PORT LAVACA, Texas – Judd Johnson of Houston and Recie Tisdale of Dickenson, Texas, landed two redfish weighing 16 pounds, 11 ounces Friday to lead the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division event in Port Lavaca, Texas, with a two-day total of four redfish weighing 31-4. Teams are competing in the tournament for as much as $50,000 cash.
“The wind really picked up today,” said Tisdale, who is fishing his second season of Redfish Series competition together with Johnson. “We were actually back at the ramp by 2 p.m. today. We didn’t want anything to go wrong. We had almost 17 pounds today and we wanted to get back early.”
Tisdale said he and Johnson ran to the same spot they fished on the opening day of the tournament, about 100 miles south to the Corpus Christie, Texas, area, to fish and caught a total of three fish on the second day of competition. Tisdale said the team caught their fish on gold spoons in 2 to 3 feet of water in sand pockets and grass. Tisdale said the water was still dingy after rains earlier in the week, but was clearing up somewhat.
“After we caught the first two big fish, we decided to go ahead and come back, because they were pretty good-sized fish,” Tisdale said. “We wanted to live to fight another day.
“We feel pretty good about going into tomorrow,” Tisdale continued. “On Day 1, we caught six fish there and they’re all averaging between 5 and 8 pounds. Today we had one that was about 9 1/2 pounds and it took us from tied for sixth place to first place. That 9 1/2-pound fish was just a gigantic fish. That was the first fish we caught this morning.”
Rounding out the top five teams who will advance to the final round are Blair Wiggins of Cocoa, Fla., and Travis Tanner of Titusville, Fla. (four redfish, 30 pounds, 8 ounces); Dwayne Eschete of Mandeville, La., and Blake Pizzolato of Montgomery, Texas (four redfish, 29 pounds, 0 ounces); Tadd Vandemark of Key Largo, Fla., and Kevin Shaw of Corpus Christie (four redfish, 28 pounds, 10 ounces); and Scott Ritter of Dauphin Island, Ala., and Chad Billiot of Raceland, La. (four redfish, 28 pounds, 5 ounces).
Teams caught 86 redfish Friday weighing 1,642 pounds, 7 ounces.
Qualifying tournaments in the $1.9 million Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series – the most lucrative redfish tournament trail in the world – are three-day events. The winning team will be determined Saturday based on the heaviest three-day accumulated weight.
Boats will launch from Lighthouse Beach Saturday morning at 7 a.m. The final weigh-in will be held Saturday at the Wal-Mart store located at 400 Tiney Browning Blvd. in Port Lavaca beginning at 4 p.m.
The FLW Redfish Series consists of two divisions – Eastern and Western – and the $318,500 Redfish Open. Each division is comprised of four $170,000 qualifying tournaments. The top 50 teams from each division based on Land O’Lakes Team of the Year standings will advance to the no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship to be held Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in Biloxi, Miss. The championship winner will take home as much as $100,000.
Tournament pros aren’t the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing™, FLW Outdoors® offers anyone the opportunity to enter for their chance to land the catch of a lifetime with the opportunity to win $7.3 million in cash and prizes. Players can become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Player’s Advantage, providing them with exclusive insider information that could guide them to a $100,000 victory at every Wal-Mart FLW Tour® stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Player’s Advantage will give them an edge over the competition and increase their shot for a $1 million cash grand prize that will be awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Those who visit FantasyFishing.com today can sign up for Player’s Advantage and FLW Outdoors will include a $15 Wal-Mart gift card.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.
Awards are based on a full field of 125 boats in every tournament.