CYPREMORT POINT -- There were some major changes favoring the distaff half of anglers Saturday in the heated races for individual bragging rights in the Junior and Inside divisions of the 56th annual Iberia Rod & Gun Club Saltwater Fishing Rodeo.

For some fishing rodeo anglers, though, a child’s smile and excitement from catching one or more fish was more than enough reward for fishing under the hot sun on the Fourth of July. Take it from Tayte Ronsonet, whose 9-year-old son Luke fished with her and her father Pat Hebert, and from Korie LeBlanc, who fished with her husband Chad, their two children Sydni, 8, and Brock, 7, and fishing rodeo chairman Tonny Touchet’s son Tyler, 11.

Luke Ronsonet caught a 20-inch long redfish soon after the “Lil-Abe,” Hebert’s boat, stopped to fish along The Worm in Marsh Island. Hours later, the boy looked at that fish in the ice chest with pride even though it didn’t have a chance to crack the leaderboard in the Junior Division.

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“That was one of the first ones we caught. He was so excited,” Tayte Ronsonet said.

The North Lewis Elementary School student and the rest of the boat’s occupants drank plenty of liquids, she said.

“Boy, you ain’t lying. It’s hot. We drank a lot of water and Powerade to make it through the day,” she said.

Korie LeBlanc got to do something very rare on a fishing rodeo weekend. She went fishing with the family as Chad LeBlanc, veteran fishing rodeo chairman and weighmaster, passed the reins on to Tonny Touchet. Touchet’s son Tyler also went with out with the LeBlancs.

“We’re not working �- we’re fishing with our children. As a matter of fact, we took Tonny’s boy with us and he caught all the fish,” Korie said upon their return to fishing rodeo headquarters in their 22-foot Stamas “Always Late.” They fished mostly at Dry Reef, she said.

“It was time for a break. I do miss it, to see all the fish and the fishermen come in,” she said as she looked at the fishing rodeo officials working in front of the leaderboards and at the scales. “But the kids love to fish and they were out there with their dad. We were fishing as a family.”

Young Touchet made his mark on the leaderboard with a .79-pound croaker that started at the top and ended in third place when the scales closed. According to Korie, the youngster was a fishing machine.

“I hadn’t even thrown out the anchor yet and he was casting and catching fish. He’s a diehard,” she said.

About those major changes involving the distaff half of the field.

Kathy Montet took the second-day lead for Best All-Around Fisher(wo)man in the Inside Division and Alyssa Broussard surged ahead in a bid to become the Junior Division’s Best All-Around Fisher(wo)man. Montet’s 272 points passed up first-day leader Mike Broussard while Alyssa Broussard’s 514 points bumped early leader Hunter Derouen.

Montet goes into the third and final day today with a first-place speckled trout at 4.70 pounds and a second-place croaker at 1.06 pounds. She put the croaker on the leaderboard Saturday.

Broussard had a field day Saturday. She put up 2.95-pound sheepshead for second and a 24.5-pound garfish for first. Her 2.6-pound flounder slipped from first to second behind Laura Delcambre’s 3.24-pound that also went up Saturday.

While the girl and young woman were making their mark by tacking more fish on the leaderboard, Tim Sandoz’ Sandman stayed ahead in the race for the Inside Division’s Boat Captain’s Award and some beautiful fish hit the scales in the Runabout Division.

A 110.4-pound stingray was one of the highlights of the second day. The huge fish came off the Choctaw Tradeup, a boat skippered by Stuart Duncan.

Duncan said it took him 30 minutes to fight and land the fish, which he at first thought was a big grouper.

“We had to pull off the area we were fishing to get it away so it wouldn’t pop off. It was a dead weight,” Duncan said.

Duncan’s crew �” Andrew Holleman, James Holleman, Lindley Holleman, Blake Breaux and Grant Thomas �” made its mark in the Runabout Division. So did Lenny Delcambre’s Southbound.

Southbound, a 26-foot long Gravois hull, also put five fish on the leaderboard, four by the skipper, including first-place lemonfish (46.3 pounds) and mangrove snapper (10.9 pounds). His son Brandon Delcambre had a second-place lemonfish (40.4 pounds).

Southbound’s crew included Kevin Miller, Tim Vice and Vice’s son Talmon Vice.

“We got some good lemonfish,” Tim Vice said in an understatement.

Several Offshore Division boats unloaded their catch. One of them was the “Cadillac,” a 27-foot long World Cat skippered by Chris Francis of Carencro. Jacob Denison of New Iberia, one of the crew members, boasted a 44.6-pound amberjack at the top of the leader board going into the last day.

“We caught some pretty good fish,” Denison said after the trip to the Auger far south in the Gulf of Mexico. “We got eight yellowfins, two rainbow runners and our four amberjacks and eight snapper.”

The IR&GC’s Bass Division was won Saturday by Guy Badeaux, whose five bass topped a five-boat field. Badeaux’s catch weighed 10.57 pounds and won $147.

Barry Romero and Trayton Derouen finished second in the one-day tournament with three bass weighing 5.90 pounds for $63.

Ricky Watkins and Cody Pattillo got a plaque for finishing third but won $45 with their only bass of the hot day, a 4.35-pounder caught by Pattillo.

The bass fishermen started at safe daylight from Marsh Field Landing at Lake Fausse Pointe under the watchful eye of Touchet. Tommy Lipari, who runs the local Hawg Fight circuit, weighed the fish at 3 p.m.