CLEARWATER, Fla. (Feb. 22, 2007) – Clay Eavenson, of Land O’ Lakes, Fla., and Frank Jackson, of Tampa, Fla., caught a two-redfish limit weighing 14 pounds, 4 ounces to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event in Clearwater, Fla., where teams are competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.
“We fished a spot today that Frank and I had literally only fished once before, and that was Monday,” said Eavenson, who is fishing as a team with Jackson for the first time in redfish competition. “We didn’t get but one fish off of it in practice, but we saw a few.”
At takeoff Thursday morning, Eavenson ran his Ranger Ghost, powered by a 90-hp Yamaha, 30 minutes to the spot the team had fished only twice before.
Eavenson and Jackson stayed well off of the fish to begin the day and made long casts to the reds. The third cast of the day produced the team’s first 26 1/2-inch fish. Twelve smaller fish weighing between 13 to 14 inches followed, but around 9 a.m., Jackson spotted a red and Eavenson made a long cast to it.
“I cast over to the fish and sure enough, as soon as I moved the jerkbait one time, it was `fish on,'” Eavenson said. “That was our second 26 1/2-inch fish of the day.”
Eavenson and Jackson caught all of their fish on a jerkbait on a 1/16th-ounce Mustad hook.
“We’re going to go out tomorrow, pull up to the same spot again and stay upwind and as far away as we can possibly get from them,” Eavenson said. “We’re going to cast our baits with the wind to reach them and hopefully come back with two nice keepers.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Bo Johnson, of Cape Coral, Fla., and Richard Hudec, of Naples, Fla. (two redfish, 14 pounds, 2 ounces); Greg Watts, of Eagle Lake, Fla., and Bryan Watts, of Lithia, Fla. (two redfish, 13 pounds, 4 ounces); Jim Huddleston, of Palm Harbor, Fla., and James Bond, of Dunedin, Fla. (two redfish, 12 pounds, 11 ounces) and Ken and Jeff Mullett, both of Sarasota, Fla. (two redfish, 12 pounds, 9 ounces).
76 teams out of 125 teams caught 124 redfish Thursday weighing 537 pounds, 0 ounces. All 124 fish were released alive.
Qualifying tournaments in the $1.9 million Wal-Mart Redfish Series – the most lucrative redfish tournament trail in the world – are three-day events. Up to 150 teams compete 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 Coachman Park at 301 Drew Street in Clearwater, Fla., each morning at 7 a.m. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Coachman Park beginning at 3 p.m. The final weigh-in will be held Saturday at the Wal-Mart store located at 23106 U.S. 19 N. in Clearwater, Fla., beginning at 4:30 p.m.
The FLW Redfish Series consists of two divisions – Eastern and Western. Each division is comprised of four qualifying 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 Orange Beach, Ala., Oct. 18-20. 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, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, 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 of nearly $43 million through 238 events in 2007.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most-respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.