PORT LAVACA, Texas – Scott Ritter of Dauphin Island, Ala., and Chad Billiot of Raceland, La., caught a three-day total of six redfish weighing 39 pounds, 10 ounces to win the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western Division event in Port Lavaca, Texas. Their top prize of $50,000 included a $15,000 Ranger bonus and a $15,000 Yamaha bonus.
“We were a little disappointed after the first day,” said Ritter, who, along with Billiot, stood in 20th place after the first day of competition. “We’d never fished Port Lavaca before, and so we thought it was great to be in 20th place. Then we caught the fish that we thought we could catch on the second day and we moved into fifth place. Today we thought we would have to come in big, but with such tough conditions, we caught two good fish and other people just couldn’t make it happen. We kind of back-doored our way into it. And it’s been a long time coming.”
Ritter and Billiot opened the tournament with two fish weighing 13-5 Thursday. They added another two fishing weighing 15-00 Friday and capped off the win with two more fish weighing 11-5 Saturday.
Ritter’s winning fish came from open bays along the shore near Compano Bay. Ritter said the team targeted areas where the muddy water met clean water, and they fished Berkley Gulp! Shrimp under a popping cork.
“We made a 75- to 80-mile run, and when we got to our spot, the water had really dropped and it was real muddy,” Ritter said. “We were lucky to find one clean pocket and caught a nice fish on that and then we worked around for a while but kept running aground and we decided to run to a spot we found a few miles away during prefishing that we hadn’t fished during the tournament. It was clearer water, and we got two keepers out of that spot and those were the two winning fish. It was a good move to move to the clear water, and it worked out well for us.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Blair Wiggins of Cocoa, Fla., and Travis Tanner of Titusville, Fla. (six redfish, 38 pounds, 15 ounces, $15,802); Dwayne Eschete of Mandeville, La., and Blake Pizzolato of Montgomery, Texas (six redfish, 35 pounds, 15 ounces, $7,140); Judd Johnson of Houston and Recie Tisdale of Dickenson, Texas (four redfish, 31 pounds, 4 ounces, $4,420); and Tadd Vandemark of Key Largo, Fla., and Kevin Shaw of Corpus Christie, Texas (four redfish, 28 pounds, 10 ounces, $4,390).
Teams caught six redfish Saturday weighing 26 pounds, 11 ounces.
The $1.9 million 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.
Coverage of the FLW Redfish Series stop in Port Lavaca will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing May 25. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. The program airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time in most markets. Check local listings for times in your area.
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.