PENSACOLA, Fla. – Blair Wiggins of Cocoa, Fla. and Tadd Vandemark of Key Largo, Fla. caught a six-redfish total weighing 35 pounds, 1 ounce to win the $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship in Pensacola. Their top award of $100,000 includes a $25,000 Ranger bonus and a $25,000 Evinrude bonus.
Entering the final round in fourth place with a 2-day total of 22 pounds, 5 ounces, the anglers caught 12 pounds, 12 ounces Saturday. They started day three by running their Evinrude-powered Ranger bay boat 20 miles north into the Escambia River to fish a deepwater pattern that they had established in practice.
“Because of the cold front moving in, everyone had told us to look for fish in deeper water,” Wiggins said. “That scenario was true, because every day we were seeing fewer and fewer fish on the flats. The fish were (on our spot) during practice but they disappeared on us on day one. Then we found them again on day two. Today, we ran around in the same basic area and got one of our fish on the very first cast of the morning. But our bite shut down around 10:30 – then we started scrambling.”
Wiggins and Vandemark tried several different scenarios including jetties and beach areas. With time running out, they decided to head back toward the check-in area and investigate a lead they had gotten on area dock action. They spotted a residential dock with two large cabin boats and went to work.
“We were running around trying to find something else and we just went for broke and said `let’s try that dock over there. We knew there was some deep water there so we let our baits go to the bottom, jigged them up a few times and got that second fish.”
The anglers caught their money fish on 3/8-ounce DOA C.A.L. jigs with grub tails in the electric chicken color. The anglers covered their baits with Lunker Sauce scent attractant.
An approaching cold front brought windy, rainy weather earlier in the week and delivered rough conditions during the event’s first two days. Saturday saw a high pressure system with clearing skies and lighter winds, but anglers know that this pattern can spell trouble on the water.
“It was a beautiful day – what we call a `Chamber of Commerce Day,’ but unfortunately, that’s not usually conducive to good fishing,” he said. “Using scented baits was definitely important because the bite was so light. That last fish felt like a little sea bass nibbling at the bait.”
Wiggins said that tenacity and perseverance propelled his team to victory. “No matter how bad my knees, back, shoulder and eyes hurt, we had to cast, cast, cast until the very end. And that’s exactly what we did. Just before we caught that last fish, I was pointing to the ramp about 500 yards away and I said `That’s where we have to go in about 17 minutes.'”
The winning team came close to victory on September 9 when they placed third in the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division qualifying event in Lafitte, La.. Wiggins, the host of Addictive Fishing, said “We’re on top of the world. This has been a long time coming. It’s been a long hard year and I’m glad to finally get it done.”
Rounding out the top five teams were Kris Walter of Hudson, Fla., and Danny Winters of Tampa, Fla. (six redfish, 33 pounds, 2 ounces, $15,000); John Henninger of Jacksonville, Fla., and John Eggers of Jacksonville Beach, Fla. (six redfish, 32 pounds, 11 ounces, $8,000 plus $4,000 Ranger bonus and $4,000 Yamaha bonus); Jason Hughey of Davenport, Fla., and Travis Tanner of Christmas, Fla. (six redfish, 32 pounds, 10 ounces, $7,000 plus $3,000 Ranger bonus and $3,000 Yamaha bonus); and Chief Tauzin and Clark Jordan, both of Pearland, Texas (five redfish, 25 pounds, 2 ounces, $6,000 plus $2,000 Ranger bonus and $2,000 Yamaha bonus).
Teams caught nine redfish Saturday weighing a total of 44 pounds, 15 ounces. All were released alive.
FLW Redfish Series 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.
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 – qualified for the three-day, no-entry-fee Championship.
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.