PORT ARANSAS, Texas – Mike Patterson and Brett Phillips, both of Rockport, caught two redfish weighing 16 pounds, 14 ounces to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division event presented by Yamaha in Port Aransas where a field of 117 teams is competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.
“We were fishing in some muddy water with topwater baits,” Patterson said. “The redfish would blow up on those baits, but they’re tough to hook on a topwater. But once they struck the baits, we had them located and were able to throw soft plastics and spoons to get them hooked.” Patterson did add that the team hooked one redfish on a topwater, a monster weighing 32 pounds that had to be immediately released because it was larger than the Texas slot limit.
Anglers had clear skies and moderate winds with temperatures in the mid-80s for the first day of the event.
The team of Kevin Shaw and Kevin Fahadi, both of Corpus Christi, and the team of Steven Auld Jr. of Baytown and Jeff Larson of Friendswood tied for second place. Both teams caught two redfish weighing 16 pounds, 5 ounces. Rounding out the top five teams are Charlie Barton of Port Lavaca and Jack Barton of Laguna Vista (two redfish, 16 pounds, 3 ounces); and Kurt Kolida of Port Lavaca and Michael Shimek of Bay City (two redfish, 16 pounds, 2 ounces).
FLW Redfish Series qualifying tournaments are two-day events. The entire field competes Friday and Saturday, and the winning team is determined Saturday based on the heaviest two-day accumulated weight. Boats will launch from Roberts Point Park in Port Aransas Saturday at 7 a.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at Roberts Point Park beginning at 3 p.m.
The next FLW Redfish Series Western Division event will be held June 24-25 in Grand Isle, La.
The FLW Redfish Series consists of two divisions – East and West. Each division is comprised of four events with a $200,000 purse for each event. The top 100 teams – 50 from each division after four qualifying events – will qualify for the three-day, no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship to be held in Mobile, Ala., Oct. 27-29. The championship winner will take home as much as $100,000.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and seven other national tournament circuits offering a combined $30 million in awards through 214 events in 2005. The 27-year-old organization is the purveyor of America’s largest and most prestigious fishing tournaments, including the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, EverStart Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, call (270) 252-1000.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the title sponsor of all FLW Outdoors events. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.