KEMAH, Texas (June 3, 2009) - Kemah, Texas, just south of Houston on Galveston Bay, hosted the second Redfish Cup tournament of 2009. Both Lucky Craft teams were present, giving it their best and fishing for the win.

Lucky Craft’s Greg and Bryan Watts finished 17th with a total two-day weight of 27.93 pounds. While most teams stayed close to fish the jetties near Kemah, the Watts brothers opted for a different plan on day one.

“Bryan and I found a 30-foot hole that we had fished a few years ago,” Greg explained. “There weren’t as many fish in it this year, but the quality was good. We visited the area two times in practice, and it was all a cranking bite.”

The hole the Watts brothers were fishing was approximately 400 yards long and 300 yards wide, and it was surround by flats on all sides. Bryan and Greg were fishing the Lucky Craft Flat CB DR and Flat CB D-12 in the hole in a variety of colors, including MS American Shad, Aurora Gold and Ghost Blue.

“We alternated colors to see if one worked better, but I don’t really think it mattered much,” Bryan said. “We were cranking the edges of the hole because we thought the fish were running the rim of it, schooling around the edge. It dropped off pretty fast. It went from about 4-feet deep to about 20-feet deep in a span of about 30 feet, so that’s a big drop off. We never saw the fish, but we knew they were there.”

Greg and Bryan were also using the Lucky Craft ISG Sammy rod mostly, throwing the crankbaits on 30-pound braid with 30-pound fluorocarbon leaders.

“We liked using the Sammy rod because of its soft tip,” Greg explained. “The ISG Moonsault and ISG Crankbait rods are great too, but I had the Sammy rod out and have been playing around with it for about six months now, and I really like it. So I decided to use it. The rod has more flex than a lot of other rods out there. Braid doesn’t stretch, so I needed a rod with a little more flex. If the fish made a quick run, the rod had more flex so I wouldn’t rip the hooks out and lose him.”

The duo lived and died in that area on day one, bringing in a respectable total of 15.52 pounds that put them in 15th after the day one weigh-in. On day two, Greg and Bryan decided to try the jetties near Kemah but knew it was going to be crowded.

“We knew guys were catching them on the jetties, so we thought we’d give it a shot, but there must have been 200 boats in that area [the jetties],” Greg said. “You couldn’t even get in there to throw a crankbait, so it became a gulp and a jig bite. We almost had to vertical jig there because of all the people.”

The bite fell off on day two, probably because of the fishing pressure, so after catching a few fish, finding two worthy of keeping, the brothers headed back to their hole to see if they could bring in two bigger fish.

“Around 11 a.m. on day two, we headed back to the hole, but we never got a bite,” Greg said. “So heading out to the jetties ended up being a really good decision. It was a gut feeling to go there in the first place, so I’m glad we went with it. Our two fish from the jetties made a big difference.”

Greg and Bryan Watts brought in 12.40 pounds on day two and finished in 17th.

“Overall, I’m satisfied with the finish,” Greg said. “I’m not happy about it, but I’m satisfied. When everyone is pelting the fish that hard, either you’re on them or you’re not. One bite can move you up 10 spots, so it’s anyone’s game.”

Lucky Craft’s Paul Jueckstock and Manny Perez also made the decision not to fish the jetties on day one. The team made a two-hour run to Port Arthur, where they won last year using Lucky Craft crankbaits. They ran the same patterns and used the same baits this year and had their two largest fish after only two hours of fishing.

Jueckstock and Perez were fishing the jetties in Port Arthur, running the crankbaits parallel near the edge. They would cast down the jetties, one throwing out and then the other throwing 15 yards further, trying to cover as much of the rocks as possible.

“Day one was great,” Jueckstock said. “We were running the deep diving crankbaits, Lucky Crafts Flat CB D-12 and D-20, in the exact same colors we used last year [MS American Shad, Spring Craw, MS MJ Herring, Aurora Gold and Aurora Black]. Color really didn’t seem to matter though. As long as we could get the bait down and get it to deflect off the rocks, the fish would hit it.”

Jueckstock and Perez had nearly 17 pounds each day while practicing in Port Arthur, and they had nearly that much on the first day of competition. They brought in 16.42 pounds on day one, which left them sitting in ninth going into day two.

The bite switched for them as well on day two, and they had more competition on the Port Arthur jetties than they had to contend with on day one. After a smooth ride across Galveston Bay, which is almost unheard of, the duo arrived to find several local fishermen sitting directly on their key spot.

“The bite wasn’t nearly as good on day two, but we definitely had some people fishing our areas, but hey, it happens,” Jueckstock said. “We decided to fish a few other areas of the jetties, and had to try and weave in and out of local and tournament boats. The rule is we have to stay 50 yards away from the next angler, so it got a little tricky.”

Jueckstock and Perez managed to stick to their plan amidst the traffic and bring in a solid 10.80 pounds on day two, putting them in 20th for the tournament.

“We’re a little disappointed with a 20th-place finish,” Jueckstock admitted. “If we could have caught 15 or so pounds, like we had every other day, we would have made the cut, no problem. But, you can’t win them all, and we’re happy about the decisions we made in this tournament. It just didn’t work out this time.”