CYPREMORT POINT – Making the right moves and getting the right bites proved crucial on a tough day of fishing for slot redfish June 22 in and around Vermilion Bay.

Strickly Bidness skipper Milton Davis of Lydia and his crew did just that in the swan song for the Southcentral Fishing Association, which has an uncertain future despite waves of optimism among its long-time and new members. Davis’ 24-foot long Nautic Star powered by a Yamaha went out at 6 a.m. and returned for the 3 p.m. weigh-in with the winning redfish on ice after fishing with two young grandsons, Layn Davis, 10, and Bowen Davis, 6, and accomplished saltwater fisherman Jonathan Rush.

The 59-year-old electrical contractor who owns Short Circuit Repair dominated the seven-boat field with two slot reds (between 18-27 inches) weighing 14.10 pounds. His team’s nearest competitor also weighed a limit of slots as Josh St. Germain and his sons, Noah St. Germain and Ethan St. Germain, checked in with 10.75 pounds for the runners-up spot worth $260.

Rush, 36, led the way for Strickly Bidness. His 8.05-pounder was the biggest slot redfish of the tournament, one that added $90 to their winnings of $380 for first place and another $700-plus for an end-of-the-year bonus.

Rush’s clutch catch bit in the waning hours of the tournament in Lake Tom near Lake Michael, at the front, according to the boat’s skipper. Rush said he wasn’t even watching his popping cork at the time.

“I was looking at Bowen. I heard it (popping cork) pop like a cork on a champagne bottle. As soon as I heard that I set the hook. Then it was everybody moving — one getting the net, others getting poles out of the way. It was a nice fish. It got in the boat fairly quickly,” Rush said.

That redfish bit on a dead bait shrimp about 25 yards from the boat in an estimated 3-foot depth, he said.

It’s just what the crew needed while fishing in unfavorable water conditions – high with some stained areas – in and around Marsh Island.

“We went in the Gulf this morning and the water I wanted to fish was chocolate milk. (But) I caught one 26 inches on the first cast,” Strickly Bidness’ skipper said, noting it bit a Carolina-rigged live mullet along the shoreline near Diamond Reef.

But a little while later the Gulf side of the island started getting rough. They traveled a short distance and encountered “nothing but bull reds,” he said, including a 30-pounder and a 29-inch long redfish that he caught.

Then Davis cranked up the boat and went to four different lakes in the island.

Later, he said, “With two hours left, I said, “Let’s go try something else.’ ”

“Something else” proved to be a game-winner. Rush’s big red sealed the deal, for which the skipper was grateful.

“Especially with two grandsons. Bowen usually doesn’t come but he wanted to come. They fished hard till the last hour of fishing,” the elder Davis said.

Davis and Rush said they threw back beaucoup redfish that fell just under the recently implemented redfish regulations making the minimum length 18 inches and the maximum length 27 inches. Still, the skipper said, they had 10 redfish to keep and clean.

Third place was nailed down by SFA director Brooks Amy, his father, Perry Scott, and his son, Hayden Amy. Their two slots weighed 10.35 pounds for $100.

The weights dropped off after that, a development attributed mostly to high-water conditions in the aftermath of a tropical disturbance earlier in the week in the Gulf. Davis said he believed the water was 2 ½-feet above normal.

Another SFA veteran agreed it was a “tough day.” Keo Khamphilavong of New Iberia, who fished with Randy Migues, said the bite wasn’t on like usual.

“We fished in the middle of the island. We caught 10 speckled trout (on spinnerbaits, including a keeper-sized fish),” he said.

The presence of speckled trout and many gar proved the water was good.

“It shows how good the water is in there. (But) where are the big redfish? Juvenile fish – 16 to 18 inches – were everywhere,” Khamphilavong said. “Where are the big redfish?”

The six redfish they put in the boat all were 20 inches long, he said.