The Southcentral Fishing Association’s 2022 Angler of the Year race is close and exciting going into the fifth and final regular-season tournament July 23.
How exciting?
“Oh, well, we’re real excited about it. We can’t wait till we get on the water,” Perry Scott of Broussard said Thursday morning. “Hopefully we get a good Saturday (weather-wise) of fishing and we’ll give it our best shot.”
Scott, 69, retired owner of Overhead Door Co. of Lafayette Inc., is a crew member aboard Fish Karma, a 24-foot long Blue Wave captained by his son, Brooks Amy of Broussard. Scott, Amy and Jacob Fisher of St. Martinville are atop the point standings before the regular-season finale with 746 points.
Fish Karma owns a razor-thin margin after four tournaments over Glenn St. Germain and Josh Napier with 745 points. Napier’s father, Brian Napier, usually fishes with them but missed the second tournament of 2022. However, all three teamed up to win the SFA opener on March 26.
St. Germain’s son, Josh St. Germain, and grandson, Noah St. Germain, are third in the standings with 723 points.
Fish Karma’s captain and crew is gunning for its first AOY. They have finished the year in the Top 5 several times, according to Brooks Amy, whose son, Hayden Amy, has fished two of the four tournaments.
“We’ve never won overall but we have won the (SFA) Classic,” Amy said.
That they have a crack at their first title is, well, exciting.
“That would be nice. That would be an achievement. We’re definitely fishing the best in the area,” the 43-year-old Overhead Door Co. of Lafayette Inc. owner said.
“We’re going to have to stay consistent like we have all season and keep grinding at it. I think if we do first, second or third we’ll have a good shot at it. Hopefully the weather’s good and we find us some good fish,” Amy said.
Fish Karma has finished first, second, fifth and eighth in the popular circuit’s “slot” redfish tournaments this year. The crew grabbed first place in the third tournament on May 21 with two “slot” redfish weighing 11.45 pounds, including the biggest redfish of the day, an 8.4-pounder.
It’ll be even hotter for the fifth tournament. The heat comes into play.
“If we can get on them early before it gets too hot, normally we do well. Once the midday heat gets on us it normally slows down for us,” Amy said.
His father said it’s a hard-fishing crew aboard Fish Karma.
“We’ve got a good crew that fishes very, very hard. We always have a line in the water. I don’t know how many casts we make in a day but it’s a lot,” Scott said.
The Fish Karma’s anglers catch most of their redfish on artificials, he said. They usually have a game plan laid out before each tournament starts.
“We have the routine down where we’ll start. We have a route pretty much in ready before we start,” he said.
His grandson is in 22nd-place in the overall standings.
The final tournament begins at 6 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. with weigh-in under the pavilion along Quintana Canal near the Quintana Canal Boat Landing.
“I’m hoping we have a real good turnout for this tournament. We might have some new faces,” he said, noting that as chairman of the recent Iberia Rod & Gun Club Saltwater Fishing Rodeo and SFA president he was approached by several saltwater fishermen inquired about joining and fishing with the SFA.
“Hopefully everybody turns out and hopefully we grow it,” he said.
