For all the marbles
Window opens for long runs on final day of Redfish Series Championship
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – They fished through four tournaments over two divisions to qualify for the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship. Then they endured fierce storms and pouring rain on day one of the Championship.
After the cut was made on day two, what’s left standing are the best of the best: the top-5 redfish teams in the Redfish Series Championship fishing for a potential $100,000 on the final day of competition.
The rain has quit, the skies have cleared and the wind has diminished, leaving the door wide open for 11th-hour heroic runs to the fabled waters of Louisiana for those who need to make up ground.
Among those looking to stage a Louisiana upset are the fifth place team of Sam Bertha 
and Gary McKenzie. This morning the team plotted out a 160 mile course (one way) to the Louisiana marsh.
“It’s 6 hours of running, about 1 hour of fueling and maybe an hour of fishing time,” Bertha said. “But we’ve done this before. In July we made this same run in another tournament and caught 15.23 pounds of redfish in 20 minutes and made it back.”
“It’s the only chance we have at winning,” McKenzie said. “We have to make up 2-3/4 pounds and there is only one place to do that – Louisiana.”
The Texas team of Brett Phillips and Mike Patterson will be joining Bertha and McKenzie on their giant journey to Louisiana for the same reason.
“We’ve got to make up serious ground to have a shot at the win,” said Phillips, who sits in fourth place, 2-1/2 pounds off the lead.
In the “staying close” department are the teams of Steve White and Barnie White (2nd place) and Kris Walter and Danny Winters (3rd).
The Whites will be counting on quality redfish bites from deeper water near the I-10 causeway in Mobile Bay while Walter and Winters will be traveling a scant 17 miles to the west to fish a small tidal creek.
“No heroics here,” said Walter this morning. “We’re just going to catch our consistent 10 to 12 pounds. We don’t want to wish bad luck on anybody but we are putting ourselves in a position to capitalize on a major stumble by the top teams – strange things can happen on those long runs.”
And all of the teams are chasing the leaders, Bennie Hatten and Randy Macik of Texas, who will be returning to their secluded marsh pond off the Mississippi Sound in hopes that their fish will cooperate for just one more day.
“I’d be happy with 12 pounds again today,” said Hatten, who has weighed in over 
12 pounds per day the last two days. “I think that would seal it for us.”
The final day weigh-in of the FLW Redfish Series Championship begins at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Wharf located at 23101 Canal Road in Orange Beach.
Saturday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:56 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 57 degrees
Expected high temperature: 81 degrees
Water temperature: 75 degrees
Forecasted winds: NE 10 to 15
Day’s outlook: sunny and dry