COCODRIE, La. – Andy Mnichowski of Marrero, La., and John McGill of Slidell, La. caught a six-redfish total weighing 48 pounds, 4 ounces to win the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division event in Cocodrie and $37,500.
After leading both qualifying days, Mnichowski and McGill ran 100 miles east to the Mississippi River Delta and fished a shallow bay at the edge of the Gulf – the same area in which they qualified for Saturday’s final round. A later tide schedule forced them to start in lower water with finicky redfish.
“We had a lot of refusals early in the morning,” McGill said. “A lot of the fish would swim up within six inches of our baits and then just turn away.”
Mnichowski fished shad tails on 1/8-ounce jigheads and McGill threw 4-inch Berkley Gulp! Shrimp in natural color on 1/8-ounce jigheads. They caught about a dozen fish, many of which were over the 28-inch maximum limit.
“We targeted the bigger fish, right at the upper end of the slot and we ended up with a lot of 28’s and 29’s,” McGill said.
The winners caught their first weight fish around 9 a.m. and the second two hours later. McGill said location factored significantly into his team’s success.
“A lot of guys fish ponds (inside the river) and after a couple of days, they’ve depleted those spots,” he said. “But the stock of redfish in the area we fished replenishes itself on every tide change, so we had a new group of fish to cast at every day.”
Rounding out the top five teams were Darrell Walter and Robert Walter, both of Rockport, Texas (six redfish, 45 pounds, 11 ounces, $9,400); Jonathon Culpepper and Kris Culpepper, both of Houston, Texas (six redfish, 45 pounds, 6 ounces, $5,400); Billy Nicholas of San Marcos, Texas, and Danny Adams of Rockport, Texas (six redfish, 44 pounds, 4 ounces, $5,400); Brent Roy of Baton Rouge, La., and Gerry Glueck of River Ridge, La. (six redfish, 44 pounds, 1 ounce, $4,100).
Teams caught 10 redfish Saturday weighing a total of 72 pounds, 1 ounce.
FLW Redfish Series qualifying tournaments are three-day events. The entire field competes Thursday and Friday, and the top five teams, based on heaviest combined weight, advance to Saturday’s final round. The winning team is determined Saturday based on the heaviest three-day accumulated weight.
The next FLW Redfish Series Western Division event will be held September 7-9 in Lafitte, La.
The FLW Redfish Series consists of two divisions – Eastern and Western. 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 Pensacola, Fla., Oct. 19-21. The championship winner will take home as much as $100,000.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, call (270) 252-1000.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.
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