Record-Breaking Number of Teams Participating, Most Tagged and Released Live Redfish in LASS Redfish Series

Sweetwater Marina in Delacroix was the venue for the fifth event of the LASS Redfish Series this past Saturday, brought to you by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation, Shimano and The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Even with the increasing chance for thunderstorms and hot temperatures on the water, 74 teams registered for a chance to compete for the win in Delacroix.  This is the largest and most impressive turn out for a redfish event since the inception of the Louisiana Saltwater Series in 2010.  The Delacroix event also brought in 31 anglers from out-of- state including anglers from Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama.  And for the first time the LASS welcomed four sponsor teams from Crescent Crown Distributing who came out to take part in the Redfish Series to join the anglers and see what it’s all about. This catch and release format challenged anglers to catch a limit of two legal redfish using artificial lures only.

Best friends Tony Grose, of Arabi and Sal Fontana, Sr., of Metairie, have fished the Louisiana Saltwater Series since its inception.  Taking home top prize for the first time this year with a total weight of 16.34 pounds claimed them a spot to compete in the Louisiana Saltwater Series Championship in October and put them one step closer to the Team of the Year.

In order to compete in the Louisiana Saltwater Series Championship teams must either have a finish in one of the qualifying events within the payout for that event or compete in at least four of the six qualifying events.

Anglers also took home Shimano sublimated jerseys, Shimano reel and tackle bags, a Stick-It anchor pin, annual memberships to SeaTow and a Frabill net.  These are just a few of the items from our great sponsors that are awarded to anglers as extra fish raffle prizes.  Teams are allowed to bring in extra fish in addition to their weigh-in fish to be entered into drawings for special prizes, with the number of entries determined by the number of extra fish brought in to be tagged.

The awards ceremony started with the recognition of the first place youth, Drake Garrison, who took home the first place youth win after fishing in his first Louisiana Saltwater Series Redfish Tournament ever. Drake weighed in an awesome redfish that weighed 7.33 pounds. The LASS Delacroix event had 12 youth anglers that came out to participate making it our top event for youth participation for 2013 so far. The Louisiana Saltwater Series recognizes all of its youth participants at each event and it is a great component of the event seeing how excited they are to weigh in their fish being cheered on by everyone there.

The top finishing teams, taking home over $12,050 in cash prizes, include: 2^nd place, Stephen Sierra and Scott Benoit; 3^rd place, Steve Smith and John Garrison; 4^th place, Michael McElveen and Rob Folsom; 5^th place, Jason Leblanc and Kory Matherne; 6^th place, Chris Kennedy and Steven Hooter; 7^th place, brothers Joe and John Barcelona; 8^th place, Matthew Whitman and Ryan Schellhaas; 9^th place, Nash Roberts, IV and Luke Landry; 10^th place, father and son, Barnie and Steve White; 11^th place, Scott Ritter and Bobby Abruscato; 12^th place, Ray Reiser; 13^th place, Mac McElroy and David Thibodeaux; 14^th place, Beau Weber, Sr. and his grandson Sean Thornton, and for the team with the ‘smallest fish’, the team of Eric Dumas and Allen Krake.

A total of 209 redfish were tagged and released by LDWF staff as part of the Louisiana Marine Sport Fish Tagging Program, where anglers become citizen scientists for the agency, collecting invaluable data.  This was a record number of Redfish topping the 202 Redfish tagged and released for the two-day LASS Redfish Championship in 2012! Anglers and their friends and family enjoyed beverages provided by Crescent Crown Distributing as well as hamburgers sponsored by Sweetwater Marina.

The next LASS event will be a jack crevalle kayak tournament scheduled for Saturday, July 20^th on the New Orleans Lakefront near The Blue Crab Restaurant. The next LASS Redfish event will be on August 10^th at The Delta Marina in Empire and the next LASS youth event will be on November 2^nd at Myrtle Grove Marina.  For complete information, including rules, regulations and registration go to www.lasaltwaterseries.com.

The Louisiana Saltwater Series is hosted in conjunction with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation.  The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation was formed to provide a means for individuals and corporations to become partners with the Department and Commission in the challenge of conserving Louisiana’s wildlife and fish resources.

Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries – Enforcement Division(LDWF) is the fish & game regulatory agency of Louisiana. It has jurisdictionanywhere in the state, and in state territorial waters. The agency enforces both state and federal laws dealing with hunting, fishing, and boating safety. The agency also enforces criminal laws in rural areas including DWI enforcement both on highways and waterways. Most of the Department’s Wildlife Agents also carry Federal law enforcement commissions issued from the United States Department of the Interior - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and United States Department of Commerce - U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). These federal commissions allow these state officers to enforce federal migratory waterfowl laws and federal marine fisheries laws in state and federal waters off the coast of Louisiana. Besides their traditional role as a “game warden”, Louisiana Wildlife Enforcement Agents also have a number of other responsibilities, including conducting board of health inspections on some portions of the state’s commercial fishing industry. Agents are trained in and conduct numerous search and rescue operations, both in remote land areas and on the state’s waterways. Agents ensure that hunters, anglers, boaters, dealers, breeders, farmers, and transporters are in compliance with regulations governing equipment, quotas, licenses, and registrations. Agents also assist other State departments and law enforcement agencies in the coordination of educational and professional endeavors, as well as national and state emergency alerts by the Federal Office of Emergency Preparedness. In addition, agents perform search and rescue missions alone or in conjunction with other local, state, and federal agencies.