Quick Bites: FLW Redfish Series Championship, Day 1

2006 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship

Pensacola, Fla.

Opening round, Thursday

Repeat? … Heading in as one of the frontrunners, the defending Wal-Mart Redfish Series Championship team suffered an inauspicious start at this year’s championship event in Pensacola. Although the team of Todd Adams and Tommy Ramzinsky, both of Rockport, Texas, have turned in seven top-10 performances on the Redfish Series circuit out of a possible eight tournaments over the past two years, including the championship title in 2005, the dynamic duo could only muster an 8-pound, 1-ounce catch and a 48th-place finish during today’s action. “Oh man, it was tough. The wind came out of the south today and really muddied up our water. We looked for them at (the winning area last year) but they just weren’t there. We really needed the tide to be lower. We only got two bites all day but at least we got both of them.” However, Ramzinsky was optimistic the team could turn things around. “There are going to be some good fish caught tomorrow when that tide falls. We’re just going to have to work hard.”

Father-and-son team goes back to school … After finishing 13th overall in the Western Division standings, the father-and-son team of Danny and Grant Coppin are determined to make some waves at this year’s championship. But although they struggled to a 28th-place finish in today’s competition, all is not lost. “We’re on some really good fish, but they’re very unreliable right now,” said Danny Coppin. “We’ve been following this school all through pre-fishing and they’re the type of fish that will win this tournament. The problem is finding them and keeping up with them. They travel about a mile every day. Today, we found them early and I was able to make one cast and I landed a 7 1/2-pounder. If both of us can find them and make some casts, we could easily land 16 pounds. That school of fish is like a pack of wolves. If you throw anything at them, they’ll eat it.”

Technical fowl … Although the team of Tony Vercillo and Monty Peters finished the day in second place with a total catch of 12 pounds, 6 ounces, their brush with an angry pelican seemed to be on their minds first and foremost. “We were cruising along and out of nowhere this pelican comes right off a channel marker and hits our boat, clipping our rods,” said Vercillo. “I was shocked. We both had to duck but luckily, in the end, we both escaped any injuries, including the pelican. I’d never seen anything like that before. And then later on, we almost had a second one do the same thing. It was a strange day.”

Long runs, crazy weather and high tides dominate dock talk … Clearly, the most important topics of the day were the unseasonably high tides, caused mostly by the violent storms that hit the Pensacola area the previous few days, as well as the long runs made by the majority of the field. For the most part, the high tides prevented many anglers from using sight-fishing techniques, a fact which caused multiple strategy changes throughout the first day of competition. “We’re way above normal tide right now so it’s really hard to sight-fish,” said Team Tyson angler Billy Nicholas. “And because of the severe weather, a lot of the guys weren’t able to pre-fish much. So everything you learned prior to Tuesday about this water pretty much went right out the window. And the weather is supposed to keep on changing throughout the week. So everyday is going to be a completely different weather pattern. This is definitely going to be a tournament where the best anglers are going to rise to the top.” For his part, Nicholas said he and his partner, Danny Adams, were running 80 miles one-way, east toward Pascagoula, Miss.. However, he wasn’t alone. Day-one leaders Bo Johnson and Richard Hudec said they were running 160 miles one way, west toward Tallahassee.

Quick numbers:

91: Total number of teams fishing at this week’s Redfish Series event at Pensacola.

80: Total number of teams that weighed in on the first day of competition.

622-8: Total weight in pounds and ounces of redfish caught during opening day of competition.

100: Percentage of fish released alive during first day of competition.

100: Total prize money in thousands awarded to first-place team during Pensacola event.

141: Total redfish caught during opening round.

Sound bites:

“If we were fishing against a bunch of eighth-graders, there would be pressure. But these guys here, all of them, they’re all good fishermen. Anybody can win this thing,” – FLW Redfish Series pro Todd Adams, commenting on whether there is pressure to repeat their first-place performance at the 2005 Redfish Series Championship.

“A 24-inch redfish near Pascagoula, Miss., probably outweighs a 24-inch redfish here by about half a pound.” – Redfish Series pro Billy Nicholas on the reason behind making an 80-mile run one-way during the opening round of competition.

“Now I can say that I traveled three states just to go fishing – Redfish Series pro Todd Adams on making a run from the state of Florida, through Alabama and into Mississippi waters.

“I don’t know if they just didn’t bite or that the fish just turned off.” – Redfish Series pro David Nesloney, Jr. on his team inability to come up with a big bite.

“We sat in a hotel room for two solid days. We played cards, putt-putt golf and went bowling. But after awhile you get tired of doing that. But at the same time, we knew that everybody else was probably in the same boat – Redfish Series pro Greg Watts on being homebound during pre-fishing because of the atrocious weather leading up to the start of the championship.

Day two of Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship action at Pensacola, Fla., continues at Friday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 7 a.m. (CDT) at Shoreline Park, South 800 Shoreline Park, Gulf Breeze Fla.