REDCREST 2019: Venue Announcement Spurred Roumbanis’ REDCREST Dreams
After a slow start to the Bass Pro Tour season, Fred Roumbanis found himself in 73rd place in the points standings after Stage One and Stage Two. He knew he needed something to turn his season around if he was going to qualify for REDCREST.
On April 5, the site of the event was announced as the Mississippi River out of La Crosse, Wisconsin. The announcement coincided perfectly with Roumbanis’ ascent up the standings toward an eventual finish in 20th in the final points standings.
It turns out, the simple announcement of REDCREST’s location was the boost he needed. Roumbanis has great memories from this fishery and a 2005 win there is what launched his career in earnest.
“When they announced where REDCREST was going to be, I thought ‘I have to make this tournament’ and things just started to turn around from there,” he recalled.
Since that announcement, he has been on fire and qualified for the last three Cup events as well as REDCREST, and now hopes to continue that upward trend at the inaugural championship event.
It All Started Here
Roumbanis began his professional career with FLW, and it likely would have ended there as well if not for a win in 2005 on the Upper Mississippi River out of La Crosse.
He missed qualifying for the 2005 FLW Tour by one place and decided to fish the EverStart Series (now known as the Costa Series) Midwest Division in an attempt to re-qualify for professional-level events.
“I went into that event with a negative balance in my checking account, and my boat was falling apart,” Roumbanis said. “To make it worse, I was recovering from shingles that were caused by my stress. Things were really bad at that point in my career, but that win truly started my professional career and gave me some financial stability and confidence in myself.”
Roumbanis won that event by relying on his California Delta bass-fishing roots and throwing a frog. This is a technique that he excels at and something he plans to use at this year’s REDCREST.
Mixed Results but Full of Confidence
In four return trips to La Crosse over the past decade, Roumbanis has had mixed results. Finishes of 4th, 20th, 52nd, and 87th are about as varied as you can get, but he still loves the fishery.
“This place fits my style as a shallow water grass fisherman,” Roumbanis said. “I started off fishing the Delta against frog-fishing legends like Bobby Barrack and Gary Dobyns, and that taught me so much about the technique. Now, this time around, I’ll be using my signature series Dobyns frog rod and my own Boom Boom frog. None of this would have been possible without my win there in 2005. It’s unreal to think about now.”