When the uninitiated think of FLW Redfish Series Championship contenders, they likely visualize grizzled sea captains with faces lined from years of salt and sun, and in some cases, they wouldn’t be entirely wrong. But there is a pint-size threat on the horizon for those seasoned anglers, and while he may not be long in the tooth, 11-year-old Tony Gregorio is certainly long on talent.
Entering the Redfish Series Championship field this year are the father-son team of Rome and Tony Gregorio, who qualified for the Orange Beach, Ala., event by ranking 44th in 2007 Redfish Series standings. The duo, who live in Corpus Christi, Texas, achieved a season-best finish of 31st in Cocodrie, La., in June thanks in large part to a heavy redfish caught by none other than Tony himself.
“In Cocodrie, on our last day, I saw two big redfish in front of me,” Rome said. “I cast and I missed, and before I could even say anything, Tony was casting over my shoulder. He hit the fish in the head and landed it, and that was our biggest fish of the tournament.”
Fishing time means family time
While he may only be in the fifth grade, Tony has matured as an angler thanks in large part to the guidance of his father, and taking to the water together in search of redfish is a privilege both of them enjoy.
“It has been a great time fishing with my dad for a whole season because we get to spend time together,” Tony said.
Indeed, 2007 marked the first time the Gregorios took on the FLW Redfish Series, so their championship qualification is even more impressive. Add the fact that Tony says he’s only been redfishing a couple of years, and it’s downright remarkable.
“Redfish are my favorite things to fish for,” he said.
For Rome, adding Tony as his team partner was only natural when he began considering competitive fishing. The elder Gregorio was working on getting his captain’s license to start guiding when the idea of competition first began to appeal to him, but what held him back was the time away from his family, which includes a wife as well as another son and a daughter.
“The idea came when Tony started fishing with me pretty regularly,” Rome said. “I started teaching him how to fish and taught him how to use a baitcast reel, and he was actually pretty good at it. He picked it up really fast. He was very accurate in casting, and he was self-sufficient early on – he didn’t require a lot of help or a whole lot of maintenance.”
The young Tony sealed his fate when he passed the test of his first-ever competitive experience, a local tournament he fished with his dad.
“You have to get up really, really early and commit to a long day on the water in the sun,” Rome said of the experience. “He was just in love with it from the beginning. He was good at it, and he never complained or wanted to turn in early. When I saw he was pretty good at it and had the stamina to do it, I gave it a shot. We’ve since been competing to the hilt.”
And no one is more pumped about that than Tony, who gives his father a lot of credit for his on-the-water prowess.
“It’s fun fishing with my dad because he gets to teach me everything about fishing,” Tony said. “He’s taught me how to cast and set the hook, and how to catch and reel in the fish.”
As could be expected, the fight with the feisty redfish is what Tony likes best about the sport – besides spending time with his dad, of course.
“My favorite part about redfishing is having fun,” he said. “I like putting up a big fight with the redfish.”
A natural-born angler
While Tony’s competitive redfish experience may still be in its early stages, his family did expose him to the wonders of fishing from a young age. In the beginning, his fishing exploits mainly came off piers and such, which provided memorable moments such as the one Rome recounts of a 4-year-old Tony:
“I opened up my tacklebox and he saw these shiny objects and said, `What is that?'” remembers Rome. “I said, `Fishing lures.’ I had my back turned for a few moments, and he wound up throwing all the lures in the water. I turned around and said, `Hey, son, what are you doing?’ and he said, `I’m fishing.'”
Tony quickly learned that for the lures to catch any fish they must first be tied to a line, and that was perhaps the first of many angling lessons he’s learned at the feet of his father. In fact, when asked about his strengths, Tony says one of the things he likes to do to get ready for a tournament is pick out the lures.
“When we prefish, we try to find spots that are good enough for the tournament,” Tony explained. “I get all of the bait and lures, and I like to troll with the trolling motor. I think I’m best at casting and catching the fish.”
Rome concurs. “I know people don’t understand it unless they watch us fish, but he carries his own,” he said. “He’s on the trolling motor, taking on the vital roles of fishing. He’s a legitimate angler; he does everything except drive the boat. He nets them for me, and I net them for him if he’s got a fish. I don’t do anything special for him, other than you’ve got to have candy on board.”
A different kind of education
When the topic of an 11-year-old championship contender is discussed, often the first question that springs to mind is how the Gregorios deal with school. Tony is, after all, an elementary-school student, though luckily the FLW Redfish Series schedule doesn’t call for him to miss an alarming amount of class.
“My teachers think it’s OK because I get to go out and exercise,” Tony said. “My classmates think it would be fun (to compete) because they wouldn’t have to go to school.”
With Rome performing the lion’s share of the prefishing and Tony and his mother and siblings flying to the tournament site the day of the captain’s meeting, Tony actually misses very little school during the tournament season. And what he does miss, Rome feels is certainly justified.
“It’s a minimal amount of days that he’s out of school – no more than kids are out of school for other things,” Rome said. “Tony is an honor-roll student. My deal is, if he keeps his grades up, we can keep fishing, and he’s held accountable to that. I think the teachers and even the principal realize the value of being taken out of school to be with his dad. I think most kids in America would benefit from that.”
Also benefiting Tony is the chance to mature as a human being due to his exposure to a competitive environment in which he is the youngest contender by far. By all accounts, Tony handles the responsibility well.
“It’s been great being the youngest because you get noticed a lot,” Tony said. “People just like to talk to me.”
And the other competitors don’t scare him, either.
“They want to have fun, and they’re trying their best too,” he said.
Rome observes that Tony doesn’t seem to feel pressure. “He wants to walk the stage,” Rome said. “Whether we’re turning in one fish or two fish, we will keep fishing until it’s time to go. He plays to win and gives 100 percent. He never says I can’t, but he doesn’t experience any pressure. We’re winners already because we’re having such a great time together, win or lose.”
Onto the big stage
As if competing the entire regular season wasn’t exciting enough, young Tony now has the chance to compete on the major stage at the FLW Redfish Series Championship, something he had on his mind all season long.
“I think at the close of each tournament, Tony asked me, `Are we in the championship now?'” Rome said. “It’s pretty clear that the championship was our objective from the start. This being our rookie year, when we understood the format, we knew we wanted to be at Orange Beach.”
Says Tony, “I feel great about making it. My dad and I were talking to the weigh-in manager in the back of the trailer, and he said we made it. I screamed and ran around.”
A truly multitalented kid, Tony has some ideas of what he would do should he and his dad claim the $100,000 top prize.
“My tournament winnings I spend on music items,” he said. “I play guitar and the piano.”
Indeed, calling Tony an “overachiever in many areas,” Rome says adding a redfish championship trophy to his list of accomplishments wouldn’t seem so strange for a kid like Tony.
“I hope we get first place, and I hope we catch a lot of fish,” Tony said. “I would be really happy, and I would sit my trophy anywhere I could see it.”
Whether they finish first or last, no matter what, the Gregorios – Tony in particular – have a lot of people rooting for them.
“I think we’ve got a lot of fan support,” Rome said. “Everybody likes to see Tony out there.”
Good news for those fishing fans – Tony plans to stick around for a while.
“I’m probably going to fish these tournaments for a very, very long time,” he said.