Cocodrie to host Redfish Series event
Third event of Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division headed to Louisiana June 28-30
COCODRIE, La. – The Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division will make its third $200,000 regular-season stop June 28-30 in Cocodrie, La. The lucrative tournament will feature as many as 150 redfish teams casting for a top award of $25,000 cash, guaranteed, and $25,000 in Ranger, Yamaha and Evinrude bonuses.
“I fish in Louisiana from March until August, and that place is just amazing,” said Team Chevy pro Danny Adams of Rockport, Texas, who, along with teammate Billy Nicholas of San Marcos, Texas, placed fourth in the Cocodrie event last year. “It seems like there’s always an abundance of fish.”
Adams is fishing this season with teammate Scott Isbell of Rockport, Texas, and anticipates a number of anglers will make the 110-mile one-way run to the Venice, La., area if the weather permits.
“It was a bad run last year,” Adams said. “We knew that if the wind kicked up much above 15 miles per hour, it was going to be bad. We had to cross 27 miles of open Gulf, and it was tough. Those open bays in Louisiana are tough enough as it is, but the Gulf is even worse. We had winds to 20 miles per hour and 4-foot seas.
“But you have to go look,” Adams said. “If you’re in striking distance of the Venice area, you have to give it a shot. In the Cocodrie event last year, three of the top five teams were fishing the Venice area.”
Adams predicts the majority of anglers will be sight-fishing at the numerous targets that Louisiana offers.
“Am I going to rely on it?” Adams asked rhetorically. “Of course not. Coming from south Texas, we’re not huge sight-fishermen anyway. And we fish out of a 22-foot Ranger – it’s not exactly a sight-casting rig.
“Sight-fishing is a good tool to have and a good thing to be good at, but to completely rely on it, I’d believe you’d really be hurting yourself,” Adams added.
Adams predicts anglers will need 15 to 15 1/2 pounds a day to make the cut to the top five and advance to the final day of competition.
“In Louisiana, all bets are off,” Adams said. “It’s never happened, but there is a possibility of two 18-pound stringers being weighed. I’ve seen the fish and I’ve held the fish. I’ve just never been able to catch two of them on a tournament day. And stringing together three days of 18-pound stringers – that’s asking a bit much. But in that area of the country, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities.”
Anglers will take off at 6 each morning from CoCo Marina located at 106 Pier 56 in Chauvin, La. Weigh-ins will also be held at the marina Thursday and Friday beginning at 3 p.m. The final weigh-in will be held Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store located at 1633 Martin Luther King Blvd. in Houma, La. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free, and the community is invited to attend the festivities.
The Cocodrie FLW Redfish Series event is hosted by the Houma Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The winning team will receive a top award of $25,000. If Ranger contingency guidelines are met, the winning team will also receive a $12,500 cash bonus. If Yamaha or Evinrude contingency guidelines are met, the winning team will receive an additional $12,500 cash bonus for a total of $50,000.
The top 50 teams in the FLW Redfish Series based on points standings at the end of the season will advance to the $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Championship presented by BP Oct. 18-20 in Orange Beach, Ala. The winning team at the championship will earn as much as $100,000.
In FLW Redfish Series competition, 150 points are awarded to the winner, 149 for second, 148 for third, and so on. All teams that receive weight credit will receive points that determine team standings. All FLW Redfish Series events are three-day tournaments (Thursday, Friday and Saturday). The full field competes during the first two days, and the top five teams based on accumulated weight advance to day three. Final standings are determined by the total weight from all three days.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Walmart.com.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.