Long run, last chance

FLW Redfish Series Championship qualifiers looking to run long for final chance at big win

BILOXI, Miss. – Ever since the inception of the Walmart FLW Redfish Series, the championship has been held somewhere along the central Gulf Coast of Mexico.

With 50 of the top Redfish Series teams from the Eastern Division and 50 from the Western Division being invited to the championship each year, it only makes sense that some venue in the middle allows both divisions to meet half way.

And each time the Redfish Series Championship descends somewhere between Mississippi and the western Florida Panhandle, the talk of big runs to Louisiana comes up.

In the tournament world of redfishing, it’s no secret that Louisiana, specifically the Mississippi River Delta, has the biggest slot redfish on the Gulf Coast. Hence, Louisiana redfish are winning redfish.

But in the last three Redfish Series Championships, “the long run to Louisiana” has never paid off with a win. Due to the sheer amount of open water that must be crossed to tap Louisiana’s prolific bronze mines, Mother Nature wins the battle.

As a result, the championship event is usually won close to the hosting venue.

In its inaugural season of 2005, the redfish team of Todd Adams and Tommy Ramzinsky won the first FLW Redfish Series Championship in Orange Beach, Ala., by traveling just over the state line to Mississippi.

In 2006, Blair Wiggins and Tadd Vandemark won the championship in Pensacola, Fla., by staying right inside Pensacola Bay.

And last year, when the championship went back to Orange Beach, Bennie Hatten and Randy Macik made a short run over into the Mississippi marsh to win.

In fact, the closest any team has come to making the long run to Louisiana pay off was last year when Brett Phillips and Mike Patterson finished second to Hatten-Macik by going to Louisiana each day.

But this year just might be the year that the Louisiana long run pays off. That’s because this year’s Redfish Series Championship is being held in Biloxi, Miss., the western-most venue in championship history, putting Louisiana’s redfish Promised Land well within a 30- to 70-mile boat ride for competitors.

What’s more, the weather, for once, is cooperating with the 100-team field. The next two days will feature east winds in the 5- to 10-mph range.

A geographic head start combined with decent weather will likely find a majority of the field headed to Louisiana waters.

This will be the last chance for the long run to pay off big in the championship as this is the final Redfish Series event ever to be held. Next year the series will be discontinued.

As a result, many redfish teams are anxious to leave their mark on the FLW Redfish Series with a championship win.

Logistics

Anglers will take off at 7 Thursday and Friday morning from marina next to the Isle of Capri Casino in Biloxi.

Weigh-ins will also be held at the Isle of Capri Casino beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.

Saturday’s takeoff will be at 7:15 a.m. at the Isle of Capri Marina.

Saturday’s final weigh-in will begin at 4 p.m. at Walmart located at 3615 Sangani Blvd. in D’iberville, Miss.

Thursday’s conditions

Sunrise: 7:09 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 39 degrees

Expected high temperature: 71 degrees

Water temperature: 69 degrees

Wind: ENE at 5 to 10 mph

Day’s outlook: sunny