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Top Rod Big Bass Classic-Louisiana PepperPlex
By: Don Shoopman
Updated: 01/18/2008 at 9:41 PM
The Daily Iberian -
The hottest thing going for bass anglers in the Teche Area will benefit the hottest thing going for youth sports in and around New Iberia.
Excitement has been building ever since radio fishing show host Elvis Jeanminette announced that his populer Big Bass Classic is scheduled to be held Feb. 10 on Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe. The new twist to the four-year-old tournament, only one of its kind in the region, is that it will serve as a fundraising event for the Louisiana PepperPlex.
Jeanminette, who has been on the air Friday mornings like clockwork the past two years at KANE 1240-AM in New Iberia, said it was a natural choice after events over the summer reorganized the benefactor during the tournament's first four years - Court Appointed Special Advocates of Acadiana. The event was known as the Mardi Gras Mambo Big Bass Classic but has been renamed the Top Rod Big Bass Classic.
"Everybody was waiting to hear and they heard it this morning that we will have a Top Rod Big Bass Classic. Let me tell you what ... this is going to be the greatest event ever," Jeanminette said Friday afternoon.
Why the name switch?
"My thing is I always like to have a tournament. I like the name Top Rod, ever since Clay Peltier called me that," Jeanminette said with a chuckle.
The Grand Marais outdoorsman, who celebrated his 50th birthday Tuesday, got serious when he talked about the new benefactor of the tournament, which awards cash prizes to the biggest three bass each hour of the eight-hour long event. He had talked with me over the summer and realized the impact the Iberia Sports Complex Commission has had on the community through the building of the PepperPlex.
Jeanminette said he wanted to lend his expertise in bass tournaments and fundraising to the cause.
"I just decided now is the time for the kids who really do well to pay them on the back and do something for them, the ones who play baseball and soccer. The ones who are in sports are going to achieve academically," he said.
"I love the PepperPlex and it's a place for our kids to enjoy themselves and stay out of trouble," he said. "I'd rather all the kids learn fishing and hunting, but a lot of kids don't have that available, so they get into basketball, soccer, football, hockey and baseball.
"I'll help support them. They can't wait to see it become a reality."
The PepperPlex opened in September when the Iberia Soccer Association began its 2007-08 fall season at the new complex along Sucrose Drive. The second phase of construction is will
begin soon.
The Top Rod Fishing Show got a quick response on the radio from ISCC president Troy Comeaux of New Iberia, who has watched the soccer and baseball fields materialize in what once was a sugar cane field. He called in as soon as he heard the news.
"Oh, I'm very excited," Comeaux said later. "We've been looking for different types of fundraisers for the PepperPlex. This is a great idea. We're definitely looking forward to it."
Last year's Mardi Gras Mambo Big Bass Classic raised an estimated $3,200 for CASA.
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