FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. (July 14, 2006) – Scott Hughes of Punta Gorda, Fla., and Mike Laramy of Tampa, Fla. caught a four-redfish total weighing 23 pounds, 5 ounces to lead day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event in Fernandina Beach presented by Yamaha, where teams are competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.
Fishing around oyster bars in shoreline pockets near the north side of the St. John’s River in Jacksonville, the leaders caught their first weight fish at 10 a.m. in less than a foot of water. A Berkley Gulp! Shrimp in root beer color rigged on a 3/0 hook drew the low tide bite.
Their second redfish ate an Exude tube in pumpkin green glitter color on a 3/0 hook with a 1/8-ounce tungsten bullet weight. They caught this fish around 12:30 p.m. as the incoming tide flooded shoreline grass.
Hughes said that maintaining productivity throughout the tide was intrinsic to his team’s success. “We stuck with it on low and high water. It gets tough when the tide gets high because the fish scatter and the water gets hot. But we just kept casting and casting and it paid off.”
Saturday’s final round will likely find Hughes and Laramy repeating Friday’s pattern. “We probably won’t change much tomorrow,” Hughes said. “We’ll just try to get a limit first on low tide and then look for big fish when the tide gets high.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Warren Girle of Long Boat Key, Fla., and Billy Harris of Bradenton, Fla. (four redfish, 22 pounds, 13 ounces); Ronald Hueston of Naples, Fla., and Chris Hueston of Miami, Fla. (four redfish, 22 pounds, 9 ounces); Randy Hendrick of Clearwater, Fla., and Bret Gamrot of St. Petersburg, Fla. (four redfish, 22 pounds, 1 ounce); Scott Guthrie of Jacksonville, Fla., and Rick Murphy of Homestead, Fla. (four redfish, 21 pounds, 13 ounces).
Teams caught 126 redfish Friday weighing 561 pounds, 8 ounces.
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 Fernandina Harbor Marina Saturday at 6:00 a.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at the Fernandina Beach Wal-Mart located at 1757 S. 14th Street beginning at 3 p.m.
The next FLW Redfish Series event will be held September 7-9 in Lafitte, La.
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 Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 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.