TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Jim Armstrong and Dennis Cox, brothers-in-law and redfish teammates from Central Florida, pocketed $50,000 for their first FLW Redfish Series win in Titusville, Fla., Saturday after catching a pair that weighed 11 pounds, 12 ounces for a three-day tournament total of 35 pounds, 13 ounces.
“This is huge for us,” Armstrong said. “This means so much more than the money to us. We’ve been fishing together for 20 years. Dennis is my brother-in-law, and we haven’t always gotten along. We’re two big, old boys, and we don’t take much off each other, so we’ve had our ups and downs.
“When we started fishing tournaments about five years ago, we thought we 
were pretty good. We came out and got it handed to us over and over again,” Armstrong said. “But we kept working at it, improving our relationship and improving our fishing. Last year we started to pull it all together. We started having fun on the water again, doing the right things and making the right decisions – and this win is the result of all that.
“Team chemistry is so critical in this game – it’s indescribable – and this is a sign that we’ve established that. I just wish Dennis could be here to savor this win with me, but he’s right where he should be right now.”
Cox fished alongside Armstrong all day but had to take off just before weigh-in to attend his daughter’s high school graduation, demonstrating that he certainly has his priorities in order.
The team’s win came thanks in large part to impeccable timing. On the first day of the event, while fishing out of one area to go to another area in Mosquito Lagoon, Armstrong hooked an 18-inch trout. The trout surfaced several times, and then Armstrong’s rod suddenly got heavy and his drag started screaming.
“I had no idea what was going on,” he said. “When I got the trout closer, we could see two big reds trying to eat it and two others with it waiting for the leftovers.”
The melee tipped the team off to a school of ravaging redfish that were holed up in an obscure mud hole that neither angler knew existed.
“We pretty much caught every fish we weighed from that one area,” Armstrong said. “The fish were so aggressive, we were throwing 4-inch Gulp shrimp (not the 3-inch) in natural and glow white, and we probably caught 30 fish. It was the best day of tournament fishing we’ve ever had.”
Fuller-Dill 7 ounces short
Wayne Fuller and Aaron Dill, both of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., finished second with a three-day total of 35 pounds, 7 ounces, missing victory by a scant 7 ounces and collecting $11,600 for the runner-up spot.
“I don’t know what else we could have done,” Dill said. “We fished as well as we possibly could. We caught two 27-inchers, and you just can’t improve on that.”
The day almost turned disastrous for Dill and Fuller when a local angler came into their best spot and bolted around the area with a trolling motor. They lost contact with their best school, and by 11 o’ clock they were ready to throw in the towel.
Then a mixed blessing occurred.
“The local guy cranked up his big motor to leave, and when he did, the entire school humped up behind his boat, and he never saw them,” Fuller recounted. “We visually reconnected with the school, and he left at the same time – from then on it was game on.”
The local team fished in the north end of Mosquito Lagoon, dead-sticking a Berkley Gulp 3-inch shrimp on an 1/8-ounce, 4/0 “Shrimpaler” hook by Bayou Buck.
They fished the rig on 10-pound-test SuperBraid tied to a 20-pound-test monofilament leader.
“I’m sorry we didn’t win, but it could have been a lot worse,” Dill said. “We were so close to leaving that spot, and then that local guy cranked up, humped the school and the whole day came back to life.”
Dudley-Harrell takes third
Dallas Dudley of St. Cloud, Fla., and Shawn Harrell of Bartow, Fla., took third 
place with a three-day total of 34 pounds, 1 ounce, worth $5,850.
Dudley and Harrell nearly pulled off the perfect anti-Mosquito Lagoon game plan by scouting the Indian River for a pack of reds that they had to themselves all week.
“There’s probably more fish in Mosquito Lagoon, but the pressure over there is so intense, and we knew that probably 80 percent of the field would go there,” Dudley said. “So we decided to gamble in the River and see if the pressure would neutralize the bite over there – and it almost worked.”
Berkley 3-inch, white Gulp shrimp tied to 1/8-ounce jigheads were the primary weapons for Dudley and Harrell.
Bostick-Sepe fourth
Andrew Bostick of Marco Island, Fla., and Mark Sepe of Deland, Fla., finished fourth with a three-day total of 31 pounds, 3 ounces and collected $4,850.
“We got back into our place this morning, but we just couldn’t get the big ones to bite,” Bostick said. “And the big one we did get to bite – after chasing it up and down the bank and casting to it nine times – ended up being 29 inches.”
Bostick and Sepe fished in north Mosquito Lagoon in an extreme backwater that was loaded with thick, heavy grass.
“In the past, it’s been like Louisiana-style fishing in there,” Sepe said. “See a fish, pitch to it and set the hook. But today they just weren’t interested. Many spooked before I even made the cast.
“Part of the problem was the heavy grass,” he said. “As soon as the lure hit the water, it gummed up in the grass and looked unnatural. There were only a few bare spots in there where I could keep the lure clean.”
The team relied on Exude crabs, RT Slugs in a golden-bream color, 3-inch Gulp shrimp and a 1/4-ounce gold spoon all week.
Totten-Lessinger fifth
Taking the fifth position were Jeff Totten of Englewood, Fla., and Ozzie Lessinger
of Fort Myers, Fla., with a three-day total of 27 pounds, 9 ounces.
The team collected $4,400 for its finish.
“We did the best we could with what we had,” Lessinger said. “Given our practice, we were just lucky to make another top five.”