TITUSVILLE, Fla. (March 22, 2007) – In a day of whisper-close finishes, Rick Worman and Alon Beja, both of Rockledge, Fla., along with A.C. Lockyer, of Winter Springs, Fla., and Joe Thomas, of Mt. Plymouth, Fla. caught two-redfish limits weighing 13 pounds to tie for the lead on day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event in Titusville presented by Evinrude, where teams are competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.
The next four teams finished in ties for third and fifth place, with just an ounce margin. The tournament field competed in mostly warm, sunny conditions with moderate morning breezes growing into stiff northeast winds of approximately 20 knots.
Worman and Beja found their fish on the east bank of the Indian River Lagoon north of Titusville. They worked a 3-foot trough on the edge of a shallow flat and hooked up as the fish moved in an out of the deeper water.
“We’ve been watching these fish for about a week and they do the same thing every morning,” Worman said. “We were fishing the trough with another team. We’d pull up on opposite ends of the trough and bounce the fish between us. When the other team would hook up, it pushed the fish our way. They’d swim right up to the boat so we didn’t have to cast very far.”
Worman and Beja fished 5-inch jerk baits in native shiner and sardine colors on 3/0 weedless worm hooks with 1/16-ounce weighted shanks. They caught 10 redfish, with their heaviest two coming around 9 a.m.
“We can normally pole up on the flat and get on (small) groups fish, but we had no need to do that, so we stopped fishing around 10 a.m.,” Worman said. “I wanted to save some fish for tomorrow. That way, I can guarantee that I’ll be on fish all day.”
Targeting a tidal area an hour and a half north of Titusville, Lockyer and Thomas fished holes around oyster bars in about three feet. The elements worked in their favor early, but the afternoon brought an uncomfortable shift.
“We were using the wind to our advantage to make long casts,” Lockyer said. “It started out nice today, just enough wind to keep the bugs off of us. But coming back, it got pretty rough. It was a wet ride coming home. We had the foul weather gear on.”
Lockyer and Thomas caught their fish on a gold Bagley Bulging B and white 3-inch Berkley Gulp! Shrimp rigged on a 3/0 circle hook. Moderate presentations with fluttering rod tip action worked best. The team caught about 18 redfish, despite what Lockyer described as diminished activity.
“The fish were not as aggressive as they’ve been in past days,” he said. “We’ve been working these fish for several days with no hooks and we were getting 40-50 hits an hour. Two days of wind has the fish bugged out a little. They’re not as (predictable) as they have been. They’re a little more sporadic in their feeding.”
Rounding out the top teams are Tim Bosko, of Lakeland, Fla., and Mike Miller, of Lutz, Fla. (two redfish, 12 pounds, 13 ounces); Merrily Dunn, of Bradenton, Fla., and Leiza Fitzgerald, of St. Petersburg, Fla. (two redfish, 12 pounds, 13 ounces); John Oliverio, of Brandon, Fla., and Howie Green, of Bushnell, Fla. (two redfish, 12 pounds, 12 ounces); Scott Hughes, of Punta Gorda, Fla., and Mike Laramy, of Tampa, Fla. (two redfish, 12 pounds, 12 ounces).
Teams caught 174 redfish Thursday weighing 826 pounds, 12 ounces.
Qualifying tournaments in the $1.9 million Wal-Mart Redfish Series – the most lucrative redfish tournament trail in the world – are three-day events. Up to 150 teams compete Thursday and Friday, and the top five teams, based on heaviest combined weight, advance to Saturday’s final round. The winning team is determined Saturday based on the heaviest three-day accumulated weight.
Boats will launch from Sand Point Park each morning at 7:30 a.m. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Sand Point Park beginning at 3:30 p.m. The final weigh-in will be held Saturday at the Wal-Mart store located at 3175 Cheney Highway in Titusville, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
The FLW Redfish Series consists of two divisions – Eastern and Western. Each division is comprised of four qualifying events with a $200,000 purse for each event. The top 100 teams – 50 from each division after four qualifying events – will qualify for the three-day, no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship to be held in Orange Beach, Ala., Oct. 18-20. The championship winner will take home as much as $100,000.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most-respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.