Team Dufrene/Cedotal Wins IFA Redfish Tour Event at Orange Beach, Alabama
OutdoorHub 10.20.11
Lizella, Ga. October 20, 2011 – Chad Dufrene, of Purvis, Miss., and Jay Cedotal of Geismar, La., weighed in a two-redfish limit that totaled 15.7 pounds to win the IFA Redfish Tour event at Orange Beach, Ala., on October 15. To win the event, which operated out of Caribe Resort, the team topped a large field of two-angler teams to take home a new, fully rigged Ranger Banshee Extreme powered by a 60-horsepower, four-stroke Yamaha outboard and equipped with a Power-Pole shallow water anchor, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird electronics, Blue Point Fabrication metal work, Bob’s four-inch Ultra Light Jackplate, an OPTIMA battery and a Loadmaster trailer valued at $30,000.
Dufrene and Cedotal, winners of the 2010 IFA Redfish Tour Championship as well as Team of the Year titles in 2008 and 2009, ran 75 miles to Pascagoula, Miss., sight fishing with Berkley Gulp! baits and jerkbaits.
“The conditions were just as we expected, sunny with an easterly wind,” said Chad Dufrene. “We were very happy to win.”
Dufrene and Cedotal capped their tournament by winning the Berkley Gulp! Big Fish Award for their 8.05-pound kicker fish, which paid them $500 plus a $500 Cabela’s gift card, courtesy of Berkley; the $1,000 Cabela’s Anglers Cash Award, the $250 OPTIMA Battery Award and top prize in the Anglers Advantage pool.
Second-place finishers, Scott Ritter and Bobby Abruscato, brought 14.79 to the weigh-in during the Orange Beach event after running 100 miles. The team, who has been fishing with the IFA for several years, said they caught a lot of fish during the day.
“If you said we were going to get second today at the dock, we would have taken it,” said Scott Ritter. “Now it hurts a bit, but we had a great day.”
The third-place team of Joey Sostheim and Jake Matney, both of Panama City Beach, Fla., brought 14.64 pounds to the scales during the event. Running 360 miles roundtrip during the tournament day, the team sight fished from an 8-foot ladder using Gulp! and spinners.
“We did well today, but we could have done much better,” said Joey Sostheim.
The IFA Redfish Tour continues to draw redfish anglers from Texas to the Carolinas and beyond, offering two-angler teams the opportunity to compete in six different divisions, each offering a three-event regular season. Low entry fees for the one-day, regular-season tournaments allows anglers to fish close to home and minimize expenses, while still being a part of a premier inshore, catch-and-release redfish tournament organization. Teams fishing any three of the IFA’s 18 regular-season events are automatically qualified for a no-entry-fee championship event, pitting qualifiers from each of the six divisions for a combined $78,200 in payouts and prize packages, as well as a shot at the coveted Cabela’s Overall Divisional Team of the Year Award for the six regular-season division winners.
In addition to a possible $60,000 in payouts per event (based on a 100-boat field), the first-place prize package for all 18 IFA Redfish Tour regular-season events remains extremely lucrative. In 2011, every regular-season tournament winner is guaranteed – regardless of field size – a fully loaded 2011 Ranger Banshee Extreme. The boat is powered by a 60-horsepower, four-stroke Yamaha outboard and is equipped with a Power-Pole shallow water anchor, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird electronics, Blue Point Fabrication metal work, Bob’s four-inch Ultra Light Jackplate, an OPTIMA battery and a Loadmaster trailer. The entire first-place prize package is valued at $30,000. Lucrative contingency programs added for 2011 include $50 prize to the team claiming the big fish award in an IFA Redfish Tour event if the fish is landed with an EGO Net, $25 prize for both the big redfish and big trout in IFA Kayak Tour events; $250 prize to a qualifying winning team which competes from a boat equipped with OPTIMA Batteries; PENN reels for tournament-winning anglers who compete with PENN reels.
For more information or to become a member of the IFA, the fastest-growing inshore fishing tournament series in the United States, go online to www.redfishtour.com or www.ifakayakfishingtour.com. To discover more about kayaking and Hobie Fishing go to www.hobiefishing.com.
IFA events are made possible through the sponsorship and continued support of the fishing industry’s most respected brands: Ranger Boats, Hobie Fishing, Cabela’s, Gulp!, Gulp! Alive, PENN reels, Yamaha Outboards, Columbia Sportswear, Minn Kota, Humminbird, OPTIMA Batteries, Power-Pole, Wrap This, Blue Point Fabrication, EGO Nets, Spiderwire, Sebile, Bob’s Machine Shop, 321fish.com, Kayak Angler Magazine, Loadmaster, NBOA Marina Insurance, Powertex Group, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Sports Commission, and Caribe Resort.
IFA Gulf Coast Division
Orange Beach, Ala. (Top 10)
1. Dufrene/Cedotal – 15.70 lbs.
2. Ritter/Abruscato – 14.79 lbs.
3. Sostheim/Matney – 14.64 lbs.
4. Stepler/Lipscomb – 13.56 lbs.
5. Weir/Schoen – 12.88 lbs.
6. Montgomery/Johnson – 12.28 lbs.
7. Pescay/Pescay – 11.53 lbs.
8. Hinote/ Mistovich – 11.18 lbs.
9. Pattison/Pattison – 10.62 lbs.
10. Combs/Busby – 10.55
Berkley Gulp! Big Fish Award ($500) + Cabela’s Gift Card ($500): Dufrene/Cedotal (7.91 lbs.)
Cabela’s Angler Cash ($1,000): Dufrene/Cedotal
OPTIMA Battery Award ($250): Dufrene/Cedotal
