ENGLEWOOD, Fla. (March 30, 2006) – Craig Lahr of Largo, Fla., and Bryan Hudson of St. Petersburg, Fla., caught a two-redfish limit weighing 14 pounds, 1 ounce to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event at Stump Pass Marina in Englewood, Fla., where a field of 150 teams is competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.
Fishing a 21-foot custom flats boat powered by a 250-hp Yamaha outboard, the leaders stayed in Englewood and targeted docks along canals lined with mangrove trees. Taking a page from the playbook he uses when guiding his home waters, Lahr committed to a strategy and made it work.
“The pattern that I had been using to catch redfish in the Clearwater area I just brought down here,” he said. “The fish are spookier in the open water, so we did better around docks.
“You go with a game plan and you live and die with it. When you find fish, you stay there. It benefited us today. The fish have been there for three days, but they could be gone tomorrow.”
Lahr said he was not worried about that possibility. With their weight fish in the boat by 8:45 a.m., the anglers scouted for the remainder of day one and found another group of fish.
“We tried one little spot within a mile of where we fished in the morning and we stuck two 6 1/2-pound redfish right away and said `Okay, they’re still here,'” Lahr said. “We’re feeling confident for tomorrow.”
The duo fished ¼-ounce Mission Fishin jig heads with Saltwater Assassin jerkbaits in salt and pepper color. The anglers tested line size during practice and found that straight 6- and 8-pound monofilament outfished braided line with fluorocarbon leaders. They fished straight monofilament during day one.
Rounding out the top five teams are (tied for second place) Jeff Totten of Englewood, Fla., and Ozzie Lessinger, of Ft. Myers, Fla. (2 redfish, 13 pounds, 15 ounces); Shane Miller and Gary Miller, both of Naples, Fla. (2 redfish, 13 pounds, 15 ounces); (3-way tie for third) Greg Watts of Eagle Lake, Fla., and Bryan Watts of Lithia, Fla. (2 redfish, 13 pounds, 6 ounces); Jeff Hagaman of Odessa, Fla., and James Goodwin of Palm Harbor, Fla. (2 redfish, 13 pounds, 6 ounces); Eric Holstman of Gulf Breeze, Fla. and Sonny Granger of Pensacola, Fla. (2 redfish, 13 pounds, 6 ounces); Jim Armstrong of Chuluota, Fla., and Dennis Cox of Edgewater, Fla. (2 redfish, 13 pounds, 3 ounces); (tied for fifth) Andrew Bostick of Marco Island, Fla., and Mark Sepe of Deland, Fla. (2 redfish, 13 pounds, 2 ounces); Samuel Mula of Winter Park, Fla., and Brad Caffey of St. Petersburg, Fla. (2 redfish, 13 pounds, 2 ounces).
Anglers caught a total of 205 redfish Thursday weighing 961 pounds with 202 being released alive.
FLW Redfish Series qualifying tournaments are three-day events. The entire field competes Thursday and Friday, and the top five teams, based on heaviest combined weight, advance to Saturday’s final round. The winning team is determined Saturday based on the heaviest three-day accumulated weight.
Boats will launch from Stump Pass Marina Friday and Saturday at 7 a.m. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Stump Pass Marina beginning at 3 p.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at the Englewood Wal-Mart located at 2931 South McCall Road beginning at 3 p.m.
The next FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event will be held May 18-20 in Titusville, Fla.
The FLW Redfish Series consists of two divisions – Eastern and Western. 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 Pensacola, Fla., Oct. 19-21. 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, as well as the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit 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 world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.