HOPEDALE, La. (August 19, 2008) - Forty-nine teams took to the waters off the Louisiana coast last weekend during the 2008 Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup. Two Lucky Craft teams, Paul Jueckstock with partner Manny Perez and the Watts Brothers, battled it out to see who could bring in the two biggest redfish inside the state's slot limit of 16 to 27 inches.

Lucky Craft's Jueckstock and Perez did their fair share of running around in practice, looking for areas with clear water and big fish. According to Jueckstock, the first two days of practice were beautiful - and then disaster struck.

"We found good, clear water and grass in practice," Jueckstock said. "It was beautiful. No wind, sunny skies, and we found a ton of fish. We even found some schools. Then, on the second day of practice, we got stuck. We had to call an airboat to get us off, and we waited for about four hours before anyone got there."

Jueckstock and Perez are no strangers to disaster, as they faced motor problems at their last tournament in Texas. The duo was stuck on a spot that looked deep but actually consisted of 15 feet of mud with three inches of water on top.

"We made it 200 yards on that spot, and when we stopped, we were done," Jueckstock said. "And to make it worse, as we sat there looking for a deep spot so we could get out, redfish starting swimming by with their heads and eyes out of the water as if they were laughing at us. It was crazy."

The fish weren't laughing as the tournament approached however. Jueckstock and Perez bounced back from the practice-day mishap to bring in 15.53 pounds on day one. The Lucky Craft team was fishing in freshwater, and when they'd find bass, brim and bluegill, they'd also find the heavier redfish.

"We were fishing around duck ponds that had a canal going through them," Jueckstock said. "We fished areas that were, obviously, shallow by the shore and then deeper as a trough ran through the middle. It seemed to be a runway for the redfish. We were fishing in about three feet of water, flipping and pitching while working the edges of the grass. It was a lot like bass fishing."

Not being able to bring in fish longer than 27 inches posed a problem on day one, as Jueckstock and Perez fought to find fish in the slot.

"We got hit with the oversize bite badly on day one," Jueckstock said. "They all seemed to be too big. When we brought in fish that were inside the slot limit, they seemed to be light. But those fish that were 27 inches or more were huge. We couldn't find the right fish to balance it out."

Jueckstock and Perez were throwing frogs in the grass and fishing the Lucky Craft Wood Sammy and BDS 1 in MS American Shad. With the Lucky Craft crankbait, Jueckstock would change out the O-rings and hooks, only adding one large hook to the back of the bait. Fishing on 7 1/2-foot American Rodsmith rods, the duo also used a mixture of 15 to 20 pound fluorocarbon and braided line.

Overall, the Florida residents were pleased as they finished ninth in Louisiana with a two-day total of 31.61 pounds.

"We probably caught 50 to 75 fish a day here," Jueckstock said. "We're a little disappointed at the weight because all the fish we were catching inside the slot limit just didn't weigh as much as we would've liked. They had the length, but they just didn't have the weight. We just missed the cut, so that's disappointing, but overall we're very pleased with our finish. We've done really great for our first year together."

Jueckstock and Perez currently sit near third in Team of the Year points with two tournaments to go. The next Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup tournament will be held at the end of September in Pensacola, Fla. Jueckstock is looking forward to it.

"I can't wait to go back," Jueckstock concluded. "I think we'll have a great tournament there. It's going to be tough to catch [Mark] Sepe for Team of the Year, but we'll give it our best."

Lucky Craft's Greg and Bryan Watts fished the waters off Louisiana for eight days prior to the tournament. They tried several areas and various techniques to find the one they thought would work best.

"I started on the outside, which would be the outside barrier islands of the Mississippi Marsh almost all the way down to Venice," Greg said. "That outside bite is usually strong this time of year so I spent three days outside and found hundreds of redfish. But they were all long and lean.

"So the fourth day, I decided to run inside marshes," Greg continued. "We went back into the Delacroix Marsh and found a few fish, but we were catching more bass than reds. So on day five of our practice time, we ran 40 miles north of Hopedale [La.] on a whim, and it paid off. We found several key marshes that were full of hydrilla and grass, and the water was crystal clear."

The area looked promising as the tournament approached. There was only one problem - the Watts brothers seemed to be catching reds just outside the slot limit. The duo was able to bring in 14.17 pounds on day one, and they decided to make the same 40-mile run on day two of the tournament.

"I know we probably put 24 redfish on the board that were between 27 and 27 1/2-inches long," Greg said. "Those fish probably weighed between 8 and 9 pounds. We had to keep at it. We probably caught 100 fish in two days of fishing up there. We just happened to keep catching those slightly oversized fish."

"Everything we were fishing was probably within 50 feet of the boat," Greg said. "We were also using our new rods from Lucky Craft and they are phenomenal. I had the chance to try out the GW Power Shrimp rod. I was using that to pitch the jig and was using 40-pound Stealth and a 40-pound leader. The rods were fantastic."

After finishing with a two-day total of 29.61 pounds and finishing in 30th, the Watts brothers were disappointed they couldn't move up in the standings but were pleased with the way they fished.

"We had a bad event in Texas and a rough one here, but the tournaments were still fished flawlessly," Greg said. "We had plenty of fish in both tournaments; sometimes you just don't have the horseshoe. It didn't go our way this weekend, but it's amazing that only about 2 pounds separated us from the top five. That's unbelievable, but you have to expect it in Louisiana."

The Watts brothers are looking forward to their next tournament in Pensacola. They are still in the top 20 in overall standings, and they both believe it all comes down to making the championship.

"I feel good about Pensacola," Greg concluded. "We have a variety of things to try there, and it's going to be about putting in the time and figuring out the pattern. No matter what, you're only going to have a couple of hours to make it happen because the whole field ends up making long runs. That's just what happens in Pensacola. We'll see what happens."