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2007 Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup <MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – Oct.4-7 –All Star Last Cast>
Lucky Craft’s Paul Jueckstock and Scott Hughes
finish 7th at All Star Last Cast Gillnetters and changing winds affected tournament finishes |
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>>>Lucky Craft’s Paul Jueckstock and partner, Scott Hughes |
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“Aside from almost sinking our boat half a dozen times and sticking a Lucky Craft BDS 1 in my head, it was a good week,” Jueckstock joked. “Practice was awesome. On the first two days of practice we found two key areas, a deep-water spot offshore and a shallow area in the marsh around some rocks and structure. We were throwing soft plastics and the Lucky Craft BDS 1 [MS MJ Herring color] all day. Both days of practice, for three straight hours, we caught fish on every cast.” After bringing in between 12 and 14 pounds each day in practice, Jueckstock and Hughes were ready to get the tournament underway, believing they had a chance at the top five. Even after the wind switched during the first day of the tournament, the duo still managed to stick to their plan and bring in two nice fish. “We hit our marsh fish first on Friday to make sure we had two fish in the boat before we went to the beach and culled,” Jueckstock said. “It was perfect. I caught the big one in the marsh on the Lucky Craft BDS 1 [modified by Jueckstock to have bigger O-rings and one large treble hook on the back]. We had two fish within 45 minutes in our shallow area. When we got to the beach, we caught a 6-pounder on a soft plastic.” Jueckstock and Hughes brought in two fish on Friday weighing 12.63 pounds, putting them in sixth place and in good position to move up and make the top five.
However, lady luck wasn’t smiling on day two. While most decided to head south, Jueckstock and Hughes went north to fish North River. When they arrived, the duo encountered three gillnetters working each side of the creek on both the incoming and outgoing tides.
“It was definitely unfortunate for us to find them there today,” Jueckstock said. “It is still legal in North Carolina, so we couldn’t complain, but it was definitely something we didn’t expect. We got our first fish on our first cast, but then didn’t have a hit for an hour and a half. We struggled all day today [Saturday].” After trying their planned locations and dodging gillnetters, the team headed to the beach to fish the outgoing tide. The team was able to catch a couple small fish on soft plastics but was never able to find the large group they needed to bring in bigger weights. Jueckstock and Hughes brought in 10.69 pounds, a respectable weight, but not enough to put them in the top five. Even after the hard luck on day two and the unfortunate events that took place this weekend, Jueckstock still had positive things to say about Morehead City. “I love it here,” said Jueckstock. “If they will get rid of the gillnetting, they have no idea what kind of fishery they will have here. It is already amazing, but it could be that much better. Not to mention the people are so friendly. We don’t have a GPS on our boat, so I can’t tell you how many times we got lost. But everyone on the water was more than willing to help out. We had a good time and can’t wait to come back next year.”
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>>>Team Lucky Craft – Greg Watts and Bryan Watts |
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“We were surprised with what actually worked and didn’t work out here this week,” Greg said. “We tied on a 1/4-ounce jig head and then rigged the popping cork anywhere from 18 to 24 inches above it. You use a popping cork like a topwater bait, and we would throw it out and chug it back really hard. The jig is hanging underneath and the cork is floating on top. The fish would come up to look at it, but see the jig before they would get to the surface and eat it. It was freaky, but it worked. That’s fishing – they’ll tell you what they want.” The duo was able to put something together Thursday morning, the last day of practice, finding a spot with a lot of fish. Both agreed it would be a good spot on the falling tide. Estimating they could only weigh in 10 or 11 pounds from that spot, Bryan and Greg both knew it would most likely take more than that to make the top five. After not being able to put much of a game plan together, the Watts brothers were a bit unsure as to what Friday would hold. “Friday turned out to be an exception,” Bryan said. “We had three really good bites and were able to bring two of them in. We weren’t, however, able to find one particular area or technique and stick with it. Things were always changing and we never knew where, or if, we were going to get that big bite.”
Bringing in 12.71 pounds on Friday put the Watts’ in fifth place, which surprised the brothers after such a tough practice. However, repeating the success on day two would prove to be more difficult. “We fished in two feet of water or less all week everywhere we went,” Bryan said. “We had nice fish, but they weren’t the size we needed. If we could have just had a few good bites like we had on Friday, it might have worked out better for us. It was really tough mentally this week.” Greg and Bryan weighed in 10.59 pounds on day two, finishing just outside the top five. Even though the brothers were disappointed not to be fishing on Sunday, they were very pleased with how they fished this tournament. “We fished a good game,” Bryan concluded. “It wasn’t like we made any mistakes. Last year here, we made a lot of mistakes, so we improved from last year to this year, which is always good. Neither one of us is disappointed with how we fished here in Morehead City. We love this place. If they’ll get rid of the gillnetters, this would be our number one venue, even over Louisiana.”
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