GRAND ISLE, La. – Kurt Koliba of Port Lavaca, Texas and Michael Shimek of Bay City, Texas caught two redfish weighing 17 pounds, 1 ounce to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division event in Grand Isle, where a field of 105 teams is competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.
“We made a long run, all the way up to Venice,” Koliba said. “The area we fished looked like a bass-fishing area. There was lots of grass, and we saw gar and alligators everywhere.
“We sight-fished for the most part, and we caught around 10 redfish. Michael caught one that was close to 9 pounds.” Most of the two-man team’s redfish were duped by throwing jigging spoons. Shimek threw a silver spoon, while Koliba threw a copper-colored one.
Anglers had partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the high 80s for the first day of the event. A storm blew through the Grand Isle area during the course of the day, but Koliba said he and Shimek were able to dodge the turbulent weather.
Rounding out the top five teams are Chris Chapman of Winter Park, Fla., and Dan McGatlin of Lake Mary, Fla. (two redfish, 16 pounds, 8 ounces); Matthew Morel and Peter Young, both of New Orleans (two redfish, 15 pounds, 12 ounces); and in a fourth-place tie were the team of Mark Trevino of Friendswood, Texas and Greg Hartsell of Pearland, Texas and the team of Trent Brady of Larose and Eddie Callias of Galliano.
Both teams caught two redfish weighing 15 pounds, 11 ounces.
Anglers caught and released a total of 191 redfish weighing 1,107 pounds, 8 ounces.
FLW Redfish Series qualifying tournaments are two-day events. The entire field competes Friday and Saturday, and the winning team is determined Saturday based on the heaviest two-day accumulated weight. Boats will launch from Pirates Cove Marina in Grand Isle Saturday at 7 a.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at Pirates Cove Marina beginning at 3 p.m.
The next FLW Redfish Series Western Division event will be held Aug. 5-6 in Galveston, Texas.
The FLW Redfish Series consists of two divisions – East and West. Each division is comprised of four events with a $200,000 purse for each event. The top 100 teams – 50 from each division after four qualifying events – will qualify for the three-day, no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship to be held in Mobile, Ala., Oct. 27-29. The championship winner will take home as much as $100,000.