Teams launched from ramps at Bayou Signette and headed in various directions, with many headed south to Venice, where the big fish are said to live. However, a front moved in Wednesday afternoon, slightly affecting the weather and changing up patterns for almost every team. Both Lucky Craft teams were no exception.

According to the Louisiana slot limit, teams could bring two fish between 16 and 27 inches. With 321 fish brought in over three days of competition, bringing in limits wasn’t the problem. It was bringing in the 8-pounders that would put a team in contention to win.

Because Louisiana is known for its big and abundant redfish, both Lucky Craft teams were scratching their heads after Thursday’s weigh-in, as their number one spots produced very few fish, if any at all. However, both teams pulled it out to bring in respectful finishes that will have them fishing the championship coming up in October.

But after a small front blew through on Wednesday afternoon, the wind shifted and Greg and Bryan’s spots were almost completely void of fish on the first day of the tournament.

“The wind shifted from southwest to northwest,” Bryan Watts began. “Greg and I had four spots in Venice that were dynamite in pre-fishing. On Thursday, we fished our number one spot and only caught one fish weighing seven pounds. We moved on from there, finding no fish in our second or third spots. We moved to the fourth spot and caught an 8-pounder. We only caught three fish all day and I found that very hard to believe, especially because we were in Louisiana.”

After making the 80-mile run on Thursday, the Watts brothers changed it up for competition on Friday. Deciding to make a longer run, they ran 30 miles farther south. It was a good decision as they caught almost four times as many fish.

“We caught about a dozen fish on Friday, which was better than the day before,” Bryan said. “Because we were strictly sight-fishing, we were only throwing at fish that looked really big.”

With fairly consistent weights both Thursday and Friday, the Watts brothers finished the week in 10th place, bringing in a total weight of 30.76 pounds.

“Overall, we didn’t catch the fish we needed to cull up to the weights to win the tournament,” Bryan said. “Given the conditions, we pulled it out rather well and I’m proud of what we did. It was definitely not typical Louisiana fishing.”

According to the Watts brothers, neither the water or air temperatures changed, but the fish felt the wind shift and knew something was happening.

“The fish weren’t as responsive and didn’t react as they had the past several days during pre-fishing,” Bryan added. “Apparently they left the flats and moved out to deeper water and we didn’t go after them because we didn’t pre-fish that way.”

In practice, the Watts brothers threw the Lucky Craft Fat CB SSR and the fish were very responsive to it. But as the weather changed, so did the bite.

“The (Fat CB) SSR has a wide wobble and is great when you’re fishing in a foot of water or less. But with no fish on the flats during the tournament we had to switch it up. We reverted to a jig head with a soft plastic, basically throwing it out and trying to hit the fish on the head. It became more of a reaction bite than a hunger strike.”

Greg and Bryan Watts pulled ahead and are currently first in Team of the Year points going into the Redfish Cup Championship. The duo will visit North Carolina, a place most redfish anglers have never fished, the first week in October for a chance to win their second championship – and are looking forward to it.

“I think North Carolina will be a great venue,” Bryan said. “It’s tough to attack an area we’ve never been, especially with the six-foot tidal flow we’re going to experience. I’m going to do a lot of studying on some of the terrain. We’re going to look at creeks, oyster beds and flats and try to figure out where the fish go when the tide is really high and really low. We’re not really going to look anywhere in between.”

It was almost the same story for Mark “Gritter” Griffin and Paul Jueckstock, as the weather also played a major role in their weekend drama.

The team split up during pre-fishing, with Jueckstock heading south to Venice and Gritter staying close by in Lafitte. Gritter brought in a lot of fish, but the best weight he could put together was between 13 and 15 pounds. Knowing that wouldn’t get it done in Louisiana, they decided to fish in Venice where Jueckstock had been bringing in 16 to 18 pound bags.

“We had to decide if we were going to stay close and play it safe or if we were going to go out and try to win a tournament,” Gritter said. “We decided to try for the win and that was a really risky decision considering our standing in the Team of the Year race. But we were really sure we could go down to Venice and catch big weights that would put us in the top five.”

However, the wind shifted and the fish Jueckstock had found in practice couldn’t tolerate the change. It dirtied up the water and blew the fish out, leaving Gritter and Jueckstock scrambling to bring in two fish on Thursday.

“Because of the dirty water and wind, the fish left and moved to clean water, basically because the bait left too,” Gritter explained. “The bait can’t tolerate the dirty water and when they leave, so do the big fish. The McDonald’s is closed.”

Panic set in late on Thursday as the team was only able to bring in 10.40 pounds. They knew winning the tournament was pretty much out of the picture, but they had to do something drastic on Friday to keep them in contention for the championship.

“We weren’t sure what to do after Thursday, but we knew we weren’t going back to Venice,” Gritter said. “We decided to stay in Lafitte and fish where I had been during pre-fishing. We hoped we could bring in a decent weight and hang in there for the championship and that is just what we did.”

“All in all, we made a choice to go for a win and risked our championship qualification,” Gritter added. “Thankfully, it all worked out in the end.”

Having a much better day on Friday, Gritter and Jueckstock brought in two fish weighing 13.41 pounds and finishing the week in 52nd. However, it wasn’t the 52nd place finish that mattered, but the 24th spot they clinched for the championship – as only the top 25 teams get a chance to fish in North Carolina.

Lucky Craft came into play for Gritter and Jueckstock as well, as their big fish on Friday (just under 27 inches, weighing 7.5 pounds) came on a Lucky Craft Gunfish 95 in Aurora Gold. According to Gritter, the duo threw several Lucky Craft baits throughout the tournament including the Fat CB SSR and a Lucky Craft spinnerbait.

As for the championship, Gritter and Jueckstock are also very excited to visit a venue no one has fished before.

“No one really knows anything about North Carolina,” Gritter concluded. “We plan to research and get information while we can and then go pre-fish hard and see what happens. I like the idea of going somewhere for the championship where no one has been because it creates more of a level playing field. Now we’ll really see who can find and catch fish.”