DuFour-Bourgeois snare FLW Redfish Series lead

Louisiana natives rely on local knowledge to position themselves for serious run at tournament title

COCODRIE, La. – Although the predicted thunderstorms never materialized, a combination of blaring sun, stifling heat and tricky tides taxed the majority of the 104-team field throughout most of Thursday’s competition. However, in the end, the team of Todd DuFour and Alden Bourgeois emerged on top, netting a 16-pound, 4-ounce stringer to steal the headlines away from the pre-tourney favorites as wells as some of the most accomplished redfishing teams in the nation.

But to be sure, it wasn’t easy.

“I guess our 2 1/2-hour (one-way) boat ride today paid off,” said Bourgeois of the long and grueling travel day which took the team all the way to the Lafitte, La., area. “Tomorrow, we’re going for broke.”

Bourgeois’ partner said a combination of their local knowledge of the Lafitte area and a bountiful supply of baitfish provided the two keys to today’s success.

“I guide in Lafitte so I’m pretty familiar with that area. We decided that it didn’t make sense to fish (locally) or the Venice area when we know Lafitte so well,” said DuFour. “Today, our fish really moved in and starting feeding on sardines. We weren’t targeting any schools, just lots of isolated, individual fish. We did a lot of sight-fishing.”

The duo, who hails from Marrero, La., targeted redfish in about 2 feet of water using a Saltwater Assassin Slurp.

“Our goal was to catch over 15 pounds today and we accomplished that,” said DuFour. “I’m very happy. If we can do this two days in a row, we should be in really good shape.”

Team Duracell targets top-five finish

Not far behind the leaders was the team of Andy Mnichowski, of Marrero, La., and Billy Nicholas, of San Marcos, La. Using a catch of 16 pounds, 2 ounces, the team managed to grind out a second-place finish after taking a pretty long trip of their own.

“We ran about 100 miles each way to Venice, La.,” said Mnichowski. “It was a tough day. The water levels were a little too high for us and a lot of our good fish were disappearing. But we just kept grinding it out.”

In the end, however, their gamble paid off as well.

“Billy wound up catching a 9-pounder, so we really can’t complain,” said Mnichowski. “If we can catch another 16 pounds tomorrow, I like our chances.”

Shaw-VanDemark continue to cruise

” border=”1″ align=”left” />Kevin Shaw and Tadd VanDemark have clearly picked up right where they left off. After walking away with the tournament title at the last Western Division Redfish Series event at Port Aransas, Texas, the dynamic duo is once again back in the hunt for the top prize. Using a total catch of 15 pounds, 13 ounces, the team registered third place overall and is now poised to take a run at back-to-back titles.

“If we can catch the type of fish we caught today each of the next two days we should be at or near the top,” said Shaw, of Corpus Christi, Texas. “The trick here is finding clear water. If you didn’t find clear water or grass in the ponds, then you didn’t catch anything.”

Shaw said the team is confident they can make another title run if things continue to go as planned.

“After we caught those fish today we kind of left them alone,” said Shaw. “We’re basically done fishing at 9:30 a.m. Hopefully, tomorrow, that will work to our advantage.”

Unlike the first- and second-place teams, VanDemark and Shaw made a calculated decision to stay relatively close to the marina and eschew 100-mile runs.

“We prefished Venice for about seven days,” Shaw said. “But after looking at the weather, we realized it could get pretty bad so we decided against making a long run. If those (Texas) storms come in, a lot of teams are going to have to adjust.”

The duo said they relied on DOA Shrimp in purple and chartreuse colors as well as a DOA CAL lure to land the majority of their catch.

Best of the rest

The team of Ray Chagnard and Edward Adams, both of Metairie, La., grabbed fourth place with a total catch of 15 pounds, 11 ounces.

Meanwhile, pre-tournament favorites Todd Adams and Tommy Ramzinsky, both of Rockport, Texas, finished the day in fifth place with a total catch of 15 pounds, 10 ounces.

Friday’s Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series action continues during tomorrow’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 6 a.m. at CoCo Marina located at 106 Pier 56 in Cocodrie, La.