ENGLEWOOD, Fla. – Chuck Cress, of Sarasota, Fla., and Gary Weishaar, of Nokomis, Fla. caught a four-redfish total weighing 26 pounds, 2 ounces to lead day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event in Englewood presented by Yamaha, where teams are competing for a top award of as much as $50,000 cash.
Anglers fished under mostly cloudy skies with windy conditions, which practically eliminated the popular Florida tactic of spotting fish before casting to them. Friday’s weather bore little impact for the leaders.
“We didn’t see any fish, so there was no sight-fishing,” Weishaar said. “But we usually just get on the flats and blind cast, so this didn’t affect our game plan.”
Running north of Englewood to a spot about three miles south of Sarasota, Cress and Weishaar fished in 18 inches of water over grass flats interspersed with shell and sand bottom. The duo spotted a school of large redfish on Thursday, but could not get them to eat. Friday presented a better opportunity and the anglers capitalized on it.
“We live locally and this is one of several spots that we know,” Weishaar said. “We caught several smaller fish there yesterday, but we needed to get something going early today, so we went back and found some bigger fish there today.”
The leaders caught eight redfish Friday, including one oversized fish, and had their weight fish in the live well by 9:20 a.m. They fished Berkley Gulp! Jerk Shads in the New Penny color rigged on weedless worm hooks and ¼-ounce jig heads.
“We usually try to use something different to see what (the redfish) will hit,” Weishaar said. “I was trying a gold spoon earlier but I wasn’t getting anything, and then Chuck started getting them on the Gulp!
“Finding that school of feeding fish was the key. We didn’t catch any other fish after that.”
Weishaar said he and Cress will target the same area on Saturday. “I’d say we have to have 12 pounds because there’s some pretty stiff competition. I think our chances are good.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Bo Johnson, of Cape Coral, Fla., and Richard Hudec, of Naples, Fla. (four redfish, 25 pounds, 13 ounces); John Jernigan, of Venice, Fla., and Chris Joseph, of Holmes Beach, Fla. (four redfish, 25 pounds, 9 ounces); Paul Lambert, of Punta Gorda, Fla., and Donald Lambert, of Port Charlotte, Fla. (four redfish, 25 pounds, 8 ounces); and Troy and Christine Perez, both of Mimms, Fla. (four redfish, 25 pounds, 3 ounces).
Teams caught 212 redfish Friday weighing 962 pounds, 6 ounces.
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 Stump Pass Marina Saturday morning at 7 a.m. The final weigh-in will be held Saturday at the Wal-Mart store located at 2931 South McCall Road in Englewood, beginning at 4 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 241 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, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.