Braxton Resweber, the St. Martinville Louisiana bass angler and his UL Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns Bass Fishing Team partner, T.J. Norris of New Iberia, had a solid five-bass limit in the livewell, weighing 20.69 pounds to win $2,400 and a berth in the 2020 Carhartt Bassmaster in the Outlaw Outdoors College National Championship Qualifer presented by Premier Boating Center on Nov. 16 at Lake Sam Rayburn.
Resweber and Norris shocked the 66-team field, most of them fishing on their home lake, Sam Rayburn.
Resweber and Norris estimated they thought they had around 17 pounds when they came in for the weigh-in, thinking they would be in the Top Five; instead of 17 they had 20 pounds, a full pound ahead of the runner-up team of Derek Pietsch and Trey Dawson, whose limit weighed 19.40 pounds for $1,200. The Texas A&M-Galveston team has been fishing together since their high school days at Montgomery (Texas) High School and won the 2017 Texas High School Bass Association State Championship. ULL’s Andre Adams and Hayden Pinho were third with 18.79 pounds for $900.
Resweber and Norris started Saturday morning in an area that had scattered hydrilla on a flat along a creek channel. Within five minutes Resweber hooked a 4-pounder.
They caught an estimated 10-15 keepers, most of them on a 3/8-ounce white Z-Man Evergreen Chatterbait Jackhammer. The key was locating stumps and marking them for future casts.
Resweber and his partner figured out the pattern and made it work to punch a ticket to nationals in 2020.
Photo courtesy Outlaw Outdoors