Fragomeni and Culver lead Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series event in Titusville

TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Tom Fragomeni of Deland, and Raymond Culver of Naples caught two redfish weighing 14 pounds, 11 ounces to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division finale in Titusville, where a field of 137 teams is competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.

Anglers battled intense, blistering heat to bring limits of redfish to the scales on Friday. In fact the competition is so close only 7 ounces separate the top 5 anglers. The team of Fragomeni and Culver raced 45 minutes to their area but didn’t catch their first redfish until late morning. “It was frustrating out there this morning,” Fragomeni said. “It took a while to catch our first fish, and we had to be very cautious and slow all day to keep from spooking the redfish.” The team caught several keeper redfish, however, and even a few over the slot.

“We’re fishing 2 feet deep and sight casting to fish,” Fragomeni said. “We checked the water temp Friday afternoon, and it read 94 degrees. So, we spent the last few hours of the tournament caring for our fish to keep them alive.”

Rounding out the top five teams are Wal-Mart FLW Tour pro David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., and his father-in-law Jeff Simms of Punta Gorda (two redfish, 14 pounds, 9 ounces); Warren Girle of Longboat Key, and Billy Harris of Bradenton (two redfish, 14 pounds, 8 ounces); Brandon Barlow of Melbourne Beach, and Matthew Hester of Indian Harbor Beach (two redfish, 14 pounds, 8 ounces); and Matthew Morel of New Orleans and Peter Young also of New Orleans (two redfish, 14 pounds, 4 ounces).

Anglers caught a total of 202 redfish weighing 888 pounds, 4 ounces.

FLW Redfish Series qualifying tournaments are two-day events. The entire field competes Friday and Saturday, and the winning team is determined Saturday based on the heaviest two-day accumulated weight. Boats will launch from Sand Point Park in Titusville Saturday at 7 a.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at Sand Point Park beginning at 3 p.m.

The FLW Redfish Series consists of two divisions – East and West. Each division is comprised of four 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 Mobile, Ala., Oct. 27-29. 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 Redfish Series and seven other national tournament circuits offering a combined $30 million in awards through 214 events in 2005. The 27-year-old organization is the purveyor of America’s largest and most prestigious fishing tournaments, including the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, EverStart Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series.

For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, call (270) 252-1000.

Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the title sponsor of all FLW Outdoors events. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.