LAFITTE, La. (Sept. 9, 2006) – Edward Adams and Ray Chagnard, both of Metairie, La. caught a six-redfish total weighing 46 pounds, 14 ounces to win the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division event in Lafitte presented by Evinrude. The top prize of $50,000 included a $12,500 Ranger bonus and a $12,500 Evinrude bonus.
Fishing a 22-foot Ranger bay boat with a 250-hp Evinrude E-Tech engine, the winners ran about 55 miles south of Lafitte and fished in a shallow, grass-lined duck pond on the east side of the Mississippi River. The spot’s productivity enabled them to qualify for the final round.
“We fished one pond all three days,” Adams said. “It had a big bay feeding it and it had several canals running in and out so it seemed to keep replinishing itself.”
Adams prefished the feeder bay on an outgoing tide and found schools of about 500 redfish. When the tide rose, he noticed that the redfish were moving into the pond. “I saw several groups of fish falling into that pond when the water got high, so I decided to fish there for the tournament.”
Chagnard worked on blind casting the area, while Adams balanced the effort with sight casting. They caught approximately 20 redfish, with their weight fish arriving at 8:45 and 10 a.m. Both ate 1/4-ounce beetlespins with gold Colorado blades and purple cocahoe bodies with white tails.
Adams attributed his team’s success mostly to diligence and persistence. “You have to work hard and find a lot of fish, but you also have to have a little luck to get the right fish to bite. All these guys are so good at finding fish that it’s always the difference of just one good bite.”
Rounding out the top five teams were Andy Mnichowski of Marrero, La., and John McGill of Slidell, La. (six redfish, 46 pounds, 4 ounces, $8,600); Blair Wiggins of Cocoa, Fla., and Tadd Vandermark of Key Largo, Fla. (six redfish, 45 pounds, 14 ounces, $4,474 plus $1,000 Ranger bonus and $1,000 Evinrude bonus); Brett Phillips and Mike Patterson, both of Rockport, Texas (six redfish, 44 pounds, 2 ounces, $3,474 plus $1,000 Ranger bonus and $1,000 Yamaha bonus); and Tommy Ramzinsky of Fulton, Texas, and Todd Adams of Rockport, Texas (six redfish, 43 pounds, $3,150 plus $1,000 Ranger bonus and $1,000 Yamaha bonus).
Teams caught 10 redfish Saturday weighing a total of 70 pounds, 7 ounces with 10 released alive.
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 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, visit 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.