Adams-Ramzinsky rule Orange Beach

Texas team takes Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship on crankbaits

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – When Todd Adams of Rockport, Texas, and Tommy Ramzinsky of Fulton, Texas, took the lead on day one of the Redfish Series Championship with 13 pounds, 11 ounces, they were excited.

“This is absolutely the best bunch of fish we’ve ever found for a tournament,” Adams said after day one.

But on day two, when they slipped to third after bringing in 11 pounds, 5 ounces, their confidence began to wane.

“The problem with our area is that it’s totally current-oriented,” Adams said after day two. “The current was slack all day, and the fishing was much tougher. If we are going to win this thing, the current is going to have to rip on the last day.”

This morning, when Adams and Ramzinsky pulled up to their primary spot – a river mouth near Pascagoula Bay in Mississippi – the current was ripping and the redfish were biting.

“It was amazing,” Ramzinsky said. “We caught nine reds in 45 minutes – five oversized, four just in the slot – they were chomping.”

Their weight today, 13 pounds, 15 ounces, pushed their three-day total to 38 pounds, 15 ounces – a mark no other top-10 team could best.

Even more amazing is that the Texas team caught all their fish this week on crankbaits in 5 to 8 feet of water – a unique situation in a sport that’s usually dominated by sight-fishing in supershallow water.

“We were using Bomber diving plugs that run 6 to 8 feet deep in natural colors, like pearl and shad,” Ramzinsky said. “We upgraded the hooks and tied the lures to 30-pound Power Pro line. We were keeping our rod tips low and kind of sweeping the rod, pausing in between sweeps. The bites always came on the pause in between the sweeps.”

Since Adams and Ramzinsky were only qualified for the Yamaha contingency, they collected $75,000 for their win.

Morel-Young stay runners-up

Matthew Morel and Peter Young, both of New Orleans, fought and scraped all week to take the No. 1 spot in the Redfish Series Championship. But when it was all said and done, they ended up 15 ounces short, yet they never yielded their runners-up position.

“We did all we could do,” said Young, who, along with Morel, posted a three-day total of 38 pounds even. “We had a great spot, everything went well; we just came up a little short.”

The Louisiana team was fishing an area near Mobile Bay where they located sight-fish during practice.

“Actually, when we found the spot in practice, it was mostly dry because all the water was blown out,” Young said. “But I noticed the bottom features looked awesome. It was a nice flat with small oyster mounds, potholes, little ditches – and the bank line had lots of tight points and indentations; it looked just like the stuff we fish back home in Louisiana.”

When the team noticed higher water on day one of the tournament, they decided to give the area a try.

“We couldn’t fish there in practice, but when we returned the first day of the tournament, there was 15 or 16 inches of water up against the bank,” he said. “We had hardly got our lures wet when Matt whacked a 6-pounder. A few minutes later, he whacked another good one. So we made that little area our home over the last few days.”

The team relied on Gambler Flappin’ Shads (bleeding shrimp) rigged on 1/4-ounce Flutter Hooks tied to 30-pound-test Power Pro with a 20-pound-test fluorocarbon leader.

Young and Morel collected $21,000 for their win.

Ritter-Abruscato move to third

After moving up through the field all week, the local redfish team of Scott Ritter of Dauphin Island, Ala., and Robert Abruscato of Mobile, Ala., continued to forge ahead again today and settled into third place with a three-day total of 35 pounds, 15 ounces.

The Alabama team alternated between a deep hole, which featured hard structure in 10 to 12 feet of water, and a shallow shoreline, both located in Mobile Bay, to catch their three-day creel.

“In the deep hole we used Berkley Gulp! 4-inch curly tail grubs on 1/2-ounce jigheads and big, deep-diving Bomber crankbaits,” Ritter said. “In the shallow-water area, we fished the Gulp! on lighter jigheads.

“Our goal was to catch about 12 pounds a day; we figured 36 pounds would win it,” he added. “We hit our marks, but these guys came in from out of town and found bigger fish – my hat is off to them.”

Ritter and Abruscato collected $16,000 for their finish.

Motal-Motal slip to fourth

The father-son team of Pat and Chad Motal of Kyle, Texas, fell off the lead today when they brought in two redfish weighing 9 pounds, 13 ounces.

“Everything went well, we just didn’t get the big bites like we have been getting,” Chad Motal said. “We had one big fish that was a heartbreaker – just a hair over 26 inches.”

The team fished Strike King spinnerbaits around snarled lay-downs located about 30 minutes west of the takeoff.

“It was a place where high water had eroded the bank, and there were lay-downs everywhere,” Pat Motal said. “When the tide was out, the limbs were high and dry; but when the tide came up, all the branches stuck out into the water. We were just slow-rolling the spinnerbaits through the limbs. If you didn’t know any better, you’d swear we were bass fishing.”

The Motals pocketed $13,000 for their finish.

Chapman-Gatlin work up to fifth

Chris Chapman of Winter Park, Fla., and Dan McGatlin of Lake Mary, Fla., worked their way up through the field each day and ended the championship week in fifth place.

The Florida team was running to the west side of Mobile Bay and sight-fishing with 1/8-ounce jigheads hooked to Exude Shrimp and Berkley Gulp! shrimp in golden bream and molting colors.

“Sight-fishing is our bread and butter, and we came here looking for sight-fish,” McGatlin said. “We found one area where we could see fish, and we stayed there all week.”

Chapman and McGatlin collected $10,000 for their finish.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 teams in the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship:

6th: Jason Swensson of Key Largo, Fla., and Troy Mell of Islandmorada, Fla., three-day total of 32-1

7th: Jeff Larson of Friendswood, Texas, and Steven Auld of Baytown, Texas, 31-5

8th: Sean Middleton and Brandon Buckner, both of Fort Myers, Fla., 23-9

9th: Danny Coppin and John Guerra, both of Belton, Texas, 23-6

10th: David Nesloney Sr. and David Nesloney Jr., both of Rockport, Texas, 23-1