Eavenson-Jackson lead in Clearwater

Ten teams crack 11-pound mark in FLW Redfish Series Eastern event

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Bright sun, warm temperatures and good tides produced some solid catches to open the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern event in Clearwater on day one.

In all, the scales reported two limits in the 11-pound range; five limits in the 12-pound class; a 13-pound, 4-ounce catch; and to the surprise of many, two limits topping the 14-pound mark.

Naturally, the 14-pound catches produced the most buzz around weigh-in.

When long-range runners Bo Johnson and Richard Hudec tried to lock down the lead with two redfish for 14 pounds, 2 ounces, the team of Clay Eavenson of Land O Lakes, Fla., and Frank Jackson of Tampa, Fla., stole their thunder with two redfish for 14 pounds, 4 ounces.

Eavenson and Jackson are fishing about 30 minutes from the launch and caught their two best keepers by 9:20 Thursday morning.

“In practice, we got right up on these fish and watched them,” Jackson said. “We paid close attention to the exact locations they were using to get comfortable, relax and eat.”

“But when we fished them today, we didn’t get anywhere near them,” Eavenson added. “We stayed way off and made superlong casts to those exact areas where we saw them in practice. So we’re not sight-fishing – if we get that close, they spook and refuse to eat. We’re just casting to areas where we saw them in practice and waiting for them to find the lure.”

In terms of a repeat performance tomorrow, the Florida team seems unsure.

“We got those two big ones, but we also caught about seven 15-inchers,” Jackson said. “Tomorrow, they might all be 15-inchers.”

“Plus, there are two or three other boats in the area,” Eavenson added. “So, you never know what might happen.”

Johnson-Hudec long runners-up

Redfish fans who know Bo Johnson of Cape Coral, Fla., and Richard Hudec of Naples, Fla., know exactly where they caught their fish today: that’s right, two hours away from the launch site.

In true Johnson-Hudec fashion, they made the long run all the way back to their home waters near Pine Island Sound.

“Evinrude, baby!” Johnson said after putting two redfish in the scales for 14 pounds, 2 ounces. “Two hours down and three hours back. We got back with just five minutes to spare.”

While the team enjoyed a somewhat easy ride south this morning, coming back was different story. A spunky northwest wind made things difficult.

The gamble the long-run teams face when going south is either running the outside on the Gulf or running the protected Intracoastal, which is riddled with long manatee idle zones.

“Coming back, it got so bad on the outside that we ducked back in at about Sarasota, but you just can’t make good time on the inside,” Johnson said. “So we popped back out and made the best of it. And that’s the thing about it, we may look like heroes now, but 10 minutes later and we would have been late.”

The question is, Can Johnson and Hudec make their run three days in a row?

“I want to make the long run pay, but I don’t know how much more I can take,” Johnson said of the rough seas. “We’ll probably try to go back tomorrow, but Saturday might be a different animal. It’s supposed to blow about 25 knots Saturday.”

Watts brothers looking to repeat

Two weeks ago, Bryan and Greg Watts won the Redfish Cup out of Clearwater, Fla., and now they’re looking for a repeat performance in the Redfish Series.

The team brought in two redfish for 13 pounds, 4 ounces to start the tournament in third place.

“We’re doing the exact same thing we did in the Cup event, just in a different place about 20 minutes farther away,” Greg Watts said.

“We’re working in a very fragile window of tide and time,” Bryan Watts explained. “These fish bite at just a certain water level: Too little water and they won’t eat; too much water and they disappear into the trees. So we’ve got about an hour and a half to make it happen.”

“And these fish are so spooky that we’re having to cast a country mile to reach them without spooking them,” Greg Watts added. “If the water is calm, they spook when the lure hits the water. But if we can get just a little breeze and ripple on the water, it helps camouflage our presentations.”

“That’s just how specific our pattern is,” he added, “The tide has got to be just right, and the ripple has to be just right. And when we get that perfect combination, it’s game on.”

Huddleston-Bond and Mullett-Mullett round out top five

In the fourth-place position is the team of Jim Huddleston of Palm Harbor, Fla., and James Bond of Dunedin, Fla. They weighed in two redfish for 12 pounds, 11 ounces.

Cousins Ken Mullett and Jeff Mullett of Sarasota, Fla., are in the fifth-place position with two redfish weighing 12 pounds, 9 ounces.

The Mulletts are fishing relatively close, and like other teams, they claim that long casts to areas where they know fish are without actually seeing them is the key.

“Our best time is low incoming,” Mullett said. “As soon as the water starts coming in, that’s when they’re easiest to catch.”

Day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series begins Friday at 7 a.m. EST at Coachmen Park in Clearwater.