‘Historic moment’

FLW Redfish Series comes to life

SARASOTA, Fla. – For the first time in its 25-year history, FLW Outdoors has made a departure from its freshwater tournament roots and stepped into the briny waters of saltwater tournaments.

Thursday night, a room full of redfish teams, a majority of which had never fished any kind of FLW Outdoors event before, listened intently as FLW Outdoors President and CEO Charlie Evans addressed his organization’s future plans for redfishing.

“This is a historic moment for all of us,” said Evans. “We want to do the same kinds of things with professional redfishing that we have done with professional bass fishing.”

This morning, FLW Outdoors made its first step in that direction by launching 125 redfish teams into the waters of Sarasota Bay to begin the first Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series event.

With the exception of a few more seagulls and pelicans than normal, the sight was not that much different than the launch of a bass tournament.

Each boat was checked for properly functioning kill switches and livewells as they idled by a checkout dock. Redfish Series Tournament Director Dan Grimes then called out each boat number via marine radio to officially begin each team’s fishing day.

Each team is after a limit of two redfish, and each fish must fall within the 18- to 27-inch slot limit.

Some are predicting a tough tournament in Sarasota. Cooler water temperatures and a dose of red tide have dampened the redfish bite. Consequently, many teams are adopting a survival mentality for this first event.

“I just want a couple of keepers per day here, I don’t care what size they are,” said Rick Murphy, whose team won the Inshore Fishing Association Team of the Year in 2004. “We’re not looking to hit a home run this week; we just want to get on base. A lot of guys are going to make long runs, but we are staying close and playing it safe.”

“If you stumble out of the gates here, it’s so hard to play catch-up the rest of the year,” commented Ron Hueston of Naples, Fla. “Our goal is just two fish per day.”

Another pro planning to play it safe in Sarasota is Andrew Bostick of Marco Island, Fla.

“We’re going to stay close,” he said. “Our goal is to make the top 20 everywhere we go, and we feel like we can do that right here in Sarasota Bay. It’s probably going to take 11 or 12 pounds per day to win, but I’d feel real comfortable with 10 pounds each day.”

Among the many new faces in the FLW Redfish Series were a couple of familiar faces from the Wal-Mart FLW Tour.

Bass pros Wes Thomas of Hanover, Ind., and Roger Crafton of Boca Grande, Fla., are taking time out from their FLW Tour Ouachita River practice to fish the Redfish Series this week.

“This is not much different than bass fishing this time of year,” said Crafton, who is an experienced saltwater guide. “We’ll be looking for pockets of shallow, calm water that are warming up. If the sun comes out, it should help the bite tremendously.”

Redfish Series pros will get sunshine today. Shortly after takeoff, the sun peeked out on Sarasota Bay, and the forecast calls for sunny skies the rest of the day with northeast winds from 5 to 10 mph.

Weigh-in will begin at 3 pm at Centennial Park in downtown Sarasota.