LAFITTE, La. – Nash Roberts and Brad Schmit, both of Metairie, La. caught a two-redfish limit weighing 16 pounds, 2 ounces to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division event in Lafitte presented by Evinrude, where teams are competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.
Fishing south of Lafitte in the Venice area, the leaders targeted grass-lined duck ponds with muddy bottom in 2 to 3 feet of water. Local knowledge told them to find conditions favorable to fat redfish.
“I think the redfish like these ponds for two reasons: First, the grass filters out all the mud and makes the water clean,” Roberts noted. “Also, those ponds hold a lot of shrimp and crabs. All they do is lie around and eat all day. It seems like those fish are shorter and heavier.”
Running 60 miles south of Lafitte, Roberts and Schmit fueled up at the newly rebuilt Venice Marina and then continued another 10 miles to their spot. Approaching squalls made for a rough start.
“It was a little rocky this morning because we had a big thunderstorm moving in,” Roberts said. “But being from down here, we know the back way. A lot of guys ran the Gulf down to Venice, but we ran the inside so we were sheltered from the storm.”
Fishing ¼-ounce jigheads with purple and chartreuse Deadly Dudley cocahoe minnow tails, the anglers caught eight redfish Thursday. Southern Louisiana is known for producing much higher daily catches, but Roberts said his team traded quantity for quality.
“We knew going in today that we weren’t going to catch a lot of fish,” he said. “We had a deep water spot where we knew we could catch 70 to 80 fish, but we’d have a hard time finding any big enough. Tomorrow, we have a backup pond with the same scenario. We’re going to hit that spot and try to do the same thing again.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Blair Wiggins of Cocoa, Fla., and Tadd Vandermark of Key Largo, Fla. (two redfish, 15 pounds, 15 ounces); Andy Mnichowski of Marrero, La., and John McGill of Slidell, La. (two redfish, 15 pounds 6 ounces); Brett Phillips and Mike Patterson, both of Rockport, Texas (two redfish, 15 pounds, 6 ounces); Lloyd Landry and Luke Landry, both of Luling, La. (two redfish, 15 pounds, 6 ounces).
Teams caught 218 redfish Thursday weighing 1,329 pounds, 8 ounces.
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. Boats will launch from Lafitte Harbor Marina Friday and Saturday at 6:30 a.m. CDT. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Lafitte Harbor Marina beginning at 3 p.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at the Marrero Wal-Mart located at 4810 Lapalco Blvd. beginning at 3 p.m.
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, browse FLWOutdoors.com or 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.