Jacksonville, Fla. (March 20, 2007) – Jacksonville, Fla., was the site of the first Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup Eastern Open tournament this weekend, as more than 70 teams competed for first place worth a minimum of $40,000.

This was the first new event in an expanded schedule for the Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup. 2007 will consist of three All Star tournaments, a championship and two Open divisions – East and West. Each division will have three separate tournaments with thousands of dollars on the line at each one. Lucky Craft’s Paul Jueckstock and partner, Scott Hughes were excited to be fishing the first Eastern Open Division tournament, but knew it couldn’t be taken lightly. And after a decent practice, both thought they could have a shot at a good finish.

“We found a lot of fish in three different areas during practice,” Jueckstock said. “Unfortunately they weren’t close together, so we had to make a decision about where we were going to go during the tournament. We decided to go to the area where we had the most fish, but not necessarily the best bite. We thought if we concentrated in one area, we could at least get enough bites to have a decent finish – and that’s what we did.”

As the tide changed, Jueckstock and Hughes had to go with the flow. The tidal fluctuation in Jacksonville is rather large and the fishing this weekend, according to Jueckstock, was only possible during a very small window of opportunity.

“I really didn’t have it all figured out,” Jueckstock said, honestly. “It seemed like the fish really wanted to eat on low tide, but on high tide, they were more comfortable and secure in the deeper water. We decided to fish for them on low tide, because as we saw it, it was better to catch them while they were actually feeding. During mid-tide, there was absolutely no action.”

According to the Florida native, it was a really tough bite all weekend, but Lucky Craft did come into play during pre-fishing.

However, later in the week and during the tournament, the fish changed and didn’t seem to want anything the duo could throw at them. So they decided to change it up on the fish and see what happened.

“Nothing seemed to be working during the tournament,” Jueckstock explained, “so we went to the store and got a bass jig with the strongest hook we could find. We tipped it with a piece of Gulp and pitched it about 10 or 15 feet in front of the fish. Then we would sit and wait for them to come by, not moving the bait, but just waiting for them to pick it up. It was probably the hardest tournament I’ve ever fished.”

After day one (Friday), Jueckstock and Hughes were in 52nd place with only 4.39 pounds. They knew they had to do something if they wanted the good finish they were striving for. They ran to a different area on day two, fishing the Intracoastal Waterway about five minutes from the launch ramp.

“We only caught three fish on the second day, but ended up with 11.24 pounds,” Jueckstock said. “It was a tough bite.”

With a total of 15.63 pounds after Saturday’s competition, Jueckstock and Hughes finished their tournament in 22nd place – a great achievement after catching only a little more than four pounds the day before.

The next tournament for Jueckstock might be the first Western Division Open in Lafitte, La., (April 13 – 15), but he’ll have to do it without his normal teammate, Hughes. The next tournament for Jueckstock and Hughes together will be the second Eastern Division Open in Punta Gorda, Fla., May 3 – 6.

“We were in Jacksonville six days prior to the tournament and just couldn’t find anything substantial like we had in the past,” Bryan Watts explained. “We’d find fish one day, and go back the next and they’d be gone. It was like that constantly the whole week. They were just moving like crazy and I don’t think I have ever seen that here before.”

The duo did find some fish in practice, catching them on a Lucky Craft Pointer 100 (MS American Shad and Aurora Gold). According to Bryan, the fish weren’t eating anything to well, but they were able to get them to bite the jerkbait and some Gulp.

“It was probably a 30 or 40 minute boat ride up the Intracoastal Waterway, but I found three spots up there that had fish on them,” Bryan said. “They were on small, 100-yard strips of bank with gnarly oyster beds around them.”

The Watts brothers weren’t able to make it to Fernandina on Friday however, because the weather had moved in and conditions weren’t so friendly. They decided to fish a mud flat up the river.

“We had two bites all day long and weighed in 8.72 pounds,” Bryan said. “We caught one on the Pointer 100 that weighed a little more than six pounds and the other on a spoon.”

After weighing in two fish on Friday, the Watts brothers were in 29th and knew they needed heavy weight for day two.

“The cold front had moved through by Friday, but the weather was in the high 40s and the wind was blowing hard,” Bryan said. “We decided to make the run to Fernandina where I found the fish on Thursday. The wind had muddied up the water, and we only caught two fish all day long – one was too small and one was just a bit too big. We didn’t end up weighing in any fish on day two. I can’t remember a time when we weighed in nothing during a day of fishing.”

It was a frustrating weekend for the Watts brothers, especially because this wasn’t normal Jacksonville fishing for them.

“We are usually in Jacksonville in the summer or fall, and you can usually pattern the fish for four or five days,” Bryan explained. “This time we couldn’t pattern them at all. Maybe it was because there was not a lot of baitfish around and the redfish were constantly hunting food. The weather doesn’t normally affect the redfish as much as it does other game fish, but I just really don’t know.

“We had great moving water and a great high tide that fell to a negative (below standard low), which usually means success here,” Bryan continued. “I’m not pushing all of this off on the fish, because I just don’t think Greg and I were mentally prepared for what we actually saw. If I had to do it over again, there was a much more consistent bite down in St. Augustine and I probably would have gone there, but hindsight is 20-20.”

The Watts brothers’ next Redfish Cup tournament is also a bit undecided, as they are teetering on the edge of fishing the Western Division tournaments. If they opt out, their next Redfish Cup event will also be Punta Gorda, Fla., in May.