Practice was tough for the Watts brothers, as they chased the fish up and down Charlotte Harbor.

“We practiced from one end of the [Charlotte] harbor to the other,” said Greg, an Eagle Lake, Florida native. “We started chasing schools Sunday and continued that same pattern Monday, and we were throwing everything at them. They wouldn’t respond to anything, so we had to completely quit using any hard baits.”

Practice continued Tuesday and the brothers found one stretch of bank they thought might be the ticket to success, and they were right.

“This one stretch had about 50 fish on it,” Greg continued. “We caught two pretty good fish and got out of there.”

Saving the honey-hole for the first day of practice was a good idea, as Greg and Bryan returned Friday morning to find the fish in the same spot. Catching around six fish with a jig head and sinking minnow, they had enough weight to put them in good position (2nd) going into Saturday.

“On Saturday morning, we blew in there and within 45 minutes caught about eight fish and had what we needed to make the top five,” Greg said. “We were fishing an island with a little trough or depression running down the side of it for about 100 yards. On high tide, the fish would push off into the trough and sit in it. That’s where they wanted to be, so we would ease in there, power pole down and make slow, smooth drags on the bottom with the sinking minnow.”

This sweet spot left the Watts brothers sitting in first after Saturday’s weigh-in with a total two-day weight of 25.02 pounds. As with all Redfish Cup tournaments, weights are cleared Saturday afternoon and the top-five teams fish Sunday for the win.

“We went to the same spot Sunday, throwing jig heads and soft plastics,” Bryan said. “We had to have a slow, subtle presentation to get a bite. After about 45 minutes of nothing, we motored around the little point of the island and blew them up. As the tide rises, the fish want to push up on the island. We probably cut them off from actually getting there originally which is probably why we didn’t have any bites to begin with. When they finally did bump up, they came by us three times and we caught six or seven fish. Looking at the standings over the past two days, with the 12-pounds weights brought in, we thought we had enough [to win].”

Greg and Bryan continued fishing the stretch of bank until early afternoon. The bite tapered off and thinking the odds were in their favor, the Watts brothers decided to head back in before the afternoon thunderstorms hit.

Last to weigh in, the brothers had to beat 12.69 pounds for a win. As the tournament director, Bob Sealy, put the fish on the scales, Greg and Bryan looked on with anticipation. When the weight flashed, they were a mere 2 ounces short, weighing in a total of 12.28 pounds.

“We’re not happy about it,” Greg said. “It’s about winning. No one remembers second place. But on the bright side, it really was a fantastic tournament. Bryan and I had a black cloud over us in the last two tournaments, so to come and finish like this in Punta Gorda feels good. There are more than 80 other teams who would love to be in our position right now, so we did really well.”

“We really did fish a heck of a game,” Bryan Watts added.

Next up for the Watts brothers will be the third and final Eastern Division Open in St. Augustine, Fla. Bryan and Greg need to be ranked in the top 15 for a chance to fish the Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup Championship in September.

“We’ll go back to the Lucky Craft crankbait bite in Jacksonville (St. Augustine), and I really like that because we can hit a lot of areas fast,” Greg concluded. “They will be eating those baits really well, and I’m looking forward to it.”