(EDITOR’S NOTE: Quotable quotes are attached at the bottom of the story.)

CYPREMORT POINT — While a live band played under the pavilion as Iberia Rod & Gun Club Saltwater Fishing Rodeo officials checked and double-checked  leaderboards for the 65th annual IR&GC Saltwater Fishing Rodeo, people danced on the back deck of the big, dominant boat moored to the bulkhead about 20 yards away.

The Sea Mistress, a 36-foot Lafco hull owned and skippered by Jacques Hebert of Patoutville, was on its way to staying unbeaten in the Offshore Division after another successful trip in the Gulf of Mexico. Hebert, Lannie Buteau of Patoutville, Paul Migues of New Iberia and David Melancon of Canencro came back with enough fish to claim four firsts, five seconds and four thirds to win the Offshore Division Boat Captain’s Award.

Buteau picked up where he left off in 2016 as the Offshore Division Best All-Around Fisherman. He was vacationing in Ireland and missed the IR&GC event in 2017.

Sea Mistress overcame a few hiccups but never missed a beat after leaving at 2 p.m. Thursday and returning about noon Sunday, an hour before the scales closed at fishing rodeo headquarters along Quintana Canal. It was among dozens of boats, big and small with their own fish tales, to check in.

Buteau weighed in 1 ½ wahoo, or, even, much less than ½. That he weighed in a full one was proof of the crew’s resilience and persistence.

“The majority of the trip was highlights. However, we did have a couple lowlights … when I caught a tripletail that was 14 ¾ inches long when the law’s being 16 inches minimum,” the personable angler said.

What really got his goat was a monstrous shark that spoiled hours of targeting wahoo, as the skipper was wont to do.

“I had it coming in. Everything was fine until all of a sudden I see an explosion of water 10 foot behind the boat and my drag was zipping out,” Buteau said. “Shortly after, all I pulled in was a head and enough wahoo to make one steak for each crew member. The shark got the rest.”

Hebert said, “There was an explosion of water, a big splash. A 5-foot wahoo and we came back with just a head.”

So the crew resigned itself to fishing until it had a wahoo in the boat. Buteau got a 14.1-pounder, plus the 5.1-pound head that finished second.

It was as if ordained.

“We’ve been fishing together a long time. We know how to support each other,” Hebert said.

In other words, the parts are interchangeable, Migues said, and it showed when Melancon hooked up with a 58.3-pound lemonfish that finished first in the Offshore Division. Hebert, Buteau and Migues swung into action at the wheel and other strategic areas.

“Paul can drive. Paul can navigate and we can all fish,” Hebert said.

Sea Mistress’ crew members weren’t the only anglers who encountered problems with sharks. The predators were the talk of the Inside Division and the Offshore Division.

Unlucky with sharks

Tee Nah Nah skipper David Richardson of Kaplan’ crew talked about a huge, record-sized red snapper that was sliced and diced by two sharks while the 42-foot Bertram was fishing offshore Friday. 

“The first day out, Chad Darby (of Abbeville) hooked up with something big. It stayed down 30, 40 minutes,” Richardson said. “We thought it was a grouper the way it was acting. It wouldn’t come off the bottom.

Finally, Darby pried it off the bottom and started the tug-of-war to the surface, Richardson said.

“About 5 feet from the boat, two sharks came and cut it off. Oh, that was sickening. The whole time out there we had trouble with sharks,” the skipper said.

Darby was left with just the head of a red snapper, which was estimated at 10 pounds.

Tee Nah Nah targeted Vermilion 200 and South Marsh Island 40.

The Pecan Island-based Tee Nah Nah was one of two old boats that visited fishing rodeo headquarters. The other was a 1983 18-foot Bonita.

‘Old school’ boat

“Old school. It don’t have a name,” Chris Louviere of Sorrel said, proudly, about the Bonita once owned by his grandfather, the late Ray Louviere.

“My grandpa used to fish this tournament in that boat. My dad (Vincent Louviere Sr. of Baldwin) fished this tournament with us. Now we’re fishing the tournament with our kids,” said Chris Louviere, who took his children, Riley, 9, and Madison, 11, out with his brother, Vincent Louviere Jr. of Sorrel.

“It’s an ’83. Oh, yeah, it’s old, but she gets the job done,” he said about the boat he remodeled last summer and hung a 115-h.p. Evinrude, it’s fourth or fifth outboard motor.

“I remodeled and rebuilt the boat, stringers on up,” he said.

Riley, by the way, finished with first- and third-place drum (2.60 and 2.35 pounds, respectively) and third-place slot redfish (7.40 pounds).

Birthdays were the order of the day for at least two participants, Chris Louviere, who turned 32 on Saturday, and Faith Landry of Patoutville, who marked her 12th birthday Saturday.

Landry was feeling blue, though, that day, until midday when she got a call from her dad, Gerrit “T-Blu” Landry, who had to work Friday and Saturday, the first two days of the fishing rodeo.

“Today for lunch he went grab his boat. He texted us, ‘Be ready for 4:30,’ ” Faith said a few hours after she got the call. “Oh, I was so excited. During the week, when I found out we weren’t able to fish, I was so depressed. One night I started crying.”

Evie Sherville, her friend and defending Junior Division Best All-Around Fisherwoman, was pleased, too.

“When I found out we were going, I was so excited,” Evie said.

“We’re leaving in about 45 minutes and we ain’t coming back until Sunday,” Gerrit, an IR&GC board member, said around 3:30 p.m. Saturday at fishing rodeo HQ.

Nickel Reef pays off

At least one game plan paid off handsomely over the weekend. Heith St. Germain, who fished on his Pacificer, a 20-foot Sea Hunt, with his father, Glenn St. Germain, his wife, Tara St. Germain, and their children, Kourtni, Karli and Kyptin, all had a successful trip to a destination he came up with Saturday.

“We hadn’t been to The Nickel (Nickel Reef) in a long time. He (Heith St. Germain) said, ‘Weather permitting, I want to go to the Nickel.’ It was beautiful water, beautiful seas and a beautiful day,” Glenn St. Germain said.

They hit the speckled trout in a biting mood. Sometimes it was five or six at a time, then eight to 10 at a time, Heith St. Germain said.

“We figure we got about 30. How many trout you think we got?” Heith asked his father, who said 25.

Heith said they might have missed one or two fish but the majority that bit on the soft plastics they were throwing under a popping cork wound up in the ice chest.

His dad was fired up.

“You don’t hear nobody talk about The Nickel. They want to go to Diamond (Reef), Tee Butte or the Boxcar. You don’t ever hear people talk about The Nickel,” Glenn St. Germain said. 

Including his family.

“It’s been a long time since we have been there. The numbers (coordinates) we had for it are long gone,” the elder St. Germain said. 

“It was like starting all over again,” his son said. “We had the GPS, the chip knew where we wanted to go. They’ve got a deep side and a shallow side. We got on the shallow side and the way the current was going we caught fish.”

They weren’t the only anglers to strike it rich at Nickel Reef. Donald Biggs of Clinton, formerly of Franklin, traveled there to catch the Inside Division’s biggest speckled trout and also had a fishing rodeo record for slot redfish in the Inside Division.

Biggs, who has a camp at Cypremort Point, fished with Brad Brown of Lafayette in his new 2018 23-foot Pathfinder.

The slot red caused a stir.

“It was awesome when I brought him up. We were short on tape. All we had was a little tape measure. I said, ‘I like it. I think it’s going to measure.”

It did, knocking Sydni LeBlanc’s 7.86-pounder to a second-place finish. LeBlanc fished with her parents, Chad and Korie LeBlanc and their godchild, Blake Frioux, in the Syd-Rock, a 22-foot Blazer Bay.

About Catatude

What’s in a boat name? Syd-Rock, for example, is a combination of the first names of the LeBlanc’s daughter and son, Brock LeBlanc, who was on a Boy Scout outing during the fishing rodeo.

Blake Fouquier of New Iberia became a proud owner last year of a 2017 32-foot World Cat. The Catatude was one of the big boats entered in the Offshore Division.

“He got that boat about a month before wedding day” early last year, Hailey Fouquier said before awards were handed out. “We had several different names for that boat. Then he came up with that and it stuck. It just stuck … And he’s got an attitude himself, so it fits,” Hailey said with a chuckle.

“No, I don’t go too much. I can’t handle it. He’s too hardcore,” she said with another soft laugh.

Quotable quotes from the 65th annual IR&GC Saltwater Fishing Rodeo

CYPREMORT POINT — Following are quotable quotes from the 65th annual IR&GC Saltwater Fishing Rodeo:

• “We’ve already weighed one more than 1 pound in the Inside Division. It was the first fish to weigh in … a big ol’ croaker.” — Dustin Louiviere of New Iberia, assistant weighmaster talking about the 1.07-pound croaker that Angelic Broussard carried to the scale. It was the talk of the weigh-in for a few minutes. Then Mike Robideaux brought in a 1.24-pound croaker and it stayed in first place the next three days. Those were some real heavyweights to kick off the action at 3 p.m. June 29.

• “This is her first year (fishing the fishing rodeo). Tell him how many you caught today. Eleven (including a short redfish).” — Cherie Segura of New Iberia, talking to her daughter, Kadience Segura, 5. They fished with her husband, Rayward Segura, and her father-in-law, Lane Segura, on a 21-foot Blazer Bay.

• “He’s running late. We fished later than we were supposed to. Gramp’s going to be mad.” — Cherie Segura to Kadience Segura.

• “We were on the west end and then we went to Shark Bayou. We caught everything in Shark Bayou. She (Kadience) actually fell asleep in the boat coming across again. I actually can’t believe she slept with all that bouncing.” – Lane Segura of New Iberia.

• “We went everywhere, that’s where we were today.” — Tristan James, at fishing rodeo headquarters near closing time Friday talking to assistant weighmaster Dustin Louviere. James emphasized the direction, west, he traveled as he held both hands high, palms outstretched, and waved toward Southwest Pass.

• “I’m going that way tomorrow.” — Tristan James, shifting his body language to the east.

• “I might do the same thing.” Dustin Louviere, noting outboard motor trouble that day stopped his boat six times going across Vermilion Bay. He worked on the problem, a fuel issue, and got the outboard motor running.

• “We missed a garfish at the boat, about 60 pounds. We hit it with a hammer. He (Jonathan Rush) gaffed it and said, ‘Man, I’m scared it’ll bite me.’ So he ungaffed it. The hook came out and it sank to the bottom.” — Trevor Broussard, talking about a big one that got away. He was fishing with Claire Broussard, his wife, Wyatt Broussard, their 4-year-old son, and Rush.

• “That was the first fish in the boat Friday.” — Donald Biggs of Clinton, formerly of Franklin, about the 2.70-pound speckled trout he caught on a black H&H Cocahoe under a popping cork at Nickel Reef. He was fishing with Brad Brown of Lafayette in a 2018 23-foot Pathfinder. The speckled trout finished first in the Inside Division.

• “The key is getting fish in the boat. Putting fish in the icebox is the challenge.” — Paul Migues of New Iberia, crew member on the Sea Mistress, a 26-foot Lafco hull owned and skippered by Jacques Hebert of Patoutville.

• “In the boat out at sea, they’re not out there fishing against each other. They’re fishing together. Kind of like, ‘How are we how are we going to make a good presentation.’ It’s like a well-oiled machine.” — Jacques Hebert.

• “That’s why we fish this. It’s so family-oriented.” — Jeamie Romero of Lydia, the Inside Division’s Best All-Around Fisherwoman for the second time in three years, after a weekend on the water with her husband, Brian Romero. She said they probably will fish the event with their grandchildren in 2019.

• “I’m just happy and excited. We had a good time. We fish hard as a team. It was a team effort.” — Lynn “The Bear” Hebert of Jeanerette, Bon Temps skipper who won the Inside Division’s Boat Captain’s Award on the 21-foot Sea Hunt. His crew members were his brother, Chris Hebert of Jeanerette, and his brother-in-law, Charles Latham of Youngsville.

• “We’ve got .5 points!” — David Richardson of Kaplan, skipper of Tee Nah Nah, a 42-foor Bertram, a 1979 model. He was laughing as results were posted in the Offshore Division. Richardson fished with Bill Deshotel and Chad Darby, both of Abbeville, Hatch Trahan of Kaplan and Gary and Nancy Trahan of Kaplan.

• “That’s my youngest child. We raised him on a boat in a playpen under the cabin. Now look what he’s accomplished as a fisherman. His daddy (Kim Fouquier of New Iberia) was a deckhand yesterday … from captain to deckhand.” — Kathy Fouquier of New Iberia, talking proudly about Blake Fouquier of New Iberia, skipper of the Catatude, a 32-foot World Cat.

• “It was a hard-pulling fish. It took a while to come up. It was about 40 feet in the water when we started to see him. Excited? Oh, yes sir.” — Jordan Hebert, talking about the 10.5-pound mangrove snapper, which set a fishing rodeo record. Hebert

• “Yeah, it was a big mangrove. I told him, ‘Keep it on the side. It’s a good fish.’ ” — Aubrey Dauterive of New Iberia, skipper of a 36-foot barge he took 84 miles offshore Saturday to the South Marsh Island blocks with family and friends. He was referring to Hebert’s record-breaking mangrove snapper.

• “We were just having fun, a good family fun day. Nine of us. The water was pretty. We saw a bunch of fish and way too many sharks. We’d have to keep moving. The sharks were on us.” — Aubrey Dauterive.