Wiggins-Vandemark goes to top in Lafitte

‘Green water,’ pogies keys to top teams’ success

LAFITTE, La. – On Thursday afternoon, as redfish pro Blair Wiggins described the area his teammate Tadd Vandemark had found during practice for the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series event in Lafitte, Wiggins remarked, “…I think he may have found the jackpot.”

Indeed, it’s starting to look like Vandemark has found the jackpot, as the Florida-based team more than doubled their 15 pounds, 15 ounces from Thursday with 16 pounds, 5 ounces today to take the lead in the Western Division event with a two-day total of 32 pounds, 4 ounces.

“It was just an awesome day,” said Wiggins, still riddled with excitement from a last-minute flurry of redfish action this afternoon. “In the last 20 minutes, everything just went ballistic. The pogies moved in, then the big jacks moved in – I caught a 45-pound jack – and then the big reds moved in. Tadd and I and Kevin Shaw and his partner – all four of our rods were doubled over for 20 minutes straight before we had to leave.”

Wiggins and Vandemark fished the same honeyhole near Venice, La., that produced their catch yesterday, located in a deep pass off the main river that features Mississippi River water flow and deep, wood cover.

“It’s all about emerald-green water, good current, deep structure and pogies,” Wiggins said. “The green water and wood cover isn’t going anywhere, but we really need those pogies to stay around. When they show up, the reds show up, and it’s game on.”

Needless to say, the Floridians will return to their deep spot tomorrow for a shot at their first Redfish Series title.

Adams-Chagnard moves to second

Edward Adams and Ray Chagnard, both of Metairie, La., moved into second place today with a day-two catch of 16 pounds, 7 ounces, giving them a two-day total of 31 pounds, 7 ounces.

The team used their local expertise to locate reds in a pond just off the Mississippi River that had just the right combination of pogies and “snot grass.”

“Redfishing here this time of year is all about the pogies,” Chagnard said. “The full moon and higher tides bring big schools of pogies into the ponds, and the reds go crazy on them.”

Not only do the pogies give away the reds, the big baitfish also make the redfish fat.

“Once the reds start eating pogies, they can gain half to three-quarters of a pound in just a couple of days,” Chagnard added.

The other critical ingredient the team looks for this time of year is a vegetation they call “snot grass.”

“It’s that scummy green-looking stuff that floats around on the surface,” Chagnard explained. “That vegetation is like a filter that cleans the incoming water and clears the pond up.

“Pogies and snot grass,” he emphasized one more time. “It doesn’t sound like a pretty mix, but when it comes to redfishing in Venice, that’s the right combination.”

Phillips-Patterson holds onto third

Brett Phillips and Mike Patterson, both of Rockport, Texas, matched their day-one weight of 15 pounds, 6 ounces with a duplicate catch today for a two-day total of 30 pounds, 12 ounces.

Phillips and Patterson discovered a deep-water pattern quite by accident today as they were trolling across a boat canal to get to the other side of a pond.

“We were just blind-casting around as we moved and caught a good red right out in the middle of the canal that runs through the pond,” Patterson said. “So we power-poled down on the edge and started throwing into the boat canal, into about 12 feet of water, and started catching reds one after another. We had no idea those fish were there.

“We normally fish the shallower flats in this particular pond, but the fish were off the flats this morning. Apparently they had moved out into the canal.”

Adams-Ramzinsky: unstoppable

Todd Adams and Tommy Ramzinsky put an exclamation point on their Redfish Series Western Division points title today by qualifying for their fourth top-five in the last two seasons.

To date, that brings the team’s Redfish Series accomplishments to the following: leading money winners with $139,000; heaviest one-, two- and three-day weight totals; most number of top-fives (4); two tournament wins, including the Redfish Series Championship in 2005; and now a Western Division points title.

These guys are unstoppable, and once again, they ended up at the right place at the right time today to catch 15 pounds, 10 ounces for a two-day total of 30 pounds, 11 ounces, good for fourth.

Adams and Ramzinsky are actually fishing in the same area as third-place team Phillips-Patterson.

“It’s a pond that used to be isolated from the river,” Adams said. “But since the hurricane, I think it’s been reconnected to the river by a canal, so it’s got some main-river influence.”

Like Phillips and Patterson, Adams and Ramzinsky discovered that the fish they had been catching in the shallow flats of the pond had backed off into deeper water.

“It wasn’t real deep,” Adams noted. “It broke from about 2 feet to 4 feet, but it was certainly deeper than they had been when they were up on the flat.”

Due to the clear water, the team could actually see redfish cruising along the break and began pitching Bass Assassin Sea Shads to them.

“Once we backed out to the break, we probably caught 20 to 30 reds,” Adams added.

Mnichowski-McGill takes last qualifying spot

Back in June, Andy Mnichowski and John McGill, both of Louisiana, won the Redfish Series Western out of Cocodrie, La.

Today, the team made a last-minute decision to try the spot that gave them that win in June, and the move turned into a ticket to the top five at Lafitte.

“We only had about an hour to fish when we got in there,” McGill said. “But it paid off because we caught a redfish that helped us cull up by a half a pound.”

The last-minute cull put the team in fifth place with a two-day total of 30 pounds, 9 ounces, giving them the last qualifying spot by an ounce.

Field set for finals

The top-five cut has been made, and the finalists will launch from Lafitte Harbor Marina at 6:30 a.m. Saturday.