ROCKPORT, Texas – When the scales tip, something moves up just as its counterbalance must drop. Brothers Jonathan and Kris Culpepper of Houston were the ones on the rise in Saturday’s final weigh-in of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western event in Rockport, Texas, where they squeaked into their third series win and second of 2007.
Surprisingly enough, the counterbalance in this case was not the local father-son team that was heavily favored to win after soundly leading the first two days, though Watkins-Watkins certainly fell far. No, this rise-and-fall story – which literally involved the tournament scale – put the drop on runners-up Skipper Mock and Eddie Curry, who missed the win by a thin 3 ounces.
When the Culpeppers lowered their fish box into the water scale – a system used exclusively by FLW Outdoors to help keep fish alive – the two significant reds proved to be feisty creatures, thrashing about and splashing considerable water from the scale. Understandably, they asked to have them 
reweighed.
After resetting the scale to zero, the same thing happened again as Mock and Curry watched anxiously from the hot seat. By the third weigh attempt, the redfish had calmed and the Culpeppers’ fully hydrated weight came in at up to a half-pound heavier – enough to commandeer the win.
“It was awesome,” Kris said after the nail-biter. “Here around Port Aransas (just south of Rockport along the Gulf) is what we consider our home waters, and to beat the guys that were in this top five is an awesome feat.”
Adding to the sweetness of the $37,500 win is the fact that each Culpepper has a young child celebrating a birthday this week; Kris’ son Jackson and Jonathan’s daughter Katelyn.
“We got a great birthday present by winning for them,” Jonathan said. “I can’t really describe the feeling right now.”
The brothers fished all three days in upper Laguna Madre south of Port Aransas, throwing 4-inch Berkley Gulp shrimp on 3/8-ounce T.C. Custom jigheads, drifting and sight-fishing schools of reds. They caught about 25 fish today, four of which were within the regulated 20- to 28-inch slot limit, giving them a three-day total of 46 pounds, 4 ounces.
“We got down there to the lagoon this morning, and it took us about 45 minutes to find our fish,” Jonathan said. “Then the weather just eased on out … the water just got glass smooth. It really allowed us to drift with our fish and see them.”
They had their weigh limit by 11 a.m., which Jonathan said was a good thing, because by about 10:30 they “got covered up with boats, and that’s really what killed the bite.”
They fished 6 1/2-foot medium-action Berkley Series 1 rods with Abu Garcia Revo Inshore reels and 50-pound braided Spiderwire Ultracast line.
When asked what the key to their success was this week, Kris had an answer: “Making some good choices. The first and second days, we really laid off (our fish). That’s what it really comes down to is making smart choices.”
The little boat that almost did
It’s been a tough week for Mock, who hails from South Padre Island, Texas, and Curry, a native of Port Isabel, Texas. They’ve overcome adversity – engine problems on day one in a smaller boat that Mock described as “one of the slowest on tour” – and then barely missed their first Redfish Series win when they thought they were on the brink of victory.
About missing the mark after a double reweigh, Mock asked rhetorically, “How much of a knife in the heart would that be?”
But the pair gave a valiant effort this week, picking up their second top-five finish while qualifying for their second FLW Redfish Series Championship. And earning $6,940 will help the two make up for some of the guiding dollars they’ve missed out on while following the Western Division. In fact, before this near win, Curry had said they might have to drop out of the race after three years of fishing the series to focus on their businesses.
“The problem is we like the competition too much,” Curry said. “We’ll probably be back (next year). We enjoy fishing with these guys.”
The pair picked up their 15 1/2-pound limit today – one of the heaviest of the tournament – after running into a school of reds north of the Flower Bluff area in Aransas Bay, where they had fished Thursday and Friday. After checking their primary area only to find seven other boats on the school they had targeted, they moved to a location where they found some success late in the day yesterday while heading back to weigh in.
“It was the school we hit yesterday on the way back,” Mock said. “There was a separate school that nobody was on.”
They caught the big reds with Hogie plastic shad baits colored black with gold bellies, sight-fishing in about 2 to 3 feet of water. Their three-day total weight was 46-1.
Jordan-Tauzin third
The team of Clark Jordan of Pearland, Texas, and Chief Tauzin of Manvel, Texas, put together a pair of reds weighing 14 pounds, 15 ounces Saturday for a three-day total of 43-15, good for third place and $2,672. The team primarily fished in the Rockport area over the first two days, and their main pattern this week consisted of casting silver spoons and 3-inch Berkley Gulp shrimp baits in 1 1/2 to 2 feet of water.
“We changed our game plan a little bit today,” Tauzin said. “We went a little farther south than we normally do, and we had some over (slot) problems.
Reupke-Duxstad fourth
Area anglers Steve Reupke of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Frank Duxstad of Port Aransas, Texas, managed a 13-pound, 9-ounce limit today to give them a three-day total of 42-9 and $3,376 in earnings. Like others in the top five, the team had quite a bit of company on their Aransas Bay water due to 
another tourney that kicked off this weekend.
“We were a little off today … but we had to deal with the weekend warriors,” Reupke said.
As far as their baits of choice, Duxstad told weighmaster Dan Grimes, “I can only throw one thing – a gold spoon,” but Grimes wasn’t buying it and pressed further.
“No, I’m lying to you,” Duxstad said with an impish grin. “I’m a fisherman.”
To catch their fish this week, the team actually threw a wide variety of baits that Duxstad compared to a “poo poo platter”: an assortment of spoons, Exude Shrimp, Berkley Gulp baits and Baby Minus 1 crankbaits, to name the bulk.
The long fall
Jay Watkins and Jay Watkins Jr. had the rest of the top five teams thinking they were all fishing for second place today, after leading the first two days with a whopping 32 1/2 pounds. In fact, the father-son team from Rockport, Texas, was the last to weigh in, leaving Jonathan Culpepper to believe they were reweighing their fish for a second-place check because he said “making up 1 1/2 pounds this time of year around here is almost unheard of.”
But that’s where the scales tip again. Watkins and Watkins Jr. unexpectedly zeroed on the final day, leaving their total weight at 32-8, good enough for fifth place and $3,076.
“We’ve been on good fish all week long,” Watkins said. “We’ve had lots of 14 1/2- to 15-pound stringers we’ve culled.
“The fish just didn’t show for us today. The schools didn’t surface; that’s all there was to it.”
While fishing again today in the northern portions of Aransas and Corpus Christi bays, where they’d found schools in potholes about 3 to 5 feet deep, they spotted one of their schools about 150 yards away, but a boat passed by, spooking the fish, and the duo just couldn’t catch them.
“When you’re fishing for fish that big in schools, they really cruise,” Watkins said.
The team primarily fished heavy spoons in a variety of colors all week so they could make long casts to their schooling fish.
Up next
The next event of the 2007 Redfish Series is the $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship, slated to take place Oct. 18-20 in Orange Beach, Ala. The top 50 teams from the Eastern Division and the top 50 from the Western Division will compete in the three-day, no-entry-fee event.