ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – Todd Adams of Rockport, Texas, and Tommy Ramzinsky of Fulton, Texas, caught a two-redfish limit weighing 13 pounds, 11 ounces to lead day one of the $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship in Orange Beach, Ala. The top 50 teams from the Eastern and Western divisions qualified for the no-entry-fee event, which pays up to $100,000 in cash to the winning team – the largest award in the history of professional redfishing.
Temperatures were cool most of the day on Thursday, along with overcast skies and a steady breeze out of the north. While fishing conditions were not ideal, many teams reported catching dozens of fish. Anglers literally fished all over the Gulf Coast on day one. Many anglers made long runs of 60 to more than 100 miles one way. Popular areas were Pensacola Bay in Florida, Mobile Bay in Alabama and Mississippi Sound in Mississippi. A handful of teams stayed close to Orange Beach.
“We practiced for four days and decided to make a 1 1/2-hour run to Mississippi,” Ramzinsky said. “We went to Mississippi Sound and had gorgeous conditions. We caught seven fish in about an hour and 10 minutes – four were too big and three were in the slot. We culled once.”
Adams and Razinsky used a combination of Rat-L-Traps and soft-plastic grubs. The fished a slow presentation, especially with the soft plastics, bumping the bait up and down off the bottom.
“We’ll go back to the same place tomorrow,” Ramzinsky said. “We’re trying to get three days out of that one spot. The fish will be there, but a lot are over the slot. No one else is around us.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Peter Young and Matthew Morel, both from New Orleans (two redfish, 12 pounds, 12 ounces); Pat Motal and Chad Motal, both from Kyle, Texas (two redfish, 12 pounds, 8 ounces); Troy Mell of Islamorada, Fla., and Jason Swensson of Key Largo, Fla. (two redfish, 12 pounds, 5 ounces); and Steven Auld Jr. of Baytown, Texas, and Jeff Larson of Friendswood, Texas (two redfish, 12 pounds, 5 ounces).
A total of 129 redfish were brought to the scale Thursday weighing 607 pounds, 2 ounces.
Takeoffs are begin at 7 a.m. Friday and Saturday at Zeke’s Landing in Orange Beach. Weigh-on on Friday will take place at Zeke’s Landing beginning at 3 p.m. Weigh-in Saturday will take place at the Wal-Mart in Gulf Shores, Ala., starting at 3 p.m.
The FLW Redfish Series Championship is a three-day event. The entire field competes Thursday and Friday, and the two-day accumulated weights determine the top 10 teams that advance to Saturday. The winning team is determined Saturday based on the heaviest three-day accumulated weight.
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, Wal-Mart FLW Series, 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, browse FLWOutdoors.com or 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.