Parrott takes first place in Kayak Division last weekend
After a rough week of pre-fishing, Chad Dufrene and Barnie White got things together when it mattered and won the final regular season event for the Louisiana Division of the IFA Redfish Tour in Houma last Saturday.
“We had a horrendous week of practice,” Dufrene said. “Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. It wasn’t going good in practice until Friday at one o’clock. We found a good group of fish in a unique place, on the edge of a huge lake in a grass bed. They were susceptible to the wind because they were far off the bank. If the wind stayed down, we knew we had a shot.”
The anglers caught 15 to 18 fish in the lake Saturday morning with pearl-colored jerk shads, which imitated the menhaden the fish were coming off the grass to feed on.
Dufrene, of Purvis, Miss. and White, of Brewton, Ala., weighed a two-redfish limit of 17.65 pounds to take the event, and earned more than $28,000 for their efforts.
“I thought we had enough to maybe finish in the top three,” Dufrene said. “When you have 80-plus teams, it usually takes around 18 pounds to win.
“There are a lot of good anglers on this tournament trail because you get the best of the best.”
The next stop for the IFA Redfish Tour is Port Aransas, Texas on Aug. 15.
In the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour event held the next day, two-time tour championship winner Benton Parrott measured a combined limit of 64.50 inches for the win.
Parrott, of Daphne, Ala., hooked his winning fish in the Grand Isle area.
“I started early for the trout before the heat shut down the bite,” Parrott said. “Then I fished for bulls for the rest of the day. It was anyone’s to win.
“I was fortunate to get two great fish today.”
Parrott boated a 20.5-inch trout and a 44-inch redfish, which won him the $100 Berkley Big Redfish award. He took home a total of $2,791, including a Power-Pole Micro Anchor for finishing in first place.
The next IFA Kayak Tour event will be Aug. 16 in Port Aransas.
