ROCKPORT, Texas – Proving that family ties are of the strongest variety, the local father-son team of Jay Watkins and Jay Watkins Jr. outfished the field on day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division season finale. Also in the top five Thursday were another father-son team, which included an 11-year-old, and a brotherly duo.
Watkins and Watkins Jr., both of Rockport, proved that familiarity with home waters – not to mention with one another – can go a long way in tournament redfishing. The pair sacked a two-fish limit weighing 16 pounds that has them 6 ounces ahead of their nearest competition.
“We’re fishing a little deeper today … in about 3 to 5 feet, which is fairly deep for this area,” Watkins said. “We’re drifting, blind-casting in broken-bottom water.”
The two fished in the northern portion of the bays of Port Aransas and Corpus Christi, where recent rains and the drainage of fresh water into the Intracoastal Waterway have pushed many reds out farther into deeper water, explained Watkins. They caught about eight fish, including a couple that measured over the high end of the 20- to 28-inch slot limit, by casting gold spoons and 4-inch Bass Assassin Texas Shads in Texas Roach color.
“We didn’t have a lot of bites, but when you T-bone them, you’re on them,” Watkins said of their tactic of casting into bottom pockets that they know through experience. “We’re trying to fish fish that others don’t see, that are in transition … but we know they’re there.
“If you find one in a pothole, you might find 10.”
When one of the team members strikes red gold in a pothole, the other immediately starts casting to the same area, and so on, to increase the number of presentations they offer the hole-dwelling fish.
And for the question of whether father catches best, Watkins said of his son: “He was on fire; he always is.”
After being asked why the team only registered for two Western events this season after such a strong performance, Watkins replied, “I’ve got three kids in college. I’m going to have to get me one of these sponsors. But we love fishing these; it’s a great chance to get out there and fish with your son.”
With performances like today’s, he may well be on the way to earning some tuition dollars along with sponsor interest.
Jordan-Tauzin solidly in second
Looking to unglue the Watkins-Watkins family bond is another Texas team: Clark Jordan of Pearland and Chief Tauzin of Manvel, no strangers to the Redfish Series top five, are sponsored by Castrol.
“We call this our home water,” Tauzin said, adding that they like to “spot-cast” to redfish on the grass flats of Laguna Madre, though the wind prevented that game plan today.
“It’s been tough to get on the water; the weather’s been real spotty,” he said of their practice time. “But we’ve been able to do what we like to do (today), and that is sight-cast.”
Added Jordan, “We hung out fairly close.”
The team caught its first keeper red at 9:30 a.m. and had its two-fish limit of 15 pounds, 10 ounces within an hour. Experiencing a lot of boat traffic, they “kind of went into prefishing mode,” scouting out new locations in the area, Tauzin said. They were casting silver spoons and 3-inch Berkley Gulp shrimp baits in 1 1/2 to 2 feet of water.
Gregorio-Gregorio illustrates power of youth
Tony Gregorio just started fifth grade, and already the pupil – who just turned 11 on Tuesday – is becoming a master. He and his father, Rome, who live in nearby Corpus Christi, wowed the weigh-in crowd with two fine reds for 15-7.
“Tony does everything the big boys do,” Rome said. “He caught the big fish. It’s pretty inspiring.
“He’s my long caster on the platform. When I get tired, we switch and he drives the trolling motor.”
They caught their fish in the Aransas Flats area by casting Berkley Gulp shrimp in about 2 feet of water. When fishing the edges in deeper water of about 4 feet, they tossed Berkley Gulp jerkshads.
Rome said his young partner probably logs about as many casts per day as he does and that Tony will only “take a break for food and Twizzlers,” adding that a certain licorice-industry sponsor may want to take note.
As for Tony, he likes to keep things in a more simple perspective, as any boy his age would. He said “having fun” has been the best thing about fishing the entire Western Division schedule with his dad this year. When asked how he’d feel about being featured on “FLW Outdoors” on FSN if he and his dad make the top-five cut Friday, Tony beamed and said, “It’d be very exciting.”
And since the duo are currently only three slots out of position to qualify for the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship and in great position to upgrade their standing this week, Tony said it’s a good thing his teachers have already given him clearance to miss school the week of the Oct. 18-20 event should they be making the trip to Orange Beach, Ala.
“I come out here a winner every time, no matter how we do, because I get to fish with my son,” Rome said. “This is our thing we do together.”
Culpeppers take aim
The Culpepper brothers, Jonathan and Kris of Houston, are becoming as familiar with top Redfish Series finishes as they are with each other. Currently sitting in second in the points race to the Land O’Lakes Redfish Series Western Team of the Year title, their fourth-place standing after day one at Rockport puts them in good position to grab the honor.
“We’re going to give it a run for our money,” Kris said. “We gambled a lot today, and it paid off.”
The brothers placed their bet on the tough run south to the upper Laguna Madre that many teams passed on due to winds blew as hard as 20 mph. They used 4-inch pearl-white Berkley Gulp shrimp and 3/8-ounce T.C. Custom jigheads to land their limit. Kris added that their method was “100 percent sight-fishing,” and that they will try their luck at the same game tomorrow.
Jonathan said, “We’d got on a big school of drum, Power-Pole down (a mechanical anchoring system) and wait for the reds to pop up through the drum. Once there were probably a thousand drum, and not that many reds, but the drum weren’t taking the baits.”
Though finding quality redfish in a sea of drum wasn’t easy, Kris said, “It didn’t take long – once we saw them.”
The Culpeppers caught a limit that weighed 15 pounds, 3 ounces between noon and 1 p.m.
Burges-Duncan in fifth
The team of Kyle Burges of Port Aransas, Texas, and R.J. Duncan of Universal City, Texas, didn’t want to give up too much information about how and where they caught their 14-12 limit for fifth place. However, they did say they were fishing “a little farther south” of Rockport, blind-casting Berkley Gulp baits in about 3 feet of water.
Points race heats up
With the redfishing powerhouse that is the team of Kevin Shaw of Corpus Christi, Fla., and Tadd VanDemark of Key Largo, Fla., sitting in 26th place after day one, the door has been left open for the Culpeppers to take the title of Land O’Lakes Team of the Year for the Western Division.
If Shaw-VanDemark were to finish in ninth place or better, they would automatically walk away with the title, regardless of how the Culpeppers finish this event. But with the brothers from Houston currently on fire, that prospect is growing dimmer by the day.
“We got on our spot today, and we had a lot of company,” VanDemark said of his frustration with the team’s 12-2 catch Thursday. “We got there, and there were just a lot of guys casting bait around us … that were guides, but they’ve got to make a living too. We just went to Plan Z.
“Hopefully tomorrow, we’ll just make some better decisions than we made today. If we can catch 15 pounds tomorrow, I think we can maybe win Team of the Year. Give us a shot, and hopefully we won’t let you down.”
VanDemark, who won last year’s FLW Redfish Series Championship with a different teammate, said he and Shaw plan to stick together as a competitive team for the foreseeable future. The two also compete in the Eastern Division.
Boats will launch from Saltwater Pavilion at Rockport Beach Park at 7 a.m. to resume competition Friday. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the park beginning at 3 p.m., at which point the top-five cut will be made to determine the teams fishing in Saturday’s finals. The final weigh-in will be held Saturday at the Wal-Mart store located at 2401 Highway 35 N. in Rockport beginning at 4 p.m.