Watts Brothers finish 2nd in Team of the Year standings;
Gritter/Jueckstock place 19th in championship

Morehead City, N.C. (October 10, 2006) – The Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup anglers ventured out of their comfort zone last week, for the 2006 championship in Morehead City, N.C. To everyone’s surprise and despite the weather, the fishing was much better than expected. For the first time ever, anglers traveled north to compete in the championship on waters no one had ever seen before, creating a more even playing field for all twenty-five qualifying teams.

Both Lucky Craft teams had strong seasons, paving their way towards a championship berth. Like most anglers on the tour, Team Lucky Craft’s Bryan and Greg Watts and Mark ‘Gritter’ Griffin and Paul Jueckstock didn’t know what to expect on the coastal waters of North Carolina. Except for the ever-present possibility of unforeseen weather, the 18 to 27 inch slot limit and the six-hour tide cycle, nothing was certain.

However, once the clouds cleared, both Lucky Craft Teams were happy with their seasons and looking forward to what lies ahead for next year.

It was a bittersweet weekend for Lucky Craft’s Greg and Bryan Watts, as they finished second in the Team of the Year standings – a year-round points race and a title the team has won before. The duo has not had a finish worse than 15th place all year long and consistency was their ticket to success this year.

As for the championship, the Watts brothers were pumped entering this tournament and probably worked three times harder than any other event this year.

“Ten points wasn’t a big lead coming into this event so we knew we had to work hard to stay at the top,” Bryan Watts said. “We knew if we didn’t have big weights, it would be very tough to pull it off.”

After a week of pre-fishing, the Watts brothers were confident they could bring in 11 to 13 pounds a day and that is just what they did. But after weighing in with 11.25 pounds on day one and 11.70 on day two, they ended their weekend Saturday in 11th place.

“When a couple teams came in with tremendous weights yesterday (Friday), that told us we let something slip,” Bryan Watts explained. “It might sound funny, but I wouldn’t do anything different, because we worked extremely hard and did the best we could do. I think I might have played a few cards wrong, but I wouldn’t take anything back.”

The Watts brothers threw several Lucky Craft baits this week, including the Pointer 100, the LVR-7 and several different crankbaits, such as the Flat CB MR in Aurora Gold.

“We threw several different baits and colors this week,” Bryan said. “The gold colors and the red/whites are always good colors to use, no matter where you are. A redfish is a redfish no matter the location and although they may hang out on different structure, they will eat mostly the same things.”

Bryan admits several teams found the crankbait bite he was searching for all week long.

“I fished for two days throwing nothing but crankbaits around rocks trying to find a big bite, but had no luck. We really couldn’t find anything in the marshes. Some of the guys who ran down south had a crankbait bite and those were the fish I wanted to be on.”

The duo switched it up a bit and ended up throwing a jig head with Gulp on the end, because the fish wouldn’t move up on the flat. They ended each day with decent weights, but couldn’t quite bring in what they needed to make the top five, bringing in one nice fish everyday, but unable to find that big number two. The combined weight of 22.95 pounds put them in second place for Team of the Year, just narrowly missing bringing home the title for a second time.

After all was said and done, the Watts brothers were happy with their season and looking forward to improving on it for next year – and with the successful season they had this year, the only improvement is to win it all.

“Greg and I had a great year and are fortunate to have had several great years in a row,” Bryan concluded. “This is probably our most consistent year ever.”

Pre-fishing went well for this duo, as they found some nice size fish and had a dangerous bite going on with several Lucky Craft baits including the Gunfish 115 in Ghost Minnow and the Fat CB BDS 1. They found two spots in practice – a very shallow marsh and a deep cut that ran through a shallow marsh and the BDS 1 played an important role in those areas.

“We caught everything in practice on the BDS 1,” Jueckstock said. “We used several different colors, including MS MJ Herring, Aurora Gold and Aurora Black. I was working it around the edges of marshes in about three to four feet of water.”

Being that the BDS 1 is a freshwater bait and this is a saltwater tournament, Gritter and Jueckstock made a couple modifications to the popular freshwater lure.

“I changed the bait up a bit to be able to work it better for the saltwater fish,” Jueckstock explained. “I changed to a bigger O-ring and also changed out the hooks and used only one big hook on the back. With the front hook gone, I didn’t get hung up in the oysters when I hit the bottom. And when I bounced it off the oysters, if there were redfish in the area, they would come up and pounce on it. They were really going after it.”

When the tournament began, Gritter and Jueckstock opted out of the shallow marsh they had found in practice because they knew the wind was going to shift and the weather was going to switch up big time. They decided to stick with the deeper spot they had found in practice because, on the incoming tide, they had some really big fish coming in there.

“We felt we could win the tournament if we caught those fish,” Gritter said. “Ends up we did catch them and they were monster fish, weighing more than eight pounds a piece, but they were maybe a 1/6th of an inch over the line and we didn’t bring them in.”

Although the crankbait bite was phenomenal in practice, as the weather moved in and the low pressure found its way onshore, the bite changed and Gritter and Jueckstock had to find an alternative.

“It’s hard for me to believe too, but I was throwing a popping cork with a soft plastic on a jig head,” Gritter said. “And it worked. I went to the popping cork because, for some reason, the fish became really finicky in their eating habits.

“When the water was in, we were fishing in about four to six feet of water, but when the tide went out, we were in about eight inches. It was either falling or coming in all the time and it was very different fishing with a six-hour tide cycle. We actually had a very narrow window to catch fish. Right as the tide came in and right after high tide was when we would really get the bites. The rest of the time was blind casting and hoping for the best.”

Gritter and Jueckstock ended their week Saturday in 19th with a combined weight of 19.84 pounds. Making it to the championship was a success in itself, but according to Gritter, once you’re there, you want to win.

“We’re excited to have made the championship and be a part of this elite group,” Gritter said. “We felt like we had a reasonable game plan, but it didn’t work out. We worked hard and are proud of what we’ve accomplished this year, making the Championship and the All Stars.”

Jueckstock had the same sentiments; especially considering the fact this was the first year the two had fished together.

“I feel pretty good overall,” Jueckstock concluded. “We made it to both the championship and the All Star tournament, and that’s pretty good for a first year team. We’re starting to learn each other better and we’re going to work hard and improve for next year.”

Provided by Cox Group

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