FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. (July 13, 2006) – James Goodwin of Palm Harbor, Fla., and Jeff Hagaman of Odessa, Fla. caught a two-redfish limit weighing 12 pounds, 3 ounces to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event in Fernandina Beach presented by Yamaha, where teams are competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.
Fishing in hot, humid conditions the leaders targeted a mud flat inside a creek about five miles from mouth of the St. John’s River. A school of redfish feeding on the low incoming tide responded quickly to 3- and 4-inch Berkley Gulp! Shrimp in new penny and natural colors fished on 1/8-ounce jigheads,
“The fish were tailing – they had their backs out of the water,” Hagaman said. “Everything just fell into place. We were done by 8 a.m.”
The anglers caught a total of seven redfish, including two over the 27-inch maximum length. “We knew we couldn’t upgrade from what we had and we didn’t want to beat those fish up too bad. We were sitting in front of the weigh station at 11 oclock.”
The leaders plan to fish the same spot on Friday. “We left them biting today,” Hagaman said. “We drew a low number, so we’ll be starting later tomorrow. But as long as the water doesn’t get too high, we should be okay.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Jeremy Isbell and Zachary Isbell, both of Jacksonville, Fla. (two redfish, 11 pounds, 15 ounces); Tim Shadareck of Pompano Beach, Fla., and Jim Hobales of Miami, Fla. (two redfish, 11 pounds, 15 ounces); Paul Lambert of Punta Gorda, Fla., and Donald Lambert of Port Charlotte, Fla. (two redfish, 11 pounds, 12 ounces); Adam Loud of Fernandina Beach, Fla., and Steven Alqueza of Port Orange, Fla. (two redfish, 11 pounds, 3 ounces).
Teams caught 128 redfish Thursday weighing 544 pounds, 7 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.
Boats will launch from Fernandina Harbor Marina Friday and Saturday at 6:00 a.m. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Fernandina Harbor Marina beginning at 2 p.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at the Fernandina Beach Wal-Mart located at 1757 S. 14th Street beginning at 3 p.m.
The next FLW Redfish Series event will be held September 7-9 in Lafitte, 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 Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit FLWOutdoors.com or 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.