CYPREMORT POINT -- Kathy Montet proved this wasn’t her first rodeo, by any means.

Striking a blow for avid outdoorswomen everywhere, Montet came on strong this holiday weekend to win the Best All-Around Fisher(wo)man trophy in the Inside Division of the 56th annual Iberia Rod & Gun Club Saltwater Fishing Rodeo. She fished hard the first two days, the second day as her own skipper, and then grudgingly stayed at the camp Sunday when high winds whipped up 3- to 4-foot waves in Vermilion Bay.

While Montet was winning the Inside Division, Tim Sandoz was skippering the boat that took the Inside Division’s Boat Captain’s Award. Sandoz and Mike Broussard, who he called his “co-captain,” even though he was the only other one in the boat, led wire-to-wire in the three-day holiday weekend event.

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Montet said she was proud and pleasantly surprised with the victory, which came on the strength of a winning speckled trout (4.70 pounds) she put on the leaderboard Friday and a second-place croaker (1.06 pounds) she entered Saturday. Her accumulated points totaled 446, more than enough to turn back Broussard, with 341, and Grant Myers, with 337.

“It’s exciting. It’s the first year I win first all-around. I feel very blessed and very lucky,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun, a lot of hard work because of the heat and hot weather. (But) it couldn’t go for a better cause. It’s a great event for kids and women to get involved in.”

Still, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. She is a third-generation campowner at Cypremort Point. She has been fishing -- both saltwater and freshwater -- since age 3.

Her love for the outdoors carried into adulthood. She has been a volunteer instructor the last 10 years for the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Becoming An Outdoors-Woman program in which she teaches campfire cuisine, a Dutch oven cooking class that’s a favorite among the women who attend the camp each year near Alexandria.

Montet, a former member of the IR&GC, was focused on saltwater fishing this weekend. She fished with her husband, Richard, the first day in their (she made sure to emphasis our) 10 1/2-foot Key West “Reel Ruckus.”

On Saturday, she took the boat out herself with her father-in-law, Paul Montet, and nephew, Cory Montet.

“I did not fish today,” she said before getting her trophies. “When you have 4-foot seas in The Cove, it’s a little tough for a 19 1/2-foot boat.

She caught the nice speckled trout in Southwest Pass, where she also caught a 19 1/2-pound jack crevalle. Alas, there was no category for that fish in the Inside Division.

Sandoz, the boat captain, rode two bull reds to get the cup. The fish were caught Friday with Broussard getting a 31.6-pounder and Sandoz catching a 30.4-pounder.

“We stuck to our guns. We had good bait, good mullet, and we fished bull reds. There are other days for speckled trout,” Sandoz said, noting he made an effort to avoid the maddening crowd on the reefs outside Marsh Island, particularly Tee Butte, so he concentrated on Southwest Pass and Boxcar Reef on the east end of the Pass.

“It was nice. We didn’t have to go too far,” he said.

Sandman’s point total was 542, far ahead of Absolut Addiction, 109, and Blow Fly, 180.