Shaw-Sahadi shine in Port Aransas

Texas team wins first FLW Redfish Series Western event

PORT ARANSAS, Texas – Professional redfish anglers know that the critical part of winning a redfish tournament is consistency. Unlike a bass tournament where an angler can bring in a huge sack of fish one day and then hang onto victory with a mediocre catch the next day, there is no room for slipping in a two-day redfish event.

Just ask redfish pros Kevin Shaw and Kevin Sahadi of Corpus Christi, Texas. They were the only redfish team to bring in back-to-back redfish limits over the 16-pound mark, which led them to win the FLW Redfish Series Western in Port Aransas with a two-day total 32 pounds, 7 ounces.

Including the $12,500 Yamaha bonus, the Shaw-Sahadi team took home a total of $37,500 in winnings Saturday.

“This is the biggest payday we’ve ever had in professional redfishing,” Sahadi said. “We are thrilled to death.”

The top team reported catching their fish on the Sulphur Road Flats located a couple miles south of the Kennedy Causeway.

“Yesterday it took us a while to isolate the key drift, but when we did, we caught them pretty good,” Shaw said. “Today we dialed right in on that drift again. The area we were fishing featured a sand gut located in a grass bed. The reds would hide down in that gut and ambush crabs and mullet on the edges of the grass.”

The key baits for Shaw and Sahadi included D.O.A. CAL Series soft plastics in silver mullet and electric chicken colors on an 1/8-ounce jighead and Renegade topwater baits purchased at Wal-Mart.

“When Kevin found these fish last week, they were in a big school of about 200 fish,” Shaw said. “But the boat traffic this week really dispersed the fish. They were still in the area, but you had to fish hard to find them.”

Koliba-Shimek take second

Kurt Koliba of Port Lavaca, Texas, and Michael Shimek of Bay City, Texas, added 15 pounds, 10 ounces to their 16 pounds, 2 ounces from Friday to finish second with a two-day total of 31 pounds, 12 ounces.

Koliba had the thrill of catching an 8-pound redfish on a topwater bait today.

“We were throwing Bass Assassins under popping corks, and the reds began striking the corks,” Koliba recounted. “So I picked up a Rapala Skitterwalk, and our biggest fish inhaled the whole bait down to its crushers. We had to perform minor surgery to get the bait out of its throat.”

Shimek also did his part by landing a 7-pounder on a Bass Assassin.

The Koliba-Shimek team fished in Kelso Lake, a remote backwater that is difficult to access. They had to rely on a small skiff to get into the area.

“We are always trying to get away from the fishing pressure,” Shimek said. “The flats have been covered up with boats, so we opted to get into this backwater pond – it’s more of a lake than an open water flat.”

Larson and Auld “jam” for third

Jeff Larson of Friendswood, Texas, and Steven Auld of Baytown, Texas, finished third with a two-day total of 29 pounds, 15 ounces.

“We only had about 8 pounds in the well until about 1 o’clock, then we made a change and started catching the bigger fish to cull up to 13-10,” Auld said.

And what was the big change?

“We cranked up the radio,” Auld replied. “We always listen to the radio when we are fishing, but since we had a cameraman in the boat, we left it off all day until 1 o’clock. As soon as we cranked it up, the fish started biting.”

Contrary to the popular belief that silence is golden when redfishing, Larson and Auld fish with the radio “jamming” frequently.

“I mean we crank it up, too,” Auld added.

“I’ve got a Sirius Satellite radio in my boat for a good reason,” Larson said. “It’s as important to me as a tackle box.”

And what song seemed to “intone” the reds best?

“‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns N’ Roses,” Larson said. “They really started biting to that tune.”

Larson and Auld’s key baits this week were a Super Spook topwater and a 1/4-ounce Strike King spinnerbait.

Kuykendall-Schneider fourth

Consistency also paid off for Kirk Kuykendall of Houston, Texas, and Jeff Schneider of Bellaire, Texas. The redfish team brought in 15 pounds, 5 ounces on day one and 14 pounds, 5 ounces on day two to finish fourth with a two-day total of 29 pounds, 10 ounces.

Normally dedicated to the art of fly-casting to visible reds, Kuykendall and Schneider put down their fly rods this week and picked up bait-casters rigged with 1/8-ounce silver spoons and Berkley Power minnows on 1/8-ounce jigheads to catch their fish.

“We’ve been fishing in about 10 inches of water over the last two days,” Kuykendall said. “We did a lot of poling this week.”

The team fished in North Aransas Bay and reported seeing a lot of big reds tailing up in extremely shallow water.

“We probably caught 10 fish per day – we never caught an undersized fish but did catch several oversized fish,” Schneider said. “The area we were fishing had a lot of thick, shallow grass; we had to cast to the open holes and keep the lures free of the grass to get the bites.”

Mock and Curry fifth

Skipper Mock of South Padre Island, Texas, and Eddie Curry of Laguna Vista, Texas, finished fifth with a two-day total of 28 pounds, 1 ounce.

They reported catching their fish on Norton Bull Minnows in a salt-and-pepper/pearl color with a chartreuse tail rigged on an 1/8-ounce jighead.

“We drifted out in 2 1/2 to 3 feet of water, power casting to potholes in the grass,” Mock said. “This is similar to how we fish in South Padre Island – it suits our style.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 teams in the FLW Redfish Series Western in Port Aransas:

6th: Mike Patterson and Brett Phillips, both of Rockport, Texas, (two-day total) 27-12

7th: Tim Clancey of Adkins, Texas, and Tim Redden of Houston, Texas, 27-10

8th: Chief Tauzin of Kingwood, Texas, and Clark Jordan of Pearland, Texas, 27-08

9th: Todd Adams of Rockport, Texas, and Tommy Ramzinsky of Fulton, Texas, 27-08

10th: John Mendleski and Mike Gollihar, both of Corpus Christi, Texas, 27-04