More water, more access

Wind shift will factor into day two fortunes

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – After facing low-water conditions for most of day one, anglers fishing the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series event in Punta Gorda will find considerably different circumstances on day two.

Redfish anglers inherently face the changes of ebb and flow, but day one saw an extreme low tide, induced by Tuesday night’s full moon and an easterly wind, lasting into the afternoon. Such conditions drain the shallow flats and shorelines common to redfish pursuits.

Friday’s forecast calls for a south-southwest wind that will push more water into the bays and estuaries. For much of the field, this will shake up day one patterns, while allowing more room to move around and find fish.

The big difference is tournament boats, which range from 16-foot flats skiffs to 24-foot bay boats. The latter offers more speed and range, while the former enables anglers to reach farther into shallow zones. Low water on day one greatly limited big boat anglers, who often found themselves filling time with secondary spots while waiting for the afternoon’s rising tide to grant them access to primary objectives.

Interestingly, the current leaders – Jeff Hagaman or Odessa, Fla. and James Goodwin of Palm Harbor, Fla. – ran to Tampa Bay and found their fish in 3- to 4-feet of water near the Intracoastal Waterway. Rising water won’t likely affect this pattern, but the shifting wind might displace these and other groups of redfish. This is why teams spend practice time identifying backup spots.

Team Castrol’s Warren Girle of Longboat Key, Fla. and Billy Harris of Bradenton, Fla. ran approximately 80 miles north, but couldn’t reach the fish they wanted and settled for plucking a few stragglers out of potholes in deeper water. Girle said he’ll make the same run today with hopes of finding his preferred fish.

“The fish are going to move, but we know what they do on the high water,” he said. “We just hope we can get in there and get a couple of bites before the water gets too high. The fish will get tougher to find later in the day.”

Blair Wiggins and partner Travis Tanner zeroed on day one, but hope the changing conditions will improve their chances of locating the right redfish.

“We had a good day of fishing (yesterday), but we couldn’t find any that were in the slot (18-27 inches),” he said. “We were catching them a half inch bigger than what we could keep and all the others were an inch to three inches shorter than what we could keep.”

Wiggins said he’ll start his day by fishing conservatively: “We’re going to hit our B spot first today, instead of going to our A spot, to make sure we put two fish in the boat. We got to our B spot a little late yesterday and the fish had moved out. But we’re going straight there to make sure we get on the board.”

D.O.A. CAL jigs in electric chicken and golden bream colors will be Wiggins’ preference. Most teams will throw a mixture of soft plastics, gold spoons and topwater plugs. The go-to bait for many is Berkley Gulp shrimp, crab and shad. These scented soft plastics appeal to a redfish’s keen sense of smell. Dead-sticking (fishing still on the bottom) is often a productive Gulp tactic.

Anyone’s game

After he and Goodwin topped the day one weigh-ins with 15 pounds, Hagaman observed: “It’s really tough to keep the weight up for three days.”

Indeed, at the end of day two, the leaderboard will likely change much, as teams well past 10th place have a legitimate shot at reaching Saturday’s top-five finale. Just less than four pounds separates the 32nd-place team of John Henninger and John Eggers (11-01) from Hagaman and Goodwin (15). A slip at the top and a surge from lower in the standings could make things very interesting.

Notably, the seventh- through tenth-place scores are: 12 pounds, 14 ounces, 12-13, 12-12 and 12-11. Someone will get the big bites they need, some will not. Look for shuffling throughout the day two standings.

Logistics

All teams compete during the first two days, and the top five teams based on accumulated weight advance to day three. Final standings are determined by the total weight from all three days.

Friday’s weigh-in starts at 3 p.m. at Laishley Park, located at 100 East Retta Esplanade in Punta Gorda. Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. Saturday morning from Laishley Park. Saturday’s weigh-ins start at 4 p.m at the Wal-Mart store located at 3811 Tamiami Trail, Punta Gorda. Take-offs and weigh-ins are free, and the community is invited to attend the festivities.

The Punta Gorda FLW Redfish Series event is hosted by the city of Punta Gorda.

The top award of $50,000 includes $20,000 cash plus a $15,000 cash bonus from Ranger Boats and a $15,000 cash bonus from Yamaha or Evinrude if contingency guidelines are met.

The top 50 teams in each division of the 2008 FLW Redfish Series, based on Land O’Lakes Team of the Year points standings at the end of the season, will advance to the $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in Biloxi, Miss. The winning team at the championship will earn as much as $100,000.

Friday’s conditions:

Sunrise: 6:59 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 71

Expected high temperature: 82

Water temperature: 68

Wind: SSE 14 mph switching to SSW 15 mph

Humidity: 64 percent

Day’s outlook: Morning sunny, afternoon cloudy