FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – As professional redfishing matures, more and more teams are being identified by their fishing styles.
Such is the case with James Goodwin of Palm Harbor, Fla., and Jeff Hagaman of Odessa, Fla. When it comes to tournament redfishing, these guys run extreme distances, sometimes to entirely different estuaries, to target school fish that few others will find or venture to.
It’s how the team won the inaugural FLW Redfish Series Eastern event in March 2005, and it’s the same strategy that has put them on top of the Redfish Series Eastern event out of Fernandina Beach after day one with a pair of redfish weighing 12 pounds, 3 ounces.
“We did our usual deal and ran far,” Hagaman said. “Except today it worked out like it should for a change. Our timing was perfect. We got down there as the tide hit dead low and turned to come back in, and the whole area came to life with a school of fish. They started tailing and showing themselves everywhere, and Jamie went to work with that Gulp Shrimp and an 1/8-ounce jighead – just bam, bam, bam.
“We caught seven fish by about 8:30 (a.m.), making it the best day we’ve ever had up here in the Jacksonville area.”
Hagaman noted that the best fishing was from the time the tide started coming back in until it hit the edge of the grass.
“As soon as the water hit the edge of the grass, the fish went crazy chasing stuff,” he said. “But once the tide started to flood the grass, the fish moved up, scattered out, and it got tough.”
Local Isbells capitalize on home-water knowledge for second
Few argue that the northeast coast of Florida is one place where local 
knowledge is a premium commodity when it comes to hunting redfish.
Just ask Jeremy Isbell and Zachary Isbell of Jacksonville, Fla., who ran back to their home waters to catch two redfish weighing 11 pounds, 15 ounces for second place.
“We spent the day fishing right there around Jacksonville in the White Shell area,” Zack Isbell said. “We only caught two keepers, but they were the right ones. We caught them early and then spent the rest of the morning scouting around for tomorrow.
The Isbells reported seeing their fish literally “crawling” in mere inches of water and casted to them with 3-inch Gulp Shrimp during the low-tide window Thursday morning.
Shabareck-Hobales tied for second
Tim Shabareck of Pompano Beach, Fla., and Jim Hobales of Miami are tied for second place with two redfish weighing 11 pounds, 15 ounces.
To illustrate just how shallow these Atlantic redfish are during a low tide, consider that Shabareck and Hobales purposely ran their shallow-water skiff aground trying to reach a tidal pool this morning.
“We ran a quarter-mile through nothing but mud until there was nothing left for the prop to grab,” Hobales said. “And the worst part was we ran aground just out of casting range of the pool we were trying to reach. We could see the fish up there, slithering around with their backs out of the water, and we had to wait nearly an hour for the water to come up enough to pole our way in there.”
Lamberts fourth
Paul Lambert of Punta Gorda, Fla., and Donald Lambert of Port Charlotte, Fla., 
are in fourth with two redfish for 11 pounds, 12 ounces.
With West Coast addresses, the Lamberts are strangers to this area. Given their limited knowledge, they decided to stick with fishing the edges of the Intracoastal Waterway with spinnerbaits.
“We’re unfamiliar with the backcountry and tidal creeks here,” Paul Lambert said. “So we decided to stay out on the outside of the Intracoastal and just fish down the edges, bass-style with spinnerbaits, hitting any little points, creek mouths or indentations in the bank.
“We’ve isolated one stretch, about a mile long, that seems to be holding some pretty decent reds. We caught a couple of overs and unders there this morning along with our two keepers.”
Loud-Alqueza fifth
Adam Loud and Steven Alqueza, both of Fernandina Beach, Fla., also used their home-court advantage today to land two reds weighing 11 pounds, 3 ounces for fifth.
“The primary thing the home-field advantage gives us is knowing where to fish during high tide,” Loud explained. “Most of the guys who come here from out of town have learned how to catch these reds when the tide is low and first incoming because it congregates the fish. But they only have about two hours to get it done. Once the high water comes in and the fish scatter, it gets tough on them.
“We know several places that the fish migrate to on high tide, and that helps make our fishing day more efficient. We were able to make good use of the low water this morning by sight-fishing with Exude RT Slugs. But once the water got high, we were also able to catch a few fishing inline spinnerbaits around key grass edges.”
Day-two action of the FLW Redfish Series in Fernandina Beach begins Friday at 6 a.m. at the Fernandina Harbor Marina.