Baylen Guy and Brandt Babineaux find ways to make winning extra exciting
You know things are going good for you when a fishin’ rod gets tangled in the landing net, then a jerkbait with all its hooks, while your high school bass tournament partner is fighting a 10-plus pound bass.
And you still get the net under the “hawg” to land the fish that ate a Jackhammer Chatterbait before diving under the boat at the height of all the tangle-ation.
Or when you’re fishing another tournament on a river where the bass bite can be tough and you have a 10-minute feeding frenzy and catch 30 to 40 bass, including a 2 ½-pound “spot,” on shad-colored KVD crankbaits.
Those scenarios both played out for Teurlings Catholic Rebel Fishing Team members Baylen Guy and Brandt Babineaux of Breaux Bridge. They rode those highlights in eight tournaments on the Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation circuit.
Their results speak for themselves. Consistency is the name of their game.
Babineaux and the big one
Babineaux, a sophomore, got his hands on that 10.37-pound bass at the Caney Lake tournament in March. He and Guy, a senior, tapped into that school of bass around Calcasieu River cypress trees in October.
The Rebels, both aspiring to earn bass fishing scholarships to college, finished 10th and 16th, respectively, in those derbies. Starting with a 32nd in their first outing in September 2021 at Toledo Bend, they have recorded a 10th at Caney Lake; 7th at Doiron’s Landing; 10th at Toledo Bend; 16th in the state tournament on the Ouachita River; 13th at Doiron’s Landing; 16th on the Calcasieu River, and 8th on the Red River.
They are on track to finish atop the overall standings for 2022-23. Babineaux believes they’ll make it happen.
“I think we can,” Babineaux said. “To be honest, if we fish all the tournaments, we can definitely win it.”
The Teurlings team finished runner-up on the LHSBN Louisiana Traii behind 2021-22 Anglers of the Year from Thibodaux High School — Levi Thibodeaux and Jace Andras.
Guy, also a bowhunter, went to the Bassmaster High School Combine in September 2022. He talked to college coaches from LSU, Auburn, East Texas Baptist and Montevallo, but his early favorite is Mississippi State.
He is looking forward to the remaining LHSBN schedule for 2022-23, but knows they’ll be challenged April 15 at Manchac.
He wanted more
Guy began fishing for sac-a-lait at age 3 or 4 with his grandfather, Albert “Pa-Pop” Guy of Sunset, at Henderson Lake and the Atchafalaya Basin. At 5, he remembers crying when his “Pa-Pop” wanted to call it a day around 5 p.m. on Henderson Lake.
He started fishing for bass several years ago. He fished as a freshman and sophomore for TCHS with Collin Broussard, who later transferred to another school.
After Babineaux moved from Duson into Guy’s neighborhood with his family, Guy asked him to fish. The results have been eye-opening, mostly because they both love to fish plastic frogs and they’ve done their homework on the water.
“Prefishing was very important for us,” Guy said. “We go the day before. At Calcasieu, we caught close to 12 pounds the day before the tournament and at Red River around 10-11 pounds. I didn’t scout before Doiron’s. They (the Babineauxs) did pretty good (prefishing), caught 12-13 pounds.”
They were 13th with 10.62 pounds in September at Doiron’s Landing, 16th a month later with 7.83 pounds on the Calcasieu River and 8th in November with 7.44 pounds on the Red River.
Consistency shows
Their consistency really showed last spring with a 10th-place showing of 15.56 pounds in March at Toledo Bend, plus another 10th-place finish the same month at Caney Lake. Babineaux’s 10.37-pounder anchored their 17.63-pound limit.
Babineaux’s father, Mike Babineaux, the captain who drives them to their fishin’ holes in a Nitro Z-20, said he’s “never seen such consistency in two young anglers in my life. They deserve any praise they get.”
He won’t get an argument from Tommy Abbott, Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation circuit director. Abbott called the duo “two of the most consistent that we’ve seen the last two years.”
They qualified for the Bassmaster High School Championship held last August on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina, where they finished 218th in the 311-boat field. Babineaux said a decision to fish offshore led to just one keeper bass on Day 1. They fished shallow to get a small limit the next day.
Babineaux is looking ahead to the stretch run of 2022-23. He’s had a heckuva winter as a standout wrestler for TCHS, including winning the 145-pound Elite Varsity Division last November at the 4th annual Mobile (Alabama) Gulf Coast Clash.
The son of Mike and Martha Babineaux said he’d prefer a bass fishing scholarship over a wrestling scholarship. He has been bass fishing since he started targeting bass with his father at age 4.
