LYDIA -- So many days of bad weather and equally bad fishing last month didn’t discourage Chris Kapp III of Lydia, who went out on the last day of October and won the second split of the three-month long Acadiana Redfish Association Invitational Tournament.

“It was the last day. I really wasn’t going to go. The weather was not that great,” Kapp said about his eventful trip a week ago Saturday. “I had some time. I went out. It wasn’t that bad after all. I think I caught seven fish, something like that.”

Kapp, 39-year-old field salesman and operations manager for Vam USA, went by himself to Boxcar Reef in his 20-foot long Sea Hunt. After catching three bull reds there, all four fishing rods he had out bent over from the weight of a fish at the same time.

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He reeled in the first three big redfish -- a 30-pounder and two 33-pounders -- and got to the last one. That bull red weighed 36 pounds, more than enough to knock off the entry that took over the lead Oct. 28, a 32-pounder caught by Chris Kapp Jr. of Lydia.

It was about 1:30 p.m.. The tide had just changed for the better, he said, and the bull reds started biting the cut mullet he was using for bait.

The big fish bit on a 7/0 hook tied to 40-pound test line with an 80-pound leader on an Ambassadeur 7000 fishing reel with a STAR fishing rod.

Kapp figured he had a winner.

“Yeah, yeah, I knew what I had to shoot for. I didn’t hang on any longer. It started getting rough and I just came on in,” he said.

Kapp, who won the overall points title five years ago, agreed there were few fishermen going after the bull reds last month. Boxcar Reef, usually a reliable hotspot every late summer and fall, turned a cold shoulder to them.

“Nobody else is really fishing them. They haven’t been on the Boxcar. I’ve sat out there many days and not caught fish. It’s just been slow and the weather has a lot to do with it -- windy and rainy,” he said. “I don’t know (the reason). Some thought it might have something to do with bait but they’ve got plenty of bait.”

However, he added quickly, fishing for bull reds has improved considerably there since Sunday.