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Ritter, Billiot win fishing event
Scott Ritter of Dauphin Island, Ala., and Chad Billiot of Raceland, La., caught a three-day total of six redfish weighing 39 pounds, 10 ounces to win the Wal-Mart FLW¨ Redfish Series Western Div.
Their top prize of $50,000 included a $15,000 Ranger bonus and a $15,000 Yamaha bonus.
“We were a little disappointed after the first day,” said Ritter, who, along with Billiot, stood in 20th place after the first day of competition. “We’d never fished Port Lavaca before, and so we thought it was great to be in 20th place. Then we caught the fish that we thought we could catch on the second day and we moved into fifth place. Today we thought we would have to come in big, but with such tough conditions, we caught two good fish and other people just couldn’t make it happen. We kind of back-doored our way into it. And it’s been a long time coming.”
Ritter and Billiot opened the tournament with two fish weighing 13-5 Thursday. They added another two fishing weighing 15-00 Friday and capped off the win with two more fish weighing 11-5 Saturday.
Ritter’s winning fish came from open bays along the shore near Compano Bay. Ritter said the team targeted areas where the muddy water met clean water, and they fished Berkley Gulp! Shrimp under a popping cork.
“We made a 75- to 80-mile run, and when we got to our spot, the water had really dropped and it was real muddy,” Ritter said. “We were lucky to find one clean pocket and caught a nice fish on that and then we worked around for a while but kept running aground and we decided to run to a spot we found a few miles away during prefishing that we hadn’t fished during the tournament. It was clearer water, and we got two keepers out of that spot and those were the two winning fish. It was a good move to move to the clear water, and it worked out well for us.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Blair Wiggins of Cocoa, Fla., and Travis Tanner of Titusville, Fla. (six redfish, 38 pounds, 15 ounces, $15,802); Dwayne Eschete of Mandeville, La., and Blake Pizzolato of Montgomery, Texas (six redfish, 35 pounds, 15 ounces, $7,140); Judd Johnson of Houston and Recie Tisdale of Dickenson, Texas (four redfish, 31 pounds, 4 ounces, $4,420); and Tadd Vandemark of Key Largo, Fla., and Kevin Shaw of Corpus Christi, Texas (four redfish, 28 pounds, 10 ounces, $4,390).
Teams caught six redfish Saturday weighing 26 pounds, 11 ounces.
Coverage of the FLW Redfish Series stop in Port Lavaca will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing May 25.
Their top prize of $50,000 included a $15,000 Ranger bonus and a $15,000 Yamaha bonus.
“We were a little disappointed after the first day,” said Ritter, who, along with Billiot, stood in 20th place after the first day of competition. “We’d never fished Port Lavaca before, and so we thought it was great to be in 20th place. Then we caught the fish that we thought we could catch on the second day and we moved into fifth place. Today we thought we would have to come in big, but with such tough conditions, we caught two good fish and other people just couldn’t make it happen. We kind of back-doored our way into it. And it’s been a long time coming.”
Ritter and Billiot opened the tournament with two fish weighing 13-5 Thursday. They added another two fishing weighing 15-00 Friday and capped off the win with two more fish weighing 11-5 Saturday.
Ritter’s winning fish came from open bays along the shore near Compano Bay. Ritter said the team targeted areas where the muddy water met clean water, and they fished Berkley Gulp! Shrimp under a popping cork.
“We made a 75- to 80-mile run, and when we got to our spot, the water had really dropped and it was real muddy,” Ritter said. “We were lucky to find one clean pocket and caught a nice fish on that and then we worked around for a while but kept running aground and we decided to run to a spot we found a few miles away during prefishing that we hadn’t fished during the tournament. It was clearer water, and we got two keepers out of that spot and those were the two winning fish. It was a good move to move to the clear water, and it worked out well for us.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Blair Wiggins of Cocoa, Fla., and Travis Tanner of Titusville, Fla. (six redfish, 38 pounds, 15 ounces, $15,802); Dwayne Eschete of Mandeville, La., and Blake Pizzolato of Montgomery, Texas (six redfish, 35 pounds, 15 ounces, $7,140); Judd Johnson of Houston and Recie Tisdale of Dickenson, Texas (four redfish, 31 pounds, 4 ounces, $4,420); and Tadd Vandemark of Key Largo, Fla., and Kevin Shaw of Corpus Christi, Texas (four redfish, 28 pounds, 10 ounces, $4,390).
Teams caught six redfish Saturday weighing 26 pounds, 11 ounces.
Coverage of the FLW Redfish Series stop in Port Lavaca will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing May 25.
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