Mnichowski and McGill Lead Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Event in Cocodrie

June15 , 2006

COCODRIE, La. – Andy Mnichowski of Marrero, La., and John McGill of Slidell, La. caught a two-redfish limit weighing 16 pounds, 8 ounces to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division event in Cocodrie where teams are competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.

The leaders ran approximately 100 miles east of Cocodrie and fished inside the Mississippi River Delta around Venice. They spent their day in one grass-lined duck pond and found their fish in two-three feet of water.

Mnichowski said this habitat benefits fish and fishermen. “Your biggest fish are going to be around the grass because it's just full of crabs and baitfish. The redfish don't have to move – they can just stay there and eat. That grass also filters the water and that makes it easy for sight-fishing. You see them and cast at them.”

Fishing soft plastic shad baits in disco minnow color on 1/4-ounce jigheads, the anglers boated the first of their weight fish around 9 a.m. and added the second one 30 minutes later. They caught approximately 40 other redfish up to 7 pounds.

Having located the pond in practice, Mnichowski and McGill had to adjust to different conditions on tournament morning. “When we got there, the water was a foot and a half lower than when we had scouted it,” Mnichowski said. “There's a little gulley in the middle of the pond, so we moved out about 100 yards and found the fish in that deeper water.”

Rounding out the top five teams are Jonathon and Kris Culpepper, both of Houston, Texas (two redfish, 16 pounds, 7 ounces); Gerry Gluck of River Ridge, La., and Brent Roy of Baton Rouge, La. (two redfish, 16 pounds, 4 ounces); Brian Kiefer of Dickinson, Texas, and Alan Dolezal of Houma, La. (two redfish, 16 pounds, 2 ounces); David Nesloney Sr. and David Nesloney Jr., both of Rockport, Texas (two redfish, 16 pounds, 1 ounce).

Teams caught 217 redfish Thursday weighing 1,399 pounds, 12 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 Coco Marina Friday and Saturday at 6:00 a.m. Friday's weigh-in will be held at Coco Marina beginning at 2 p.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at the Houma Wal-Mart located at 1663 Martin Luther King Blvd. beginning at 5 p.m.

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.

Wal-Mart and many of America's largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world's leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com .

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.

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