ROCKPORT, Texas – Kris Culpepper and Jonathan Culpepper, both of Houston, Texas, caught a three-day total of six redfish weighing 46 pounds, 4 ounces to win the final 2007 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division tournament, presented by Yamaha, in Rockport, Texas, Saturday. The top prize of $37,500 included a $12,500 Yamaha bonus.
“This tournament was off the charts,” said Kris Culpepper, who notched a win earlier this year at Lafitte, La. “This is the best time of year to fish for redfish in Texas. We started practicing last Saturday, long and hard up until tournament time. In the end it all paid off.”
The Culpepper brothers caught their fish using a 4-inch pearl white Berkley Gulp Shrimp sight casting in 3 to 5 feet of water to catch their limit.
“We caught a lot of fish today,” Kris Culpepper said. “We got on some fish early this morning and never let up. We knew we had to give it our all to come out on top.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Skipper Mock of South Padre Island, Texas, and Eddie Curry of Port Isabel, Texas (six redfish, 46 pounds, 01 ounces, $5,940 plus a $1,000 Yamaha bonus); Team Castrol Clark Jordon of Pearland, Texas, and Chief Tauzin of Manvel, Texas (six redfish, 43 pounds, 15 ounces, $2,672); Steve Reupke of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Frank Duxstad of Port Aransas, Texas (six redfish, 42 pounds, 09 ounces, $2,376 plus a $1,000 Yamaha bonus) and Jay Watkins and Jay Watkins Jr., both of Rockport, Texas (four redfish, 32 pounds, 08 ounces, $2,076 plus a $1,000 Yamaha bonus).
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.
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 Walmart.com.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.