Season Opener Greats Anglers With A Kiss Of Wind

PORT ARANSAS, TEXAS MARCH 28, 2009

The season opener of the Texas Redfish Series 2009 tour kicked off in Port Aransas, Texas with intense winds due to a cold front that pushed through on Friday evening.  The winds began racing to near 40 mph overnight and continued well into Saturday.  The anglers were faced with difficult conditions to navigate as they made their way out of the harbor and into tournament day.  Tournament angler’s experienced trouble soon after launch with bay waters cresting at 6-8 feet and steady winds of 30+mph and gusting to near 40 mph.  The Romero brothers experienced a blown engine just 10 minutes into their morning run sending them back to the marina for a short lived day.  Team Fish’n Addiction pushed through the barriers that mother nature presented them on tournament day and fought hard through the 6-8 ft waves at times sending their boat into the air that made for a nervous and dangerous ride as they made their way to the first fishing hole. “It was a rough and windy day and there’s nothing you can really do but keep plugging away through it.  Tournament day brings all sorts of challenges and all you can do is pray for a safe return home,” testified Captain Lee. “Thank God that not every tournament day is not like this”, added Lee.  Team Fish’n Addiction had planned on finding wind protected waters to begin their day, however, as fierce as the winds were there was no area immune to the dangerous northwest winds.  1 hour into the team’s first wade Captain Dustin landed the first fish to put into the livewell.  “We were in area that was notorious for big reds and plentiful at that,” claimed Perez.  The Team found some quality fish scouting early in the week and felt good about their outlook.

The winds of change certainly tested their confidence and their tolerance levels in extreme conditions. The first area the team fished only produced one keeper fish that weighed over 4 pounds.  After several hours the team decided to leave this area and head to another shoreline that also produced some fish earlier in the week.  “We found a cove that was consistently boating fish earlier in the week so we decided to give a try to land a 2nd fish,” stated Perez.  Team Fish’n Addiction worked the second area intensely with no results much of the day.  With just 30 minutes of fishing time left on the day Perez set the hook on a decent fish and landed it for the second and only other fish that was caught the entire day. With two legal fish in their livewell the Team had their two fish necessary for a full tournament stringer.  Perez’ fish added another 5 pounds to the stringer.  “As tough as the conditions were, we thought that our stringer would be respectable since the high pressure that the cold front pushed through really tightened the bite,” claimed Perez.  “Joe and I really had to think things through all day to cope with the conditions and come up with a strategy that would give us the best opportunity to have some kind of success today,” says Lee.  “The greatest asset our team shares is the ability to trust one another’s instincts, “ added Perez.  Out of over 125 teams in the day’s competition, Team Fish’n Addiction turned in a weight of just over 9 lbs. placing them 32nd and just a few spots out of the money.  Team Fishn’s Addiction has it’s eyes set on the next stop of the circuit which will be held in Rockport, Texas on April 25, 2009.

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