Pair earns third tournament win of season, second of year at Orange Beach
 
LIZELLA, Ga. (November 10, 2009) – Bruce Lindheim of Pensacola, Fla., and Fred Myers of Panama City, Fla., won their second IFA Redfish Tour tournament in as many months, weighing in a four-redfish limit totaling 25.41 pounds to win the two-day 2009 IFA Redfish Tour Championship on November 7 at Orange Beach, Ala. The team’s championship finish marked their third tournament win of the year, following wins at Lafitte (La.) in April and another at Orange Beach in October.
 
In their first year as tournament partners on the IFA Redfish Tour, the pair’s third win of the season saw the team motor more than 550 miles over two days in search of winning fish. After fishing Louisiana waters on Day One and bringing 12.14 pounds to the scales, the pair sat in eighth place – nearly a pound back from first-day leaders Mike Tindal and Artie Price. On the second and final day of the tournament, Lindheim and Myers ran east, making a 130-mile trip to Panama City, Fla., where they landed their 7.28-pound kicker redfish on the final day, earning them the Rapala Big Fish Award and securing the team’s first championship title.
 
“We probably spent about $400 each day on fuel, but it paid off,” Myers said. “The winds were up and the water was muddy, so we spent most of our time blind-casting Berkley Gulp! baits. There were times when we were a little worried about our decision to run so far but it turned out to be worth it.”
 
With the win, the pair won a Ranger 173 Ghost powered by a 115HP, 4-stroke Yamaha outboard; equipped with a Power Pole shallow water anchor, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird electronics and Blue Point Fabrication metal work with an estimated retail value of $34,995.
 
The second-place team of Jay Cedotal, of Geismar, La., and Chad Dufrene, of Purvis, Miss., brought 24.83 pounds of redfish to the scales over two days, battling 30-knot winds as they crossed Mobile Bay in search of redfish located during their extensive pre-tournament scouting. Though the team finished a little more than one-half pound out of first place, the championship proved very lucrative for Cedotal and Dufrene. With their second-place finish, worth $7,000, the pair most of the contingency prizes, winning both the “Ultra 6” prize, worth $5,000, for being the highest-finishing team to fish six or more regular-season events in 2009; the $5,000 Cabela’s Team of the Year Award for being the highest-finishing, division-winning team; Humminbird and Minn Kota contingencies worth a combined $2,250; as well as the TWT Big Fish, TWT third-place Big Fish and TWT aggregate prizes. In all, Cedotal and Dufrene claimed $20,000 in prize money from the championship tournament.
 
“This year was a lot harder than last year and during every event we just had to keep winning the Team of the Year in mind,” Dufrene said. “At every event we had a big fish that might have won the tournament for us, but if we tried it and it didn’t measure (within the slot), it would have put us out of contention for Team of the Year, so we had to throw it back. We just couldn’t afford to take those kinds of chances with all of the prizes on the line.”
 
Third-place finishers Geoff Page, of Venice, Fla., and Rick Murphy, of Homestead, Fla., brought 24.18 pounds to the championship scales over two days, the results of westerly runs in Mississippi waters. Though the fishing was difficult – the pair reported catching three fish on Day One and four fish on Day Two – they stuck with Rapala Trigger X baits on an 1/8-ounce jig and Rapala Skitterwalks while sight fishing en route to a $5,000 third-place prize.
 
“We didn’t catch a lot of fish, but they were the right fish,” said Page. “I think the water was a little cold and the synthetic plastic baits like the Trigger X are just the way to go. We were sight fishing and our plan was to get 12 pounds each day. Then we got the 7.20-pound fish (third-largest fish of the tournament) and that was just a bonus for us.”
 
The team of Tom and Karrie Shockley, who weighed in the second-largest redfish of the championship (7.26 pounds), took home the $100 SolarBat Prize in addition to their $2,000 fifth-place prize.
 
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. With low entry fees for the one-day, regular-season tournaments allow 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 $77,000 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.
 
Added this year as an incentive for active anglers capitalizing on the opportunities to fish close to home for big money and valuable prizes, teams that fished at least six tournaments in any combination of divisions were automatically eligible to compete for the IFA Redfish Tour “Ultra 6” award. The award consisted of a $5,000 cash prize, presented to the highest-finishing eligible team at the IFA Redfish Tour championship tournament.
 
Beginning with the start of the 2010 regular season, the IFA Redfish Tour, the national leader in lucrative and high-level inshore tournaments across the southeastern United States, will bring inshore tournament fishing to even more anglers – allowing them to fish close to home, minimize expenses and cash in on big purses. Through a partnership with Hobie Cat Company, the makers of the industry’s most sought-after fishing kayaks, the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Presented by Hobie Fishing will be contested every Sunday following an IFA Redfish Tour event. The multispecies tournament will include payouts in four Divisions plus a Junior Angler award. The winner of the Aggregate/Slam Division will take home a Hobie Mirage Pro-Angler valued at $2399, with the next seven places awarded cash (based on a 100 boat field). The Redfish, Trout and Flounder Division winners will each win a Hobie Fishing kayak, valued at $1,049 or greater, with second and third place finishers winning cash.
 
For more information on the IFA Redfish Tour, the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Presented by Hobie Fishing, to become a member of the IFA or to become a part of the fastest-growing inshore fishing tournament series in the United States, go online to redfishtour.com.
 
The 2009 IFA Redfish Tour Championship was possible through the sponsorship and continued support of the fishing industry’s most respected brands: Ranger Boats, Hobie Fishing, Cabela's, Yamaha Outboards, Rapala, Trigger X, Sufix, Minn Kota, Humminbird, Power-Pole, Wrap This, CW Crab, Charter Lakes Marine Insurance, Solar Bat, Gemini Custom Apparel, Navionics, Bob's Machine Shop, Blue Point Fabrication, Terminator, VMC Hooks, Loadmaster Trailers, Powertex Group, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas and The Wharf Resort, Alabama Gulf Coast Sports Commission and Alabama Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau.
 
2009 IFA Redfish Tour Championship
Orange Beach, Ala. (Top 10)
1.     Lindheim/Myers – 25.41 lbs.

2.     Cedotal/Dufrene – 24.83 lbs.

3.     Page/Murphy – 24.18 lbs.

4.     Wiggins/Chambers – 23.80 lbs.

5.     Shockley/Shockley – 23.38 lbs.

6.     Nelson/Nelson – 22.93 lbs.

7.     Nelson/Ramsey – 22.48 lbs.

8.     Wortham/McClellan – 22.42 lbs.

9.     Cruz/Cruz – 21.96 lbs.

10. Tindal/Price – 21.61 lbs.
 
Rapala Big Fish ($1,700): Lindheim/Myers (7.28 lbs.)
SolarBat Prize ($100): Shockley/Shockley