BREAUX BRIDGE – Brad Romero and Raven Owens started winning the first Louisiana Bass Anglers tournament of the year at 6:35 a.m. Feb. 28.
Romero, a New Iberia native who lives in Lafayette, and Owens left with the 26 other boats at safe daylight and stayed close to the jam-packed little boat landing that serves boaters and kayakers who want to fish the small, scenic yet historically productive lake in St. Martin Parish. Before many of the tournament boats even arrived at their respective destinations, Romero set the hook on a 5-pound bass that bounced off the side of the boat when he “boat flipped” it but eventually landed inside the custom-built aluminum boat.
A few minutes later, after they got out the landing net, Owens caught what proved to be their biggest bass, a 6.74-pounder, and the rout was on. They owned the weigh-in and collected $900 – despite some other notable heavy limits – with their five bass weighing 22.98 pounds (after a .25-pound penalty was assessed for a dead bass).
“We probably had 21 pounds for 7:30. We could have went sit in our truck at 8:30. Only culled one time after that. Anything under 3 pounds we were throwing back,” Romero said…