Day-Two Comeback Seals Victory for Randazzo and Mnichowski

By Bob Morris

The second stop on the Ranger/Mercury Redfish Tour presented by Cabela's was held March 22-23, 2003 with 125 of the top professional redfishermen in the country descending on Lafitte, Louisiana for a chance to win a fully rigged Ranger boat with Mercury outboard grand prize.  Louisiana natives Anthony Randazzo and Andy Mnichowski were able to overtake the field with an 18.93 lb limit on the second day of competition that found them in the top spot with an overall aggregate weight of 35.55 lbs.

Fishermen competing in the catch and release format were faced with post front conditions that left several teams scratching their heads when trying to establish a game plan in the normally angler friendly waters of the Mississippi delta - where catches of dozens of redfish are the norm on any given day.  Compounding the problem was the variable wind pattern that had the waters of the bayou stirred to a "coffee with cream" brown color which made it difficult to present artificial lures to the already finicky redfish.

Most of the pros agreed that it would be necessary to seek out cleaner water or to use lures that employed vibration or scent to tempt fish that would fall within the tournament mandated slot limit of 18"-27".  Of the 125-boat field, 98 teams weighed a four fish limit - proving that despite the conditions these people are called professionals for a reason.

Prize money was paid to the top 25 teams but perhaps the most exciting aspect of the event was the opportunity for these select teams to take the stage at the Louisiana Sportsman outdoors show held at the Superdome in New Orleans.  Hundreds of spectators were treated to the weigh-in where the tournament fishermen were able to display their catches thanks to the Audubon Society who provided a mobile aquarium to transport the live redfish from the C-Way Marina to the dome.

When all weights were tallied on Sunday, local guide Anthony Randazzo and partner Andy Mnichowski made a dramatic leap from 15th place after Saturday's qualifying to win the grand prize.  A good two-day game plan was the key to their success according to Randazzo.  "On day one we went for a good starting day stringer - we wanted to get some numbers (of redfish) to get going."  Fishing the Venice area using Yum soft plastics rigged on 1/4 oz. jig heads or under jig spinners, they sorted through "a bunch of six pounders" on Saturday before catching their limit composed of a 7.64 lb and 8.98 lb fish.

No stranger to success in Lafitte after a second place finish in the 2001 event, Randazzo knew his team needed to step up on day-two in order to win.  "We knew we had to go for the gusto today!  We went back to Venice and did the same thing but got big fish."  Catching two redfish in excess of 9 lbs each sealed the victory by a scant .21 lbs making a great day for Anthony and Andy as well as for all Louisiana natives - this was the first time a local has taken the prize from a Floridian in Redfish Tour history!

2003 Tour Champion Ray Van Horne narrowly missed receipt of his second Ranger/Mercury prize boat package in the last five months after a solid two-day performance yielded a second place finish.  Traveling from Tarpon Springs, FL with fellow touring pro C.A. Richardson, the pair developed a float plan that involved three spots in Barataria Bay that they methodically plugged with gold spoons for two straight days.

"We had a three place milk run set up.  We would fish one spot for about an hour, move on to the next, and return when the fish settled back down," said Richardson.  Van Horne added, "Today (Sunday) we were fishing for two bites all day.  We had to wait until late in the day for the water to come up enough to get to our spot but we stuck to our plan - hopefully it paid off.  We didn't get our last fish until about 35 minutes before we had to come in."  The pair weighed a four fish limit of 35.34 lbs.

Jacksonville, Florida locals Tony Bozzella and Scott Guthrie took advantage of the salt marsh environment of the lower Barataria Bay that is similar to their home waters en-route to a third place result with a 34.77 lb total weight.  Key to their success was the use of Tony's own TBS Jigs - black bucktails tipped with Exude soft plastics to be exact - which they used to catch their Saturday limit.  "We were picking through 29" fish to get two that were short enough to keep at a spot Scott found during practice.  We finally got our limit by about 9:00 and decided to leave the fish for Sunday," said Bozzella.

Sunday found the bite tougher but the pros persevered and came up with a strong finish.  Guthrie replied, "Our fish didn't come easy today but we stayed with it and made it back with only three minutes to spare.  The fish were not at the exact same spots as before but we were able to sight-fish a couple of good ones."  After the awards ceremony, Tony would be headed back to Jacksonville just in time to board a ship bound for the conflict in Iraq - our thoughts will be with him for a quick and safe return.

Michael Haines and Mike Hutchisson made the long drive from south Florida pay off with a 4th place paycheck. Using Exude and Mad Man jerk baits, the pair targeted an area with the namesake of an "old flame" according to Hutchisson.  "We were in an area and I looked at the map and saw the name of a girl I knew....We just had to check it out!"  "Don't say her name!" chided Haines - "We may need that spot next year."  The touring pros followed up a strong finish in the Titusville season opener with a 33.85 lb total weight that provided a good amount of points in their quest for the Team of the Year title.

Rounding out the "top-five" were Alden Bourgeois and Todd DuFour with 33.69 lbs.  "We had a good bite on Saturday - we caught about 10 good fish but today (Sunday) they wouldn't bite.  Thank God we guide out of here and know other places to go...That was also a problem because fishing has been tough lately and we had to take clients who keep their limits to all of our best spots," said DuFour.  The pair fished the Hackberry Bay area using soft plastic crawfish imitations and Space Guppy minnows on jig heads.

Lafitte will always be my favorite tour stop since it was the site of my first - but hopefully not last, win on the Redfish Tour.  More than that - the fishery is tremendous and the locals are simply some of the nicest people you could hope to meet.  My partner, Jamie Havard and I had another great time in the Louisiana marsh but could not get the big fish to cooperate this time.  Our float plan and execution were on target but we could only manage a 28.98 lb aggregate - not good enough for a check but hopefully the points will move us higher in the Team of the Year race.