Owens’ buzzer beater carries him, Romero to Hawg Fight win
Published 8:00 am Sunday, March 26, 2023
LOREAUVILLE – A New Iberia bass angler had the bass right where he wanted ‘em for the first Wednesday Night Hawg Fights Bass Tournament Series tournament of 2023.
Well, Brad Romero hoped the right kind, i.e. size-wise, were there. His tournament partner, Raven Owens of New Iberia, proved they were there three times on a mostly sunny late afternoon at Lake Fausse Pointe.
Romero, who caught a 4-pounder in the spot while prefishing Tuesday, then left, said, “The only thing I did was bring him to the fish.”
Romero and Owens’ three-bass limit weighed 6.44 pounds, including the evening’s biggest bass, a 3.65-pounder he caught in the last minute before they had to leave their fishin’ hole to get their “chip” on the board at 7:40 p.m. They won $630 for first place and their big bass added another $140.
The winners needed every ounce to turn back the runners-up team of Kerney Hebert and his son, Brandon Hebert, whose three bass weighed 6.21 pounds worth $378.
Brandon Sellers and Blaine Miller teamed up again and cashed in again with a limit that tipped the digital scale at 5.92 pounds for $252.
Twenty-eight boats entered the first WN Hawg Fights BTS tournament of the year held out of Marsh Field Boat Landing.
Owens, 35, put two keeper-sized bass – average about 1 ½ pounds — in the boat on a black/red Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver during the first hour or so of the pressure-packed tournament that began at 5:30 p.m. out of Marsh Field Boat Landing. Romero caught and released two small, nonkeeper bass.
They left to check a few other spots nearby, to no avail.
“At 7 o’clock I said, ‘Let’s go back (to the original spot). We had 15 minutes to fish,” Romero said.
They could see a few bass “waking” and chasing baitfish, he said.
“It so happens the last minute or two, Raven threw in. He was flippin the creature bait,” he said.
“We were ready to leave. I said, ‘Let’s fish that last tree before heading back.’ Sure enough, as soon as it hit the water, he took it,” said Owens, who remodels homes for Randy’s Total Renovating. “It was so dark I couldn’t see my line. It was all by feel.”
In fact, Owens’ fishing line had moved approximately 15 feet from his cast before he set the hook. He reeled it in and flipped it in the boat.
Time was ticking away. They needed to get some giddy up in their giddy up.
Romero, 29, who is self-employed, said, “I was telling him we got to go. I didn’t think we could make it back to the landing in 12 minutes.”
They did make it and he hung their chip on the board just before closing time, so to speak.
It was a first-place finish Romero didn’t see coming.
“I was running some water the past few days. I ain’t caught much. I did find where they were starting to pull up,”Romero said. “Find some decent water, find some decent fish. I mean, muddy to somewhat clear. I knew the fish were in there. To luck out and catch a 3-pounder …”
“We knew they had good fish in there. It was a matter of getting them to bite. We didn’t get one to bite until the last minute,” Owens said.
“It feels good. I haven’t really done well in Hawg Fights. I guess we’re going to change it up there.”
Of the three keepers that hit the digital scale manned by veteran weighmaster Mike O’Brien, just one was on the bank, according to Owens. The others were on a tree and a deadfall out away from the shoreline.
“I don’t think they moved all the way up because of the cold front,” he said about the weather system that moved through the region late the week before.
But Owens got hot at the right time.