ENGLEWOOD, Fla. – What’s the best way to keep a large school of redfish in an area? Hem them up and keep them from leaving.
Andrew Bostick of Marco Island, Fla., and Mark Sepe of Deland, Fla., took the day-two lead in the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series event today with a two-day total of 25 pounds, 13 ounces thanks to a little help from the fifth-place team of Jeff Totten of Englewood, Fla., and Ozzie Lessinger of Fort Myers, Fla., who made the top-five cut with a two-day total of 24 pounds, 10 ounces.
For the last two days, the Bostick-Sepe and Totten-Lessinger teams have essentially hemmed up several large schools of redfish by keeping their boats positioned several hundred yards apart on opposite ends of the schools and “bumping” them back and forth to each other.
NASCAR may have bump drafting among competitors for an edge, but now professional redfishing officially has “bump schooling.”
“There are several boats in the area, but we have sort of worked together with Ozzie and Jeff to push these fish back and forth to each other,” Bostick said. “It works well when you are working with a team that understands redfish and can gently bump the whole school back the other way without fracturing the school into smaller pods.”
Both teams have a tremendous amount of respect for each other. The areas they are fishing are well-known community areas that are frequented by locals and tournament anglers alike.
“It helps when you are working with guys like Andrew and Mark,” Totten returned. “They are extremely patient and know how to work the school without getting all up on top of them.”
“Patience and discipline has been the biggest key for both of our teams,” Bostick
explained. “Among the other boats in the area, our two teams have probably moved around less than anybody else. And it’s so tough to do, because at times you can look over and see them just wailing on the fish while we’ll go 30 or 40 minutes without a bite. Then, the fish will come back our way, and Mark and I will catch them nonstop for 15 or 20 minutes, and they just have to sit and watch. But they’ve held true to the program, and it has worked beautifully for both our teams.”
The schools are positioned in deeper water and can be detected visually by spotting “nervous” water, sudden pushes and flashes under the surface.
“They’re huge schools,” Sepe noted. “Maybe a thousand fish big. They like this one area because it’s a little deeper. These fish would probably stay around anyway, but it’s nice to be able to keep track of them and keep them from leaving with the help of another team.”
“We’ve caught nearly 50 fish in there over the last two days,” Bostick added. “When they come your way, you have to make hay while the sun is shining.”
Both teams are using various types of soft plastics and are going with the same game plan tomorrow.
Lombard-Symonds second
Consistent weights of 12 pounds, 14 ounces and 12 pounds, 8 ounces have put the team of Jarrett Lombard of Port Charlotte, Fla., and Leland Symonds of Punta Gorda, Fla., in second with a two-day total of 25 pounds, 6 ounces.
Lombard and Symonds having been working a school of about 200 redfish first thing each morning to catch their best keepers.
“You have to get to them early before the sun gets up high and before all the fishing traffic and boat wakes stir them up,” Lombard said. “They shut down about 9 o’clock, and then it’s nearly impossible to get a bite.”
The team caught just two from the school Thursday and then left it alone. Today they stayed on it much longer and culled through several fish.
“We wanted to go to the big dance on Saturday, so we pushed them hard,” he added. “Hopefully they’ll stay put and produce for us again.”
‘Bush bite’ puts Johnson-Hudec in third
The only team in the top five to make the bush bite – fishing mangrove trees – work is
that of Bo Johnson of Cape Coral, Fla., and Richard Hudec of Naples, Fla.
The team scored two redfish for 13 pounds, 6 ounces today to put them in third with a two-day total of 25 pounds even.
“We’re skipping Gulp shrimp and jerkbaits as far back into the mangroves as we can,” said Johnson, who guides out of Pine Island Sound. “We can see the fish back in there, about 10 feet back in the bushes. But what’s frustrating is when you make a perfect skip in front of one, and it just ignores you and keeps moving. We’ve seen some awfully nice slot fish – the kind that make up 14-pound strings – but getting them to bite is tough. The bite does seem to be better in the afternoon on a higher tide.”
Wiggins-Vandemark bring big string for fourth
Coming from farthest back in the field to make the top-five cut is the team of Blair Wiggins of Cocoa, Fla., and Tadd Vandemark of Key Largo, Fla.
They started the day in 43rd place with 10 pounds, 11 ounces and sacked the biggest pair of redfish of the day – 14 pounds, 1 ounce – to rocket into fourth, much to the delight of the crowd that recognizes Wiggins as the popular TV host of “Addictive Fishing.”
The team’s two-day total now stands at 24 pounds, 12 ounces, which is 1 pound, 1 ounce off the lead.
“What a day,” said an exasperated Wiggins. “We ran 84 miles – one way – to catch those two fish, but it was so worth it. We caught one at about 8:30 and the other at about 11:30, and then we just took our time getting back.”
The team plans to make the long journey again tomorrow to visit the same school of fish that produced their big ones today.
The top five teams in the FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event will take off from Stump Pass Marina tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m.