CYPREMORT POINT — A veteran New Iberia saltwater fisherman made a long run June 5 to one of his favorite redfish fishing destinations near Point au Fer for the third Southcentral Fishing Association tournament of 2021.

Then Keo Khamphilavong, who was on the water with his longtime fishing buddy, Craig Landry of New Iberia, had to get rough and tough with the redfish in and around Lake Chapeau. The redfish would charge out to inhale a shrimp under a popping cork, then haul it back into the roseau cane, which was encrusted with barnacles on the bottom.

After one line connected to a redfish was cut, Khamphilavong got serious. He changed to 50-pound braided line with an 80-pound monofilament leader.

Nevermind that the leader was of a larger diameter than normally used.

“I don’t fish with that regularly. You could barely tie the line on the hook it was so big,” Khamphilavong said. “Those fish were in the roseau cane. Put the bait in front of them and they were going to eat. We were yanking them out of the roseau cane” before the redfish could hightail it back into the tall, woody plant similar to bamboo.

They caught 20-25 redfish that way, including half-a-dozen or so perfect “slot” redfish between 16 and 27 inches. Landry hooked and boated one that was 26 ¾ inches long while Khamphilavong put a fat 26-incher into the ice chest and those two redfish weighing 14.75 pounds topped the seven-boat field that braved the elements after a 6:30 a.m. start from Quintana Canal Boat Landing.

“We were happy, very happy. It was nice to get one (win). It’s nice to get one every now and then. Them boys, Quentin (Comeaux) and Keith (Delahoussaye), they’re hard to beat. They’re always fishing,” Khamphilavong said.

The winners fished out of his 16-foot long aluminum hull powered by a 115-h.p. Yamaha, built many years ago by Eric Romero of New Iberia. His 22-foot long Blazer Bay was in the shop for repair of a head gasket on the 200-h.p. Yamaha.

Khamphilavong, a 56-year-old contractor who owns Keo’s Construction Inc., made the long run anyway in a boat he usually employs for deer hunting in the Atchafalaya Basin.

“We had to fish out of my small boat. Thank God I’ve got a small boat. Otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to fish,” he said.

Landry, who recently turned 60, also a contractor who owns Craig James Landry Construction, was glad they were able to fish. His 26 ¾-incher was the biggest redfish of the day at 7.70 pounds.

“It’s good to be back in the win column, finally. It’s like we’re back again. It’s hard to win these tournaments. They’re all hard fishermen who scout for a week looking for fish, so it feels good to win,” Landry said.

He caught the biggest redfish at approximately 10 a.m., he said. They caught and released several oversized redfish, including three in the final 20 minutes.

The braided line and heavy monofilament leader were the key, he said.

“We’ve been having trouble. We’ve been catching them in the roseau but we’ve been breaking off on the barnacles underneath,” Landry said.

At first, they tried 50-pound braid as a leader but even a nick would lead to a break in the line. The 80-pound mono did the job.

Landry, who has been fishing with Khamphilavong for about six years, said the latest win was their fifth or sixth first-place finish together in SFA since 2017.

Milton Davis, Dusty Davis, Jonathan Rush and Drew Rivet finished second with 13.40 pounds.

Keith Delahoussaye, fishing by himself, was third with 12.05 pounds.

Plenty of redfish were caught by all competitors. However, they weren’t all the right size.

Brooks Amy, who fished with his son, Hayden Amy, his stepfather, Perry Scott, and their friend, Jacob Fisher, said they didn’t travel far to land on the right spots. They concentrated on places they know along Shark Bayou.

“We weren’t crossing” Vermilion Bay in the inclement weather, Amy said.

“We caught 35 fish right there,” he said, pointing in the direction where Quintana Canal empties into Vermilion Bay, “but no size. They were all 18, 19 inches.”

Fisher said, “We found them all over.”

They did put two “slot” redfish on the digital scale manned by Dusty Davis.

Chris Kapp III said he caught 10 or 11 redfish after starting with more than half the field in Southwest Pass, where he fished for a few hours then moved to Bayou Charles, Bayou Michael, Bayou Lucienne and back to Bayou Charles.

Kapp fished alone on the wet day in his 12-year-old, 19-foot Key West. Chris Myers, his regular tournament partner, was at the Houma Oilman’s Fishing Invitational out of Cocodrie.

The next regular-season tournament tentatively is scheduled to be held June 19. It is the “draw the number” (high end of the “slot” limit) that was postponed twice earlier this year.

For more information call 380-0387.