Anglers reel in big bass

• By JOE MACALUSO
• Advocate outdoors writer
• Published: Jul 7, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Steve Fontana and Roy Winston admitted the only holiday fireworks they wanted to see over the Fourth of July weekend were the kind that sparkle with dollar signs.

That happened Sunday when the gray-haired Baton Rougeans won their respective divisions on the final day of the Pro Bass Challenge, the city’s only major fishing tournament.

Usually held during the final weekend in June, the PBC was moved to the summer’s major holiday because the River Center was booked last week.

“We went with the dates the Center gave us, and it worked out great,” Challenge organizer George Shaheen said after the last of the 50 boats paraded across the Center’s floor and Rusty Cappo announced the final weights in the Pro Angler and Pro Sports Player divisions.

Fontana won the Pro Angler and Winston the Pro Sports Player divisions and took home respective winnings of $15,000 and a Ranger Bass Boat and Yamaha Outboard.

Fontana is a long-practiced bass angler in the Lake Verret-Belle River area south of Pierre Part, the Assumption Parish town near where hundreds of Capital City area outdoorsmen have get-away-from-it-all camps.

Fontana said he patterned his approach to the bass tournament because it was a holiday weekend.

“I like to fish deep water, and all the activity on the water during a big holiday weekend like this helped me and the way I fish,” he said.

For years, Winston, nicknamed “Moonie,” has been better known for his exploits on football fields, first for Istrouma High, then as an All-America linebacker at LSU and then an All-NFL linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings.

Now, after winning his fourth divisional Pro Bass Challenge title, and serving as a hunting guide for the Wounded Warrior Program, Winston has more than staked his claim in the area’s outdoors hall of fame.

“I had two great partners, Donald Corey on the first day (Saturday) then an old friend Donald Braud today (Sunday),” Winston said. “They are two great fishermen and it was pretty tough trying to catch fish behind them.”

Most of the anglers said finding and catching bass in the Lake Verret-Belle River area wasn’t difficult. “The biggest problem was catching big bass,” Braud said. “There are lot of small bass all over the place, and Moonie and I had a ball catching fish today. It’s a real pleasure to spend a day fishing with an old friend like Moonie on a holiday like the Fourth of July. That’s what a holiday is made for, isn’t it?”

Black bass in the Verret area must measure at least 14 inches long for a bass angler to add it to his or her daily stringer. State law limits the day’s catch to 10 legal-sized bass. Most bass tournaments limit the daily catch to five bass.