Laramy-Hughes take Titusville

FLW Redfish Series team moves from seventh to first with whopping day-two catch

TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Catching a legal-size redfish in Florida (18- to 27-inch slot limit) that weighs 8 pounds is hard to do. Catching two legal-size redfish, each weighing 8 pounds, in the same day is even harder to do. Catching two legal-size redfish at 8 pounds apiece on the last day of a major redfish tournament is virtually impossible to do.

But that’s what Mike Laramy of Tampa, Fla., and Scott Hughes of Punta Gorda, Fla., did today to win the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern event. The team brought in two redfish, one weighing 8 pounds even, the other weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces, for a day-two weight of 15 pounds, 15 ounces. The two big reds gave the team a two-day total of 29 pounds, 4 ounces to propel them from seventh place into the winner’s circle.

“This has been the longest day of my life,” said an exhausted Laramy on stage. “We’ve been watching these fish for a whole week, just waiting for this day.”

“This is so gratifying,” said Hughes. “We just started fishing tournaments this year, and to come out and beat some of the guys you see out here is just unbelievable.”

Laramy and Hughes began putting their tournament-winning game plan together weeks ago when the team came to Mosquito Lagoon and scouted water located over an hour north from the takeoff.

“We wanted to find the most remote place we could to get away from all of the local guides and tournament traffic,” Laramy said. “We wanted to find somewhere far away and that required a lot of hard poling over skinny water to get to – and that’s exactly what we found.”

The team found the spot two weeks ago and spent this entire week of practice studying the habits of their quarry.

“We never threw a bait at the fish all week,” Hughes said. “We would pole in there, stake down and just watch them. After several days we began to see exactly how they were moving in and out of the area on the tide. Once we knew their daily patterns, we spent the tournament staking down in their pathways and intercepting them coming and going – much the same way a hunter intercepts deer on game trail.”

“The key time was about 10 to 10:30 in the morning,” Laramy said. “That’s when they would start moving in with the tide. When we would get there, there was not a fish to be found. We would just sit and wait, looking at our watches and having faith that they would show up. Sure enough, just like clockwork, they would show up at midmorning.”

The team credited the low draft of their Ranger Ghost flats skiff for being able to maneuver silently in the area.

“At times, we got so close to the fish, we could just dangle a bait on their nose without making a cast,” Hughes said. “It was unreal.”

The team collected $50,000 for their win: $25,000 from FLW Outdoors, $12,500 from Yamaha Outboards and another $12,500 from Ranger Boats.

They reported catching their fish on Exude RT Slugs rigged on a 1/16-ounce jighead.

Briny bridesmaids

During his professional bass-fishing career, David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., has finished in just about every spot in the top 10 except for first in national bass tournaments.

Walker was hoping that by teaming up with his father-in-law, Jeff Simms of Punta Gorda, Fla., and fishing the Redfish Series, he might take a win in brinier waters. And for a while this afternoon, it looked like a real possibility.

Walker and Simms brought in two redfish weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces and took the lead with 29 pounds, 1 ounce until the team of Laramy and Hughes brought in their 15 pounds, 15 ounces to nudge Walker and Simms out of the top spot by 3 ounces.

The team picked up $10,600, but the second-place finish only added salt to Walker’s wound.

“Welcome to my world,” sighed a disappointed Walker. “It doesn’t look like things are going to be any different over here. I’ve lost a lot more by a lot less in major bass tournaments, but I don’t know what else I can do to win.”

The team used Berkley Gulp! Shrimp fished weightless on spinning tackle.

“We fished that Gulp! Shrimp the same exact way you’d fish a Senko for bass,” Walker said. “Throw it out there weightless and just dead-stick it. When a fish eats it, you feel a little tick and then the line just tightens. That Gulp! is some unreal stuff.”

On stage, Walker gave the crowd a hint as to what he saw coming in the future with the FLW Redfish Series.

“In 1996, I fished my first FLW bass tournament,” he said. “And it looked a lot like this. The payout was about the same. The weigh-in was about the same: a little tent by the lake. The crowd size was about like this.

“And now look at it 10 years later: guys are fishing for $500,000 and weighing in in arenas full of fans. FLW Outdoors and Ranger Boats have the capacity and financial backing to grow the sport of redfishing in the same way.”

Fragomeni and Culver third

Day-one leaders Tom Fragomeni of Deland, Fla., and Raymond Culver of Naples, Fla., finished third with a two-day total of 28 pounds, 1 ounce. They pocketed $6,850 for their finish.

The team sight-fished flats with Exude RT slugs in a golden bream color rigged Texas-style with a small bullet weight.

“We were fishing flats and shorelines, casting to any visible fish we could see,” said Culver.

Porcelli and Stellinga fourth

Joseph Porcelli of Oak Hill, Fla., and Jeff Stellinga of Windermere, Fla., checked in two reds for 15 pounds, 7 ounces today to take fourth with a two-day total of 27 pounds, 13 ounces.

The team reported catching 40 redfish today.

“We worked singles all morning, and at the end of the day, we went to a school I had been saving for the last day of this tournament,” he said. “I was hoping it would be the ace in the hole to give us a win. The plan almost worked. We probably caught 18 to 20 fish in the last hour of the day, but it wasn’t quite enough.”

The team caught their fish on Berkley Gulp! Shrimp rigged weightless with a kahle-style hook.

Swensson and Mell take fifth

Jason Swensson of Key Largo, Fla., and Troy Mell of Islandmorada, Fla., posted two redfish for 14 pounds, 15 ounces today to take fifth with a two-day total of 26 pounds, 3 ounces.

Swensson and Mell sight-fished in a foot and a half of water with YUM Houdini Shads in white and smoke-gold flake rigged on 1/8-ounce jigheads.

“The last hour of the day was the real key time for us today,” Swensson said. “We caught about 30 fish and a lot of them were in that last hour. The tide started falling, the fish started moving off the flat, and we found the area they were using to move back into deep water. There was a constant line of fish coming at us that last hour, and we were catching them one after another.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 redfish teams in the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event in Titusville:

6th: Chris Hueston of Miami and Ronald Hueston of Naples, Fla., two-day total of 26-3

7th: Sam Bertha of Bunnell, Fla., and Bob Supina of Palm Coast, Fla., two-day total of 25-14

8th: Bryan Watts of Lithia, Fla., and Greg Watts of Eagle Lake, Fla., two-day total of 25-12

9th: Warren Girle of Longboat Key, Fla., and Billy Harris of Bradenton, Fla., two-day total of 25-9

10th: Edward Eble of Homosassa, Fla., and Randy Hendrick of Clearwater, Fla., two-day total of 25-8

The Watts Brothers also claimed the Redfish Series Eastern points title, furthering their domination of tournament redfishing. The Watts now own points titles in three different redfish tours: the FLW Redfish Series, the Redfish Cup and the IFA Tour.