ROCKPORT, Texas – It all boils down to this: a final day of competition in the 2007 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division. And the soup of the day comes in different flavors for the five teams battling it out on the Texas Gulf Coast. For some, this is the last chance for a championship berth; others have a shot at glory in front of a hometown crowd; some are in search of the biggest payday of their angling careers. But the common ingredient is big redfish.
As Saturday’s competition began at sunrise, the leaders were local Rockport, Texas, favorites Jay Watkins and his son Jay Watkins Jr. The team has put together two incredible days for a total weight of 32 1/2 pounds, allowing them to carry a 1 1/2-pound lead over the No. 2 team: brothers Kris and Jonathan Culpepper of Houston.
Sometimes being the hometown heroes has its disadvantages. Another redfish tournament kicks off today in the Rockport area, and the Watkins team expects a lot of company today when they head to their honeyholes on the northern edges of Aransas and Corpus Christi bays.
“I think they’re going to cover us up,” Watkins said of the boaters from the other tournament, some of which were scouting in the same area Friday. “They pretty much told us they were. But we’re not going to leave the area … we have the fish to win it there.
“I mean, we could go just off this dock (at Rockport Beach Park) and catch 12 pounds, but that’s not going to win it.”
So the father-son duo will take the make-or-break strategy right back to the potholes of the “broken bottom” areas that have produced so many quality reds for them over the last couple days.
The Culpeppers will also return to their heavily producing areas in Laguna Madre to the south. Kris Culpepper said the 10- to 15-mph winds expected later day – in conjunction with Watkins-Watkins facing boat pressure – could be the winning combination for his team.
“We’re going to try to run the same program we’ve been doing … locate schools of fish that are migrating out of the bays to spawn,” Kris said. “The thing we have going in our favor is a local tournament going on, and people have been scouting (the Watkins team) out.
“Jay could still do well here. He’s a great fisherman … and he’s probably the best here to be able to deal with that extra pressure. He’s really in tune to the fish and his patterns … but if those guys just cover him up, that’s going to hurt.”
Kris added that he and Jonathan have not overworked the fish for which they’ve been sight-fishing, so they have a shot at popping their biggest sack of the tournament today.
“We’ve got to put together a 16-plus to pull it out, and (Jay Watkins) needs a low 15, but he’s due,” Kris said.
But none of the teams in the top five are necessarily out of contention, with two teams tied for fourth at 29 pounds apiece. Since this is a cumulative weight tournament, those teams would have to overcome a 3 1/2-pound deficit, but that’s not impossible with the limits that have crossed the scale this week. And the third-place team of Skipper Mock of South Padre Island, Texas, and Eddie Curry of Port Isabel, Texas, are in even closer range, just under 2 pounds off the lead.
One thing is certain: With a potential $50,000 first-place prize on the line and such great teams in contention, today’s final weigh-in will be a shootout to remember, ending the 2007 season with a bang.
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. The top 50 teams from the Western Division, based on final points standings, will go on to the Oct. 18-20 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship in Orange Beach, Ala.
Saturday’s conditions
Sunrise: 7:10 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 80 degrees
Expected high temperature: 90 degrees
Water temperature: 87 degrees
Tides (at Rockport, Texas): high 1:21 p.m.; low 11:42 p.m.
Wind: calm at takeoff; southeast winds expected to reach 10 to 15 mph
Maximum humidity: 90 percent
Day’s outlook: patchy fog in the morning; partly cloudy with isolated showers and thunderstorms; chance of rain 20 percent