Breaux leading the way as Nicholls State gets back on the bass trail

Give Dylan Breaux a flippin’ rod and his favorite hunk of soft plastic on the business end and he’s content pulling bass from waters anywhere.

The Nicholls State University Bass Federation sophomore said, “Flippin’. We go together like peanut butter and bread.”

Oh, he will mix it up with his other favorite artificial lures — spinnerbaits and plastic frogs. But when push comes to shove, as in a bass tournament, he’ll rely on flippin’ and/or punchin’.

That’s what the sophomore did early this year during a college derby with NSU teammate Joel Richard of Labadieville at the Harris Chain of Lakes in Florida.

“We did pretty well given the fact it’s 12 hours away,” Breaux said. “We got there with 3 ½ days of practice. We all found fish. (But) it was really hard to come by size.”

That Breaux and Richard were fishing for the Colonels is a credit to the 20-year-old outdoorsman who competed in high school tournaments as a member of the Lafourche Bassmasters. Breaux was crestfallen when coronavirus-related concerns shut down programs like NSU’s.

Had to wait

The rising program he wanted to join after he enrolled was dormant for two years.

“I was looking forward to that,” he said about the program starting back up,  noting the team’s leadership also graduated during the down time.

The NSU Bass Federation soared to prominence after being founded by Tyler Rivet in 2012 with the help of faculty advisor Dr. Alyson Theriot. With his own passion for bassin’, Breaux has followed in the footsteps of Rivet.  He is the team’s student president.

“I decided it was time for the team to make a comeback,” Breaux said. “I talked to Dr. Theriot. We’re still in early baby steps and we’ve got only 8-9 members in the club. There’s a lot of room for improvement.”

It’s hardly surprising the grandson of a tugboat captain who owned a popular bait shop has fishing in his veins, mostly bass fishing. Breaux loves it so much he helped start a high school fishing team while attending Central Lafourche High School.

As a high school bass angler, Breaux qualified for two national tournaments, one at Kentucky Lake and another at Lake Chickamauga.

The Bayou Blue resident spent most of his waking hours as a boy at Capt. Allen’s Bait & Tackle LLC in Chauvin along Bayou Petit Caillou. His grandfather, Allen Bourg, who now lives in Houma, fueled the boy’s love for the outdoors.

“I grew up in the tackle shop,” Breaux said recently. “It’s on a bayou. I’d go catch a perch and my grandma would cook it for lunch. There wasn’t a day Monday through Friday I didn’t have a fishin’ pole in my hand.”

Keeps a rod in his hand

The business administration major has a fishing rod in his hand as much as possible. He and the Colonels were staying on the water in tournaments in April at Lake Guntersville; May on the Red River and September at Lake Sam Rayburn. Noah Prosperie, Nick Toups, Laine Trosclair, Miles Smith and Zachary Henderson have been the most active members of the club since it got going again.

At this time of year, Breaux keeps his line wet and hones his bass fishing game in productive local waters.

“Around here, it’s very hard to beat Dularge in May in the marsh… typical Louisiana fishing … spinnerbaits, frogs. You can get to work real fast,” he said. “I would just say across Lake Decade, if you can find moving water you can catch them.”

He mostly flips or pitches a watermelon/red or June bug Zoom Speed Craw. But, he said in the same breath, it’s hard to beat a chartreuse/white Humdinger spinnerbait or a black plastic frog (clear skies) or white plastic frog (overcast).

Breaux and others have been inspired by Rivet, who won the Bassmasters Elite Series opener in mid-February of 2023 at Lake Okeechobee. Rivet graduated with a degree in petroleum engineering, then embarked on a pro bass fishing career.

“It’s really an eye-opener to us,” Breaux said. “Nicholls Bass Federation was a no-name before Tyler got here, really. It opens everyone’s eyes to what you can do if you apply yourself.”

After college, he said, “Fishing will be a big part of my life. I do plan to fish some (Bassmaster) Opens (later down the road). I’ll take it a day at a time.”