Pole position

Oliverio-Green take top spot going into Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series finals

TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Almost 10 years ago, John Oliverio of Brandon, Fla., had an interesting idea: He wanted to design a shallow-water anchoring system that could be used to stake down a boat quickly, efficiently and without noise.

Over the next couple of years, Oliverio designed and perfected a hydraulic Power-Pole, which stakes a boat down in 8 feet of water or less with the push of a remote-controlled button.

The innovative device is particularly effective in windy conditions – the exact kind of conditions that have plagued redfish anglers in the FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event in Titusville, Fla., over the last couple of days.

So it might come as no surprise that the Power-Pole’s mastermind, Oliverio, and his teammate Howie Green of Bushnell, Fla., now lead the Titusville event with a two-day total of 26 pounds, 3 ounces.

Today, the Power-Pole team brought in the tournament’s biggest limit – 13 pounds, 7 ounces – to take the lead.

The team is fishing the east side of Mosquito Lagoon, using the Power-Pole to stake down and blind-cast to a mixture of sand and grass flats.

“We can’t really see the fish,” Green said. “We can see the sand and grass, and there is one thick, dark strip of grass that runs along a bar. The bigger redfish are moving along that strip. We cast out our Gulp shrimp and crabs along that strip and just barely move them. Pretty soon there’ll be a peck-peck at the other end, and one’s got it.”

The team is putting the Berkley Gulp products on 3/8-ounce Bass Assassin screw-lock jigheads to get better casting distance.

“They seem to bite in spurts,” Oliverio added. “We’ll go a while without a bite and then, bam-bam, we’ll both hook up.”

Worman-Beja ounces behind

Tracking Oliverio and Green is the local team of Rick Worman and Alon Beja, both of Rockledge, Fla.

After leading yesterday, Worman and Beja are in second with a two-day total of 25 pounds, 13 ounces, just 6 ounces off the lead.

Worman, who guides on the Indian River, has been working one school of fish in a trough with another team in the tournament.

“We’ve been bouncing this one school back and forth between the two boats,” Worman said. “But the other team did not make the finals, so I’m not going to have another boat to hem them up with tomorrow. Hopefully, I can come in from the deep side and pin them up against the bar with one boat.”

The team has decided to fish on Worman’s home waters in the Indian River for two reasons: “The fish are heavier and less pressured,” Worman explained.

“In my opinion, the fish in the river feed more on mullet and stone crabs, which makes them heavier,” he said. “I think the fish in the Lagoon feed more on shrimp and fiddler crabs – much lighter prey. Plus, these fish here are just less pressured. The ones I’m fishing are relaxed, comfortable and happy. We can get real close to them and pitch right to them. You can’t fish like that in the Lagoon.”

To fool the redfish, Worman and Beja are using Gulp jerkshads in a camouflage color, threaded on a 1/16-ounce Mustad Ultra-Lock hook.

Porcelli-Stellinga third

Joseph Porcelli of Edgewater, Fla., and Jeff Stellinga of Windermere, Fla., are currently in third place with a two-day total of 25 pounds, 7 ounces.

Porcelli, who guides in Mosquito Lagoon, is targeting a school of fish over in the Lagoon.

“We’ve got a group of about 80 fish in 2 feet of water over there,” Porcelli said. “We’re sight-fishing them, in that we can see them flash in the water, and then we throw to the school.”

The team is also using Gulp to catch their fish.

Vercillo-Peters fourth

Tony Vercillo of Ft. Pierce, Fla., and Monty Peters of Vero Beach, Fla., moved into the fourth-place position on day two with a two-day total of 25 pounds even.

The team is fishing south on the Indian River. They, too, feel that Indian River redfish weigh more and are not as pressured.

“Every year we come here, we fish the river and finish pretty well,” Vercillo said. “We may not catch as many fish as some of the guys fishing the Lagoon, but when we get a keeper, it weighs heavy.”

The team noted it had caught only four or five fish each day.

“We’re targeting potholes in dirty water,” Peters revealed. “We can’t see the potholes; we just know where they are. The water is so dirty that we’re actually putting rattles in our 4-inch Gulp shrimp for added noise appeal.”

Hughes and Laramy make their move

Rounding out the fifth and final position for Saturday’s finals is the team of Scott Hughes of Punta Gorda, Fla., and Mike Laramy of Tampa, Fla., with a two-day total of 24 pounds, 9 ounces.

The team won the Redfish Series event at Titusville in 2005.

“We’re just lucky to be here after what we did this morning,” Laramy revealed. “Our fish set up in a completely different spot this morning, and when we were going in, we ran over them and spooked the whole school first thing.”

“It’s the only spot we have, so we had no choice but to just set up in there and wait them out,” Hughes added. “Fortunately for us, they came back in and settled down long enough for us to catch a couple. But we’ll know better tomorrow.”

Hughes and Laramy are also using Gulp to catch their fish. Interestingly, though, they are rigging the Gulp baits bass style, with a 1/4-ounce Tru-Tungsten bullet weight and offset worm hook.

The final day of competition begins Saturday morning at 7:30 at Kennedy Point Park in Titusville.