Shaw-Vandemark lead Port ‘A’ Redfish Series tourney

Redfish Series teams battle through tough conditions, lower-than-expected weights during first day at Port Aransas

PORT ARANSAS, Texas – It wasn’t the banner day on the water that some had expected, or at the very least hoped for, but at the end of Thursday’s competition, the team of Kevin Shaw and Tadd Vandemark still managed to distance themselves from the rest of the field with a two-fish catch of 16 pounds, 4 ounces.

But like most of the tournament competition, Vandemark and Shaw were hardly enthusiastic about their day’s performance.

“I brought in 18 pounds last weekend on the same water,” said Shaw. “The conditions were a little tougher out there than we expected. We thought we had a little more weight today than we did, but we’ll take it.”

The duo said they traveled 50 miles roundtrip, targeting redfish in about 3 to 4 feet of water on a DOA soft-plastic Cal Series lure, “drenched in lunker sauce.”

“We fished a little bit deeper than normal,” said Shaw. “The reason is that there has been of lot of fishing pressure here; there have been six different tournaments in the last six weeks alone. There is also a lot of boat traffic, and that makes fishing shallow a little more difficult.

“The direction of the wind was also a factor,” Shaw continued. “Most of the redfish are used to the wind coming out of the southeast, but the recent storm that blew through kind of mixed things up. If the wind comes out of the southeast tomorrow, we should be all right.”

Vandemark said that despite the difficulties, it was still a good feeling knowing they finished the day in first place.

“Absolutely I feel good about today,” said Vandemark. “We worked hard out there all day. We didn’t catch a lot of fish, but the ones we caught were good ones. We’re going to stick with our same game plan tomorrow. And I think we have a very good chance to do as well (on Friday) as we did today.”

Young-Holeman nab second

The team of Peter Young and Travis Holeman used a two-fish catch of 15 pounds, 5 ounces to grab second place overall and remain hot on the heels on the leaders. However, like Shaw and Vandemark, they also were hoping the day would have had gone a little bit more smoothly.

“We had a horrible day out there today; we just got lucky,” said Holeman.

“I was hoping that our fish weighed a little more today, to tell you the truth,” added Young. “But we fished pretty hard and covered every inch of water out there.”

The duo said that unlike the majority of the field, they turned toward the shallow-water bite, aggressively sight-casting with gold spoons.

“That’s a typical Texas pattern in the spring and summer,” said Holeman. “As for tomorrow, we’re going to do what the weather dictates. That’s definitely the best approach for a tournament like this.”

Best of the rest

The team of Kurt Koliba and Mike Shimek turned in a two-fish catch weighing 15 pounds, 3 ounces to take third place overall.

Brothers Bart and Brett Caron landed a two-fish catch of 15 pounds to grab fourth place, while the team of Fred Lynch and Jeff Clarkson grabbed fifth place overall with a catch weighing 14 pounds, 15 ounces.

Scott Isabel and Danny Adams grabbed sixth place overall with a catch of 14 pounds, 14 ounces.

Also notable

Defending 2006 Port Aransas Redfish Series champions Jonathan and Kris Culpepper found themselves tied for 16th place after only managing a catch weighing 13 pounds, 4 ounces. However, the members of Team Berkley acknowledged that while they have their work cut out for them, there’s still time to turn it around.

“There are some great fish floating around out there, so we can definitely get back in this thing, especially if the wind switches back to the southeast,” said Jonathan Culpepper.

Meanwhile, the powerhouse team of Todd Adams and Tommy Ramzinsky, one of the heavy favorites at the Port Aransas event, fared even worse, recording a total catch of 5 pounds, 2 ounces – only good enough for 64th place.

Friday’s Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Western action at Port Aransas continues during tomorrow’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 6:30 a.m. Central time at Port Aransas City Marina, located at 301 JC Barr Blvd. in Port Aransas, Texas.