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

June16, 2006

COCODRIE, La. – Andy Mnichowski of Marrero, La., and John McGill of Slidell, La. caught a four-redfish total weighing 32 pounds, 5 ounces to lead day two 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.

Repeating their day one pattern, the leaders ran about 100 miles east to the Venice area of the Mississippi River Delta. They fished in 2-3 feet of clear water inside duck ponds with abundant baitfish and crustacean forage.

“When we got back and washed the boat out today, the livewell was full of little crab legs that those redfish had spit up,” McGill said.

The anglers fished in mostly cloudy conditions with a brief period of sunshine around 11 a.m. Low light hampered their sight-fishing strategy, but they managed to locate redfish – including their first weight fish – by watching for wakes.

“We couldn't see the fish as good as we could yesterday,” McGill said. “But as soon as the sun broke, we could see a little group of fish cruising near the grass line. We threw out there and got two of them. One was perfect and one was oversized.”

Content with their catch, Mnichowski and McGill headed back to port early. “We took our time coming in so we didn't beat the fish up on that long run. We would have been happy with anywhere in the top five today, because we're confident that if we work those fish hard tomorrow we can catch 17-18 pounds.”

Mnichowski threw a spinnerbait with a shad trailer, while McGill pitched a 4-inch Berkley Gulp! Shrimp in natural color on a 1/8-ounce jighead. “If one ignored his bait, I could catch it and vice versa,” McGill said. “The fish were pretty aggressive today.”

Rounding out the top five teams are Jonathon Culpepper and Kris Culpepper, both of Houston, Texas (four redfish, 32 pounds); Brent Roy of Baton Rouge, La., and Gerry Glueck of River Ridge, La. (four redfish, 30 pounds, 12 ounces); Darell Walter and Robert Walter, both of Rockport, Texas (four redfish, 30 pounds, 4 ounces); Billy Nicholas of San Marcos, Texas, and Danny Adams of Rockport, Texas (four redfish, 30 pounds, 4 ounces).

Teams caught 416 redfish Friday weighing a total of 1,231 pounds, 15 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 Saturday at 6:00 a.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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