Culpepper-Culpepper win Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series event in Port Aransas
PORT ARANSAS, Texas – Jonathon and Kris Culpepper, both of Houston, caught a six-redfish total weighing 41 pounds, 12 ounces to win the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division event in Port Aransas presented by Yamaha, and $37,500 cash.
The Culpeppers fished depth transitions on shallow flats about 75 miles north of Port Aransas. Their choice of outboard power facilitated a long-range strategy.
“We wanted to get away from the pressure of the tournament plus the pressure of weekend boaters in Port Aransas,” Kris Culpepper said. “We run a Yamaha 150-hp 4-stroke engine, so we didn’t have to make a gas stop like some of the other teams did. That allowed us to get there before a lot of other boats and it gave us a slight advantage of getting on the fish first.”
Fishing 4-inch Berkley Gulp! Shrimp in pearl white color on 3/8-ounce jigheads, the winners caught approximately 40 redfish Saturday. “We had 13 pounds within the first half hour,” Kris Culpepper said. “We kept waiting for that big bite, but they were all cookie cutter 6-pounders. We had to catch a lot of those fish and we kept culling them and upgrading ounces at a time.”
High winds whipped the Texas coast and the Culpeppers endured a rough ride going and coming. Fortunately, the blow decreased during their fishing time and allowed a thorough effort.
“We fished this area (lightly) the first two days, but we pounded it pretty hard today,” Kris Culpeper said. “We gave ourselves about two and a half hours to get in and it took us nearly every minute of it. We had some brutal weather blowing in today.”
Rounding out the top five teams were Cory Walker of Stafford, Texas, and Jason White of Austin, Texas (six redfish, 36 pounds, 1 ounce, $9,400); Danny Coppin of Belton, Texas, and Grant Coppin of Corpus Christi, Texas (six redfish, 34 pounds, 14 ounces, $6,400); Tommy Ramzinsky of Fulton, Texas, and Todd Adams of Rockport, Texas (six redfish, 33 pounds, 5 ounces, $5,400); and Jay Watkins and Jay Watkins Jr., both of Rockport, Texas (four redfish, 27 pounds, 7 ounces, $4,100).
Anglers caught a total of 8 redfish Saturday weighing 34 pounds, 9 ounces.
FLW Redfish Series qualifying tournaments are three-day events. The entire field competes 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.
The next FLW Redfish Series Western Division event will be held June 15-17 in Cocodrie, La.
The FLW Redfish Series consists of two divisions – Eastern and Western. 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 Pensacola, Fla., Oct. 19-21. 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, as well as the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.
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 world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.