All tied up in Titusville

Two teams share top spot at 13 pounds even in Redfish Series Eastern

TITUSVILLE, Fla. – It’s all tied up in Titusville after day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event.

In fact, three pairs of ties occupy the top five spots, causing a pileup in the leaderboard pipeline of sorts.

On the water, the story of the day was wind. Although conditions started out fairly calm Thursday morning, a strong east wind built up to 20 mph through out the day.

Those teams making the wind their friend or doing their damage early prevailed; such is the tale of the two teams tied up at the top.

Currently the two teams of Rick Worman and Alon Beja, both of Rockledge, Fla., and A.C. Lockyer of Winter Springs, Fla., and Joe Thomas of Sorrento, Fla., are tied at 13 pounds even.

Local anglers Lockyer and Thomas used the wind to their advantage today to utilize spots that were sheltered.

“We know a few covered areas that allow us to kind of back in out of the wind,” Thomas said.

“And the biggest thing is we keep the wind to our backs to help make superlong casts to spooky fish,” Lockyer added.

The team is fishing a pod of about 100 to 150 fish over in Mosquito Lagoon in waters 2 to 3 feet deep.

“A Power-Pole is an absolute essential tool on a day like today,” Lockyer said. “It allows you to stake down with the wind to your back and really work an area thoroughly without getting blown all in on top of it.”

For Worman and Beja, also local anglers, it was a matter of getting their fish early before the wind got too bad.

“We caught eight fish in about 20 minutes,” Worman said. “We were done fishing by 10 o’clock and back here at the ramp by noon.”

Worman-Beja are fishing a school of about 150 redfish located in a trough about 1 to 3 feet deep.

“First thing in the morning, they’re grouped up tight – comfortable, happy and ready to eat,” Worman said. “But after about two hours, they begin to scatter out into little groups and pods, and then they become much harder to catch. Getting there early is the whole key.”

Dunn-Fitzgerald tied with Bosko-Miller for third

While the two top teams are locked up at 13 pounds, Merrily Dunn of Bradenton, Fla., and Leiza Fitzgerald of St. Petersburg, Fla., are tied with the team of Tim Bosko of Lakeland, Fla., and Mike Miller of Lutz, Fla., at 12 pounds, 13 ounces per team.

When weighmaster Dan Grimes told fisherwomen Dunn and Fitzgerald that they were tied for third, they screamed with excitement. If they should make the finals, they would be the first female redfish team to make a top-five in FLW Redfish Series competition.

Seeking shelter from the wind, Dunn and Fitzgerald ventured far into the north end of the Lagoon.

“Our fish are tidal-related,” Dunn explained. “We got there at low tide this morning, and by midmorning we had caught eight good keepers.”

“There are several schools of fish in the area,” Fitzgerald said. “We can see them push up and wake around in the area and then circle back around and settle down. It’s really a cool thing to observe their habits.”

The women caught their fish on Berkley Gulp 3-inch shrimp in natural color, teamed with Mission Fishing jigheads.

Bosko and Miller began their day going south, but when they were fishless by noon, they decided to take a gamble and run north for the rest of the day, and the gamble paid off.

“When you get committed to something, it’s hard to pull up the stakes in the middle of the day and go do something completely different,” Miller said. “But that’s what we did. We changed our plans, and it changed our luck. We went north and started fishing deeper water, and it worked.”

Oliverio-Green tied with Hughes-Laramy for fifth

As if two ties for the top two spots were not enough, how about a third tie for the fifth position?

That’s right.

The team of John Oliverio of Brandon, Fla., and Howie Green of Bushnell, Fla., is tied with the team of Scott Hughes of Punta Gorda, Fla., and Mike Laramy of Tampa, Fla., for fifth place with 12 pounds, 12 ounces.

Hughes-Laramy, past Redfish Series winners at Titusville, are trying to battle back into position to win again.

“Another win here would be nice, but I’m afraid our fish have peaked, and now they’re on the backslide,” Hughes said. “Several days ago these fish were in a nice school of about 100 thick. But with each passing day, they seem to be getting more and more scattered and fragmented.”

“We had to really scratch and scrape for our catch today,” Laramy added. “It’s like the school is getting busted up into pods, and we really don’t know why. Our only hope is that a new group of fish will come in overnight and decide to use the spot.”

Oliverio put his ingenious Power-Pole invention to good use today as he and team partner Green used the device to stake down in one tiny spot and fan-cast all day.

“We were slow and methodical,” Oliverio said. “We would move 20 feet, stake down, fish 45 minutes and then move 20 feet, stake down and fish another 45 minutes.”

“We probably didn’t move more than 100 feet all day,” Green added.

Day two of the Redfish Series event in Titusville, Fla., begins Friday morning at 7:30 Eastern at Sandpoint Park.