Girle and Harris win Wal-Mart Redfish Series event in Punta Gorda

Duo nets $50,000

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – Warren Girle of Longboat Key, Fla., and Billy Harris of Bradenton, Fla., caught a three-day total of six redfish weighing 41 pounds, 5 ounces to win the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event in Punta Gorda, Fla. Their top prize of $50,000 included a $15,000 Ranger bonus and a $15,000 Yamaha bonus.

“We finally got a win,” said Harris, who is fishing his fourth season of Redfish Series competition with Girle. “We’ve been close a couple of times, been in the hunt a couple of times and other times we didn’t have a chance. It seemed like every time we got close it just slipped away from us for one reason or another.

“We were always fortunate to get close and then on the last day we were unlucky with our fishing,” Harris added. “This time, we were lucky to get into the top five, very lucky to get the two fish today that we did and then the leaders today fell back in the pack. I feel bad for them, but we’ll take it.”

Harris said good luck seemed to be the theme for his team during the Punta Gorda tournament. Harris said the team made an 80-mile one-way run to the Sarasota and Bradenton area to pursue large groups of schooling fish they had located. When they arrived, however, they found their fish had vanished.

“They were all gone except for one little group, and we were fortunate enough to get a respectable stringer for the first day,” Harris said. “We were certainly on the outside looking in after the giant stringers that were brought in that day.”

Harris said high winds produced rough conditions that almost sank their boat during Day 1. Nevertheless, the team returned to the same spot for the second day of competition, hoping their fish had returned to the area.

“When we got there, what few fish that were there the day before had decided to leave,” Harris said. “So we went to a spot we hadn’t been to a whole lot. There were 20 to 30 real good fish in there two weeks ago, and we ended up with 15 pounds. We’ve never had a stringer that big. We couldn’t believe it.”

Girle and Harris made the top-five cut after Friday’s competition with two fish weighing 15-02. The team returned to their Day 2 spot on Saturday and managed to get eight bites and capped off the win with two fish that weighed 13-06. Harris said all of their fish during the tournament came on Gulp! Shrimp and Berkley Jerk Shads.

“It was a lot of lucky breaks,” Harris said. “We had to adjust our original game plan a little bit, and we were just fortunate to win.”

Rounding out the top five teams are Roger Crafton of Boca Grande, Fla., and John Ochs of Englewood, Fla. (six redfish, 41 pounds, 4 ounces, $13,582); Miles Meredith of Cape Coral, Fla., and Ozzie Fischer of Fort Myers, Fla. (six redfish, 36 pounds, 6 ounces, $4,590); Randy Hendrick of Clearwater, Fla., and Chris Wittman of Fort Myers, Fla. (six redfish, 35 pounds, 8 ounces, $6,312); and Eddie Arsenault and Jason Coffrin, both of Sarasota, Fla. (five redfish, 33 pounds, 12 ounces, $3,214).

Teams caught nine redfish Saturday weighing 51 pounds, 5 ounces.

The $1.9 million FLW Redfish Series consists of two divisions – Eastern and Western – and the $318,500 Redfish Open. Each division is comprised of four $170,000 qualifying tournaments. The top 50 teams from each division based on Land O’Lakes Team of the Year standings will advance to the no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship to be held Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in Biloxi, Miss. The championship winner will take home as much as $100,000.

Tournament pros aren’t the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing™, FLW Outdoors® offers anyone the opportunity to enter for their chance to land the catch of a lifetime with the opportunity to win $7.3 million in cash and prizes. Players can become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Player’s Advantage, providing them with exclusive insider information that could guide them to a $100,000 victory at every Wal-Mart FLW Tour® stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Player’s Advantage will give them an edge over the competition and increase their shot for a $1 million cash grand prize that will be awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Those who visit FantasyFishing.com today can sign up for Player’s Advantage and FLW Outdoors will include a $15 Wal-Mart gift card.

Coverage of the FLW Redfish Series stop in Punta Gorda will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing March 23. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. The program airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time in most markets. Check local listings for times in your area.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.

Awards are based on a full field of 125 boats in every tournament.