TIERRA VERDE, Fla. – For the second time in their brief FLW Redfish Series careers, Scott Guthrie of Jacksonville, Fla., and Rick Murphy of Homestead, Fla., took home a pair of Redfish Series winner trophies and a check for $37,500.
This makes Guthrie-Murphy the first team to win more than once in FLW Redfish Series history and likely makes them the leading money winners in the series with total winnings of $82,300.
Guthrie and Murphy were relieved to fend off a hard charge from fellow Floridians Geoff Page and Ed Zyak by just 7 ounces, with a three-day total of 36 pounds, 5 ounces.
“Whew, that was close,” said an exasperated Guthrie as he came off the winner’s
platform. “Unreal.”
Guthrie and Murphy have been fishing tournaments together for three years, and things just seem to keep getting better for them.
Ironically, Murphy and runner-up Geoff Page used to be redfish team partners. In fact, they still work together at tournaments.
Page was hoping that his team and Murphy’s team would finish first and second. He got his wish, except he wanted the finishing order to be the other way around.
“Murphy and I practiced together here,” Page said. “I took him to the area in Sarasota Bay that we both fished all week. He and Scott just ended up on top.”
But Guthrie and Murphy’s winning fish today actually came from Rabbit Key, located just minutes from takeoff.
“We pulled up there with just a few minutes left before check-in,” Murphy recounted. “I made my last cast and just let it drag as we buckled everything down. When I lifted up, our biggest fish had the bait. It was just meant to be.”
For the rest of week, Guthrie and Murphy had fished over in Sarasota Bay.
They used Mister Twister RT Slugs on 1/16-, 1/8- and 1/4-ounce jigheads and 1/4-ounce Equalizer spoons. The team tied their baits to 10-pound-test Power-Pro braid with 3-feet, 25-pound-test fluorocarbon leader.
Heartbreaker for Page-Zyak
Geoff Page of Venice, Fla., and Ed Zyak of Jensen Beach, Fla., finished second with a three-day total of 35 pounds, 14 ounces.
The team was fishing in Sarasota Bay, about 40 minutes from takeoff.
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“The area is basically a ditch with an adjacent shallow grass line,” Zyak said. “When the water came up each day, the fish pulled up out of the trough and into the grass.”
Page and Zyak relied on Mister Twister Exude Comida (watermelon red) sinking, soft jerkbaits to land a total of three fish today. They rigged the Comida with 1/16- or 1/4-ounce jigheads on 10-pound-test Power-Pro braid with 16- and 20-pound-test Gamma fluorocarbon leaders.
“If we were fishing the shallow side, we used the 1/16-ounce size,” Page said. “If we were fishing the deep trough, we used the 1/4-ounce size. And we would just drag it along real slow.”
Anderson-Hyatt third
Fishing in their first Redfish Series event together, Mike Anderson and Kenny Hyatt, both of Riverview, Fla., finished third with a three-day total of 35 pounds, 13 ounces.
Anderson and Hyatt got the unofficial award for most miles covered in the top five. The team was running 80 miles to the south each day to work schools of redfish with Mister Twister Exude Darts and Berkley Gulp! Shrimp.
“We only had about two and a half hours to fish when we got there,” Anderson said. “Yesterday, we caught our fish in the first 20 minutes, and that helped us relax. But today, that school was gone. After about 45 minutes of not getting any bites, we started to get nervous. We made a move around the side of an island and either reconnected with the same school we fished yesterday or found another school.”
Girle-Harris fourth
Warren Girle of Longboat Key, Fla., and Billy Harris of Bradenton, Fla., finished fourth
” border=”1″ align=”right” /> with a three-day total of 35 pounds, 11 ounces.
The fog delay kept Girle and Harris from running to their primary water in Sarasota Bay on day one. But on days two and three, the team made it to their best area and it showed through improved weights of 13-3 on day two and 12-10 today.
“We were looking for any sign of life on the flats – mostly mullet and bait,” Harris said. “If we could find bait moving or areas where we could see big mullet flashing underwater, more often than not, the redfish were around, too.”
The team fished grass edges and potholes in 1 to 3 feet of water with Mister Twister Exude Darts in a natural color. They rigged the plastics with Mister Twister 1/16-ounce jigheads on 10-pound-test Power-Pro braid with 15- and 20-pound fluorocarbon leaders.
Watts take fifth
Brothers Bryan Watts of Lithia, Fla., and Greg Watts of Eagle Lake, Fla., finished fifth with a three-day total of 33 pounds, 11 ounces.
The Watts fished about 30 miles away in Old Tampa Bay.
“We went there Thursday with the fog delay, got on a little something and kind of refined it all week to make it work for us,” Greg Watts said. “We found the spot about 15 years ago. It’s a great spot on a northeast wind, but the wind kind of shifted out of the south today and blew into the area stirring it up, and we only ended up catching two fish all day.”
The Watts relied on Berkley Gulp! 3-inch minnows rigged on Bass Assassin jigheads.
They tied their jigs to 10-pound Spiderwire and 25-pound-test Vanish fluorocarbon leaders.