Mnichowski-McGill mastery

Louisiana team leads wire to wire to capture Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series title at Cocodrie

COCODRIE, La. – Apparently the team of Andy Mnichowski and John McGill decided that leading an FLW Redfish Series event for two straight days wasn’t quite exciting enough. Using a potent combination of sheer determination and expert angling, the team traversed another 200 miles of Louisiana marshland on the final day of competition to solidify their place in the FLW Redfish Series record books – landing the day’s largest stringer and raising the bar for redfish anglers everywhere by refusing to relinquish the lead at any point during the entire three-day event.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Mnichowski, a native of Marrero, La. “I’m on Cloud Nine right now. To win a major event like this is fantastic. It’s everything I dreamed it would be and more.”

Heading into the finals, Mnichowski and McGill had a precarious 5-ounce lead. However, today’s 15-pound, 15-ounce stringer was a full 8 ounces more than the next biggest bag brought to the scales during Saturday’s final weigh-in. In short, by the time weigh-in had concluded, there was no doubt who was the best team this week on the Louisiana Gulf.

“We knew we had a good sack and that if we got close to 16 pounds, it was going to be hard for somebody else to beat us,” said Mnichowski, whose team ultimately recorded a three-day total weight of 48 pounds, 4 ounces. “We’re worried about the Culpeppers (who entered the final day of competition in second place) but in the end we felt we had enough to win.”

And win they did. For their efforts, Mnichowski and McGill not only walked away with $37,500 in prize money – $25,000 for first place as well as another $12,500 as part of a Yamaha engine bonus program – but they also moved up to fifth place overall in the year-end standings.

But while their win may have looked easy from the outside, Mnichowski argued that they had their work cut out for them during the finals.

“When we got to our spot today, the water levels had really fallen at our main spot,” he said. “So we moved down the bank about 100 yards into deeper water. We really had to adapt today.”

Not to mention the fact that they had to travel hundreds of miles in the process.

“We’ve basically run 600 miles in the last three days,” said Mnichowski, who also doubles as a fishing guide when he’s not fishing tournaments. “I’m just glad it’s over.”

So what is it like to win the biggest tournament of their redfishing careers?

“It’s always hard to get that first big win,” said Mnichowski. “And it’s really hard to do it against such great anglers. This is just the best Father’s Day present I could think of.”

As for their winning strategy, Mnichowski and McGill said they targeted redfish in about 2 1/2 feet of water using a Yum Samurai Shad in a disco minnow color.

Runner-up fatigue

After finishing in second place at the Rockport, Texas, Redfish Series event earlier this season, the father-and-son team of Robert and Darrell Walter couldn’t wait to get back into the top five again. The good news is that it didn’t take very long to make another FLW Redfish Series finals – in fact, it only took another two tournaments. However, the bad news was that, once again, they failed to come up with a tournament title – claiming yet another second-place finish.

“It’s kind of bittersweet, yeah,” said Robert’s son, Darrell. “We were really excited when we got to our spot today and our fish were still there. We knew we had two good fish and we worked really hard for them all day. We’re pumped up heading back to weigh-in. We knew the weights generally fall off on day three and that we had the fish to win it. But the leaders needed to slip a little bit for us to win. In the end, we just came up a little bit short.”

The team ultimately landed a three-day catch weighing 45 pounds, 11 ounces, by targeting redfish in 5 to 6 feet of water primarily using Johnson silver minnow spoons.

“But truthfully, those fish were eating almost anything we threw at them.”

In the end, even though their finish was a bit disappointing, the father-and-son team said that they savored every moment.

“It’s all right. We really enjoyed this tournament,” said Robert, whose team is now ranked second overall in the year-end Western Division standings. “We’ll get that win sooner or later.”

For their efforts, the Rockport, Texas, team walked away with $9,400 in prize money and bonuses.

Team Berkley fails to repeat

After winning first place at the Port Aransas, Texas, Redfish Series event last month, brothers Kris and Jonathan Culpepper had visions of back-to-back titles. However, in the end, it was not to be.

“Everything has to go your way during a three-day tournament and today, we just came up short,” said Kris, whose team turned in a total catch of 45 pounds, 6 ounces.

“We had a tough day,” echoed Jonathan, whose team also suffered a weight penalty for weighing in a deceased redfish. “I wouldn’t say we had a horrible day, but we didn’t get the bit bites we had the first two days. But so far, it’s been a great season. We just need to continue on.”

The Culpeppers, currently ranked third overall in the year-end standings, won $5,400 for their efforts.

Best of the rest

Fourth place belonged to Team Tyson – consisting of Billy Nicholas of San Marcos, Texas, and Danny Adams of Rockport, Texas. The team turned in a total catch of 44 pounds, 4 ounces to win $4,400 in prize money plus an additional $2,000 for qualifying for both Yamaha engine and Ranger boat bonuses.

Although they didn’t net a tourney title, both teammates gave high marks to the Redfish Series latest venue choice.

“This is one of the best fisheries I’ve seen,” said Adams. “We’re probably on 1,500 fish this week. Wherever you looked, the fish were there.”

Rounding out the top-five was the team of Gerry Glueck of River Ridge, La., and Brent Roy of Baton Rouge, La., with a total catch of 44 pounds, 1 ounce. In the end, the Louisiana natives took home $4,100 in prize money and bonuses.

The final Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division event will take place Sept. 7-9 at Lafitte Harbor Marina in Lafitte, La.