 12 tournaments.

Lopez has his sights set on the stretch run, hopefully in his own bass boat after a new outboard motor finally arrives.

“I’ll give it my all,” he said.