A redfish repeat

Teams of Shaw-Vandemark, Young-Holeman retain top two spots on overall leaderboard heading into Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series finals at Port Aransas

PORT ARANSAS, Texas – The winds died down, water levels dropped, and the storms that had caused a considerable disturbance in the greater southern Texas area had finally blown through. However, despite the major changes in fishing conditions today, the top of the leaderboard remained largely unchanged.

Remaining in first place for the second consecutive day was the team of Tadd Vandemark and Kevin Shaw – who managed a two-day total of 30 pounds, 13 ounces to grab a 9-ounce lead over their nearest competitors.

“We’re excited,” said Shaw, who hails from Corpus Christi, Texas. “We’ve struggled all year in the (FLW Redfish Series) Eastern Division, so to come back here and do what we’re doing, it’s really a confidence boost. It really works wonders for your psyche.”

Vandemark, who took home the 2006 FLW Redfish Series Championship title last fall, said that his team is fishing extremely well right now.

“I feel pretty good about what we accomplished today,” said Vandemark. “We had to really work hard. We had a lot of extra boat traffic problems, but we remained patient and it paid off.”

According to Shaw, the duo was long-casting in shallow water with a DOA Cal Series lure dipped in Carolina Lunker Sauce when they spotted some baitfish jumping. Then, a golden opportunity presented itself.

“We’re both captains, so we know what to look for. So we went over to check out the baitfish and stumbled upon a nice school of fish in about 3 to 5 feet of water,” he said. “We didn’t intend to go sight-fishing today, but when we saw that school, we decided it was a lot easier to throw our lures right at the fish. A short time later we found another school and got our limit.”

Once they had a good limit in the boat, the team decided to lie back and try to conserve their fish for the finals.

“We quit right there, pulled back and monitored our hole for the next three hours,” said Vandemark. “And nobody fished that spot the entire day. So right now, we’re feeling pretty good about tomorrow. If we can go back there and catch another 15 pounds, we have a great chance to win this. Our objective all along was to make the top five, and now we’ve done that. Tomorrow, we’ll just have to see what happens. May the best lure win.”

Young-Holeman hold on to second place

Peter Young and Travis Holeman used a two-day catch of 30 pounds, 4 ounces to retain sole possession of second place. And they couldn’t have been happier.

“We ran about 110 miles out to our spot, and we’re done fishing at 9:30 a.m.,” said Young of Luling, La. “And because we caught our limit so early, we got to go looking around for more fish the rest of the afternoon. We saw all the fish we needed to see, and we have enough for tomorrow. And we’re definitely happy about that. I’m pretty confident we can catch 15 pounds again.”

According to Holeman, the team fished in 1 foot of water or less, targeting redfish with a gold H&H weedless spoon.

“It feels good to be where we’re at right now,” said Holeman of Luling, La. “But every day is a new day out here.”

Rest of the best

Buoyed by a two-day catch of 29 pounds, 5 ounces, the M&Ms team of Blake Pizzolato of Montgomery, Texas, and Dwayne Eschete of Mandeville, Texas, leapfrogged from seventh place on day one to third place overall heading into the finals.

Fourth place belonged to Team Castrol members Chief Tauzin and Clark Jordan, both of Pearland, Texas. The duo recorded a two-day catch of 29 pounds to jump into the finals after an 11th-place finish on the first day of competition.

“Getting into the top five is a task in and of itself,” said Tauzin. “But we feel good about getting into the finals. I’m confident we’re going to catch some fish tomorrow. We shouldn’t have any problems, no matter what the weather conditions are, as long as we have some sunlight.”

Tauzin said his team targeted redfish in 2 feet of water or less with Berkley Gulp Shrimp and Johnson silver spoons using a combination of sight-casting and blind-casting techniques.

As for their chances tomorrow?

“We’re going to need at least 16 pounds to win this, maybe 17 pounds,” he said. “It’s going to be hard, but we have a shot. It’s doable.”

Scott Isbell and Danny Adams used a two-day catch of 29 pounds to round out the top five teams to fish the finals.

Saturday’s Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series action continues during tomorrow’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 6:30 a.m. at the Conn Brown Harbor, located in Aransas Pass, Texas.