Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Saves the Day

When John Halker climbed upon the Redfish Cup stage on Friday, he immediately began scouring the crowd. Earlier in the day, Halker and partner, Adam Loud, threw a hub with 15.76 pounds of redfish in their livewell. With no propeller to get the team back to the take-out ramp, a call to the government agency became their only salvation. The green-clad heroes delivered a new propeller to the grief-stricken anglers and, after a short repair, Halker and Loud made it back in time for the weigh-in without any late penalties.

Tough To Leave Home

All Redfish Cup anglers make sacrifices to fish the tournament circuit. The travel and schedule can prove grueling on both the anglers and the families they leave behind—especially new families.

"I have a 5-day old daughter that I left to come fish," Ulch said from the stage.

The crowd immediately burst into a warm applause after Ulch's announcement as fans and anglers alike congratulated the new father.

Same Fish Twice

Out of all the venues the Redfish Cup visits, only the Louisiana marsh consistently gives anglers a frustrating, yet awesome, fishing experience. Overly-aggressive redfish, unshaken by fishing pressure or busy boat traffic, are caught, released and caught again. Since releasing the fish signifies the fish is either too large or too small for the slot limit, anglers can only laugh at the fish behavior. Or they can cry.

Quotes

"We ran about an inch of gas today."
-Terry Thomas, 2nd place, 16.76 pounds

"We caught some fish that were on vacation from Florida."
-Chris Wittman, 23rd, 14.93

"If Kevin doesn't behave you cut off his allowance, right?"
-Redfish Cup emcee Keith Alan to "Cajun" Phil Broussard after his son Kevin lost a fish.

"It's a sad story. It's a fishing story."
-Robert Scherer, about the one that got away.

"We were catching fish about an eighth of an inch too big"
-Jeff Pope, responding to what his team was doing during pre-fishing

"We had a little 7-pounder. Back in Charlotte Harbor we'd be thrilled to have that stringer."
-Mike Friday, 18th, 15.21

"Those fish are so red they're almost purple."
-Dave Peters, Redfish Cup Staff member and mesmerized Day One observer