Perhaps it was fitting that the final weigh-in of the 2007 Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup Championship wedged itself between periods of monsoon-like rains. After all, a tropical depression, coastal flood watch and small craft advisory for the majority of the tournament had thrust competitors into a natural game of tag throughout the previous two days.

And on Sunday, Yamaha Pro anglers Andrew Bostick and Mark Sepe accepted Mother Nature’s celebratory Gatorade-like bath with open arms. These Redfish Cup champions proved to the rain-soaked crowd that they were winners.

Despite the challenging weather conditions, long runs and heavy surf, the final day stringers thrilled spectators with the closest Redfish Championship competition in its five-year history. Bostick and Sepe will take home the Cup for a full year after their 12.67-pound stringer.

In second place, another pair of Yamaha Pro Anglers, Brett Phillips and Mike Patterson, nabbed 12.59 pounds of redfish. Jon Loring, Jr. and Ray Malone held on for third place after weighing their 12.53-pound bag.

Yamaha Pro Anglers Al Keller and Bill Faulkner, who doubled-dipped in Pensacola to claim both the Team of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors, still celebrated after a 10.27-pound day and a fourth-place finish. And taking fifth place, Jeff Pope and Brandon Buckner caught 7.05 pounds.

“Both of us have been here so many times,” Bostick said, after both men had called friends and family to share the news. “I can’t tell you how good this feels.”

Counting this tournament’s top five finish, Bostick and Sepe have fished on Championship Sundays five different times: Previous success came with other partners before the men decided to fish together.

Bostick and Sepe were the very definition of the word team on Sunday.

“Mark was the eyes for our bunch,” Bostick said, “and I was doing all the blind casting.”

Unable to get to the hole they were seeking, the team referred to Day Two’s playbook and made a move Sunday to fish the flats.

“I think the deep water plan didn’t work out because they were super-spooky,” Sepe said. “We weren’t having any luck throwing those little Exude crabs, so we moved.”

But once on the flats, Bostick noticed redfish chasing much smaller baitfish. Immediately, he changed lures from a half-ounce spoon to a gold, quarter-ounce spoon and by his second blind cast, the team had their first keeper. Minutes later, the second keeper was in the boat.

Brett Phillips and Mike Patterson found the weather accommodating for their sight-fishing game on Sunday.

“It was better for us today,” Patterson said, “but we just didn’t see the fish like yesterday.”

Without Ramzinsky and Adams joining them in the area, Phillips and Patterson were all alone at their spot, “chunking and grinding like the kind of fishing you do in Texas,” Phillips said.

Seeing how effectively their fishing partners had used their six-foot ladder, Phillips and Patterson bought an eight-footer after the tournament’s first day.

Jon Loring and Ray Malone made the long run again on Sunday, cruising over 110-miles west to the Mississippi marshes.

“It was rough again today, but the bite was a bit more difficult,” Loring said. “Once we got our fish, we turned around and headed home.”

Loring and Malone got their fish using a popper to attract fish out of the grass. Once out, a Gulp shrimp tricked the fish into biting.

“One big fish was on and it came off,” Malone said. “So, who knows what could have happened?”

Even though Al Keller and Bill Faulkner knew they had captured both the Team of the Year and Rookie of the Year titles, they still wanted to win the championship.

“We didn’t let up or relax because we had already won those titles,” Keller said. “We kept fishing hardcore and kept our focus.”

With a smaller fishing boat, the team opted against making any kind of long run from Day One.

“We stayed in Pensacola again today and got today’s fish just like the four all week,” Keller said.

Again, the key for Keller and Faulkner at this tournament was sight-fishing.

The bite fell off for Pope and Buckner on Sunday. They went to the spot they fished all week but the fish just weren’t there.

“When the wind switched, we went for it and swung for the fences,” Buckner said. “That’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

In it’s fifth year, the Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup is one of the nation’s premier inshore saltwater fishing championship. The 2007 schedule consists of six OPEN events in two divisions, three All-Star events and the Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup Championship. It is the proving ground for the nation’s top professional redfish anglers. Full tournament coverage can be seen every Saturday at 8:30 a.m. EST on ESPN2 beginning in October.