ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – Todd Adams from Rockport, Texas, and Tommy Ramzinsky from Fulton, Texas, caught a three-day total of six redfish weighing 38 pounds, 15 ounces to win the $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship in Orange Beach, Ala. The winning team earned $75,000 in cash – the largest award in the history of professional redfishing.
Adams and Ramzinsky, who have been fishing together competitively for two years, led the field after day one with a two-redfish limit weighing 13 pounds, 11 ounces. They slipped to third on day two with a limit weighing 11 pounds, 5 ounces. On day three, however, they rebounded with the second largest limit of the tournament – 13 pounds, 15 ounces – to win the event by 15 ounces.
“We had a long run every day,” Adams said. “We only had a couple hours to fish each of the first two days. We had even less time today since we had to check in an hour earlier. We ran to our spot, caught two fish in 45 minutes and left.”
Adams and Ramzinsky were fishing relatively deep in clear water. Their primary baits were pearl- and shad- colored Bomber crankbaits that ran 6 to 8 feet deep. They also utilized Rat-L-Traps and soft plastics.
“We found the fish a week ago in Pascagoula, Miss.,” Ramzinsky said. “On the first cast in practice, we caught one that measured 27 inches, so we knew some good fish were in the area. The area had some points, current and a little bait. Today, we couldn’t have asked for a better day.”
The winning team had a solid season in the Western Division of the FLW Redfish Series, with two ninth-place finishes. They finished the regular season in ninth place in the divisional points standings.
The most Adams and Ramzinsky had won in a prior redfish tournament was $2,400. For the win, they collected the $50,000 guaranteed prize from FLW Outdoors plus the $25,000 bonus for running a Yamaha outboard.
Rounding out the top 10 teams were Peter Young and Matthew Morel, both from New Orleans (six redfish, 38 pounds, $21,000); Scott Ritter of Dauphin Island, Ala., and Robert Abruscato of Mobile, Ala. (six redfish, 35 pounds, 15 ounces, $16,000); Pat Motal and Chad Motal, both from Kyle, Texas (six redfish, 35 pounds, 6 ounces, $13,000); Chris Chapman of Winter Park, Fla., and Dan McGatlin of Lake Mary, Fla. (six redfish, 33 pounds, 6 ounces, $10,000); Troy Mell of Islamorada, Fla., and Jason Swensson of Key Largo, Fla. (six redfish, 32 pounds, 1 ounce, $6,500); Steven Auld Jr. of Baytown, Texas, and Jeff Larson of Friendswood, Texas (six redfish, 31 pounds, 5 ounces, $5,500); Sean Middleton and Brandon Buckner, both from Fort Meyers, Fla. (four redfish, 23 pounds, 9 ounces, $4,500); Danny Coppin and John Guerra, both from Belton, Texas (four redfish, 23 pounds, 6 ounces, $5,000); and David Nesloney Sr. and David Nesloney Jr., both from Rockport, Texas (four redfish, 23 pounds, 1 ounce, $4,500).
A total of 14 redfish were brought to the scale Saturday weighing 74 pounds.
The FLW Redfish Series Championship was a three-day event. The entire field competed Thursday and Friday, and the two-day accumulated weights determined the top 10 teams that advanced to Saturday. The winning team was 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, 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.