NEW ORLEANS – No matter what happens during the remainder of the tournament, pro Chad Dufrene of Purvis, Miss., and co-angler Eugene Abadie III will always be part of FLW Outdoors history after snagging sole possession of first place during the inaugural debut of Redfish Open competition. The duo, which parlayed a whopping 156-mile round trip into the tournament lead, finished the day with a spectacular total catch of 15 pounds, 2 ounces.
“It’s definitely nice to have a good start. And I knew that if we could keep catching 7-pounders all week, we’d be in good shape. But when you’re on top, it’s not always that easy to stay there,” said Dufrene. “But I’m pretty sure we can catch two decent fish tomorrow. Nobody else is really fishing our area, so the fish don’t have that much pressure. Also, the area I’m fishing is really hard to find and even harder to get into. If you’re not familiar with the area, there is no way you are going in there.”
Dufrene said that sight-fishing is his dominant technique and that he is targeting redfish on heavy grass beds in clear water at an approximate depth of 1 to 2 feet.
“If it stays sunny all week and we can continue to sight-fish, the conditions will very much be in our favor,” said Dufrene, who is targeting an area just southwest of Golden Meadow, La. “Overall, we definitely had a good day. I mean, we threw back four 7-pounders today alone.”
Although Dufrene finished the day on top and made history in the process, he said the competition has been far from easy.
“It was really windy out there,” he said. “And it wasn’t as easy as it has been. I only saw about one third of the fish I had been seeing there all week. We had a lot of bites today, but most of them were too big.”
Dufrene and his partner used a combination of Johnson silver minnows with a 1/2-ounce gold spoon, Berkley tube baits in a golden-sardine color and a Berkley 5-inch Jerk Shad to land the majority of their catch.
As for tomorrow’s competition?
“I’m going to make the same run tomorrow,” said Dufrene. “I think – at least I hope – that the area I’m fishing will be able to hold up for all four days.”
Dufrene’s co-angler partner was equally buoyed by the day’s results.
“I had a great day. It was a fantastic day,” said Abadie, who also gets to carry the boat’s 15-pound, 2-ounce weight over to day two in the Co-angler Division. “Every spot we went to today, we saw fish. I was really impressed with (Dufrene). I really like the format, and now I’m in a really good position to do well in this tournament.”
Abadie said that he’s also impressed by the tournament’s unique pro-am format.
“When (FLW Outdoors) came up with the pro-am tournament, I really wanted to be a part of it,” he said. “I really wanted to get a chance to experience fishing with all of these great captains. I wanted see how they fished and learn as many different techniques as I could.”
Although Abadie said he was impressed with Dufrene, the feeling was apparently mutual.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more from my team partner,” said Dufrene. “He caught 10 fish today and showed a willingness to help out all day long. I can’t thank him enough.”
Four-way tie for second
In the end, the battle for second place turned epic. In what amounted to a statistician’s dream scenario, four teams defied the odds and somehow tied for the runner-up position at the end of day one of competition.
Pro Todd Dufour of Marrero, La., and co-angler partner Barnie White of Brewton, Ala.; pro Jeff Steckler of Rockport, Texas, and co-angler partner Wes Pady of Rockport, Texas; pro Andy Mnichowski of Marrero, La., and co-angler partner Jason LeBlanc of Marrero, La.; and pro David Nesloney Sr. and co-angler partner Gus Wilson all recorded identical catches weighing in at 14 pounds, 14 ounces.
“It feels pretty good to be where we’re at right now. But the tournament is a long way from being over,” said Mnichowski. “We didn’t need 15 pounds today, but tomorrow I’m definitely going to be shooting for 15 pounds. At this point, I think you’re pretty much going to need about 14 1/2 pounds a day to make the finals. The conditions out there are a lot tougher than normal. The water we were fishing in was about 51 degrees, so the fish were moving really slowly.”
According to Mnichowski, redfish are keying in on crabs as their forage of choice.
“I’m targeting hard, sandy banks, and that seems to be relating well to the crabs,” said Mnichowski, whose team reeled off a 110-mile run in today’s competition. “I’m looking for needle grass and hard, sandy bottoms. That’s where the crabs seem to be holding up.”
Mnichowski said his bait of choice to date is a soft-plastic Yum Samurai Shad in a black and chartreuse color.
“As long as we keep catching the right type of fish, we’ll be in good shape.”
For a complete list of today’s results, click here.
Friday’s Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Open continues during tomorrow’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 6:30 a.m. at Bayou Segnette State Park, located at 7777 Westbank Expressway in Westwego, La.