The father and son team of 揅ajun?Phil and Kevin Broussard recently took home $40,000 for their 44.78-pound first place finish in the inaugural 2013 Academy Sports and Outdoors HT Invitational Redfish Series event at Chalmette, Louisiana.
But the tournament proved a challenge for even the best of the best, including the long-time host of 揅ajun?Phil & Capt. Kevin抯 Outdoors & Fishing Television show and his son, a Lake Charles guide. By Day 3 winds reached 30 mph and pea soup fog made navigation difficult.
It was like flying at night, relying purely on instrumentation to navigate an hour and a half through a maze of canals and marshes to our fish. Thank goodness for the GPS on the Humminbird 1198梑rought us to the fish and back home safe and sound,?says 慍ajun?Phil Broussard.
Finding money fish in the small ponds of Delacroix, the father and son pounded knee-deep waters with ?ounce Johnson spoons and Saltwater Assassin paddletails on light, ?ounce jig heads. To combat the wind and stay positioned on the shallow flats-roaming reds, the Broussards relied on their Minn Kota Talon shallow water anchor, punching it nearly 100 times into the Delta bottom over the three-day event.
Besides no-fail performance, 慍ajun?Phil says the best thing about the Talon is that it doesn抰 stick up behind the boat, which means fish can抰 wrap your line around it, unlike some competitive product.
揂s soon as Kevin spotted a fish from the platform he抎 tell me to drop the Talon and he抎 toss his bait. We did this probably every 100 feet as I idled us through hydrilla, coontail and green snot grass with the trolling motor,?says 慍ajun?Phil. 揑 could run that Minn Kota in my front yard after a rain!?
This strategy proved effective and boated numerous fish for the duo.
揥hile we got most of our fish on spoons, Kevin would immediately fire out a soft plastic to nab short-strikers,?says 慍ajun?Phil. 揔evin caught one 40-pound-plus bull and another dozen fish 30-inches or bigger in that 15- to 20 pound range,?he says.
But limited to the combined weight of two fish under 27 inches each day, the trick was finding, catching and culling legal tournament-size fish, which they accomplished, despite the nasty conditions, thanks in large part to their onboard electronics.
揑f we can抰 sight-fish off the boat platform條ike at this event梬e抮e using Side Imaging. In situations where the water抯 dirtier or the fish are deeper, it抯 a huge plus for finding fish,?he says. 揚lus, we use it to identify and waypoint danger areas, which are pretty frequent where we fish.?
One area where he says where Side Imaging has really upped their hook-up percentages is around Pensacola, Florida.
It抯 amazing how you can identify sunken bridges and actually see fish under the concrete pillars. Because we have a good idea where the structure is條ike the Interstate 10 bridge桰 set Side Imaging to view 25 or 30 feet off both sides of the boat and then cast right to the fish I see on the screen,?says 慍ajun?Phil.
He anticipates giving Side Imaging a real workout in practice and competition at the remaining events in the 2013 Academy Sports and Outdoors HT Invitational Redfish Series.
In their years of competitive redfish angling, the father and son have only missed the Top 10 once, and have finished in the Top 5 at almost every other event. This marks their first ever win at Chalmette.
揊inishing in the top 5 is our goal at every event,?says 慍ajun?Phil. 揃ut winning this tournament is pretty special for us, it抯 pretty much home turf.?
