Anglers compete for $200,000 purse, berths to no-entry-fee Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship
Tune in Sunday, Oct. 28 to “FLW Outdoors” on FSN for the $200,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series event in Rockport, Texas. The fourth and final Western Division event of the $1.9 million season will highlight the best redfish anglers in the world as they compete for a cash prize of up to $50,000.
The “FLW Outdoors” saltwater series is a reality-format show told from the anglers’ perspective. Each week the top-five finalists are followed from takeoff to weigh-in, allowing the audience to feel the anglers’ nerves, listen to their strategy and learn from their mistakes. The stories evolve and the suspense grows throughout the one-hour show until the final weigh-in results are announced.
Father-son team Jay Watkins and Jay Watkins Jr. lead the Rockport event, catching an impressive two-day total of four redfish weighing 32 pounds, 8 ounces. The team is fishing the northern edges of Port Aransas and Corpus Christi bays, casting gold spoons in water 3-4 feet deep. But with better-than-predicted catches coming in at this event, which is taking place two weeks later than originally scheduled due to a hurricane postponement, the pair will likely have to fish just as hard on day three before they can rest easy with the winner’s check in hand. In other words, the competition is stiff, and although they own a 1 1/2-pound lead, any team in the top five still has a shot at victory.
The Culpepper brothers, Jonathan and Kris of Houston, are running well south of Rockport in the upper Laguna Madre. With calm conditions on day two, making the trip was a no-brainer, and their location provided them with a hefty limit weighing 15 pounds, 13 ounces. Their opening-round total now stands at 31 pounds and puts them in second place going into the final day of competition. Once they reach Laguna Madre, their pattern involves sight-fishing in shallow water with 4-inch pearl-white Berkley Gulp shrimp and 3/8-ounce T.C. Custom jigheads. With two Redfish Series victories to their name, the Culpepper brothers know what it takes to win. Tune in to see if they can claim their third title in their home state of Texas.
The Oct. 28 show also features Skipper Mock of South Padre Island, Texas, and Eddie Curry of Port Isabel, Texas, who finished the opening round third with a two-day total of 30 pounds, 9 ounces. They caught the big reds with plastic shad baits colored black with gold bellies, sight-fishing in about 2 to 3 feet of water. Despite experiencing mechanical problems on day one, the team clinched their second top-five finish of the season. In doing so, they also punched their ticket to the no-entry-fee Redfish Series Championship as one of the top 50 teams from the Western Division.
FSN also follows the dramatic conclusion to the Land O’Lakes Team of the Year race. As the regular season winds down, it looks like a two-team race between the Culpepper brothers and the team of Tadd VanDemark and Kevin Shaw. After landing in 26th place after day one, VanDemark and Shaw will need to pull a rabbit out of their hat. To beat out the Culpeppers for Team of the Year, VanDemark-Shaw need to finish no worse than nine places behind the brothers.
FSN broadcasts “FLW Outdoors” Sundays from 11 a.m. to noon Eastern time.
FSN is broadcast to more than 81 million homes through its network of 20 regional sports channels. Established in 1996, FSN is the only cable network that supplies national, regional and local sports programming. FSN serves as the cable TV home to 62 of the 82 MLB, NHL and NBA teams based in the United States, and produces more than 4,500 live events each year. FSN has an extensive catalog of original national programs, including “Best Damn Sports Show Period” and “Beyond the Glory” documentary series, along with national packages of collegiate sports. Based in Los Angeles, FSN is part of the vast FOX Sports television family.
“FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 429 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 service men and women stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, call (270) 252-1000.
By: Dave Washburn, vp comm, FLW Outdoors
