LC Weekly Journal Redfish Cup Kemah, Texas

Strong Sixth Place Finish for Watts Brothers;
Gritter/Jueckstock Come in 36th

Lucky Craft crankbaits prove their worth
at third Redfish Cup event

Kemah, Texas (June 12, 2006) – The 2006 ‘Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup presented by Frogg Toggs’ season continued this weekend with the third event of the year, with only two more tournaments until the championship.

Galveston Bay proved to be a tough fishery for some, while others were bringing in big weights. With the slot limit between 20 and 28 inches, it was anybody’s tournament and it seemed to be the teams that stayed close by that were bringing in the big sacks.

Lucky Craft’s two teams, Bryan and Greg Watts and Gritter Griffin and Paul Jueckstock, brought in two fish limits both Thursday and Friday, but weren’t able to make the cut to fish the final day of competition on Saturday. The Watts Brothers just missed the cut to five, finishing in the sixth spot. Team Gritter/Jueckstock finished 36th after two days of competition. Both teams are still in great position in both the Team of the Year and All-Star standings.

>>> Greg Watts and Bryan Watts

One spot away from fishing on Saturday is bitter sweet for the Watts brothers, who most definitely wanted to be on the water for that final day of competition. Bringing in 14.64 pounds on Thursday and 15.10 pounds on Friday left them with an overall weight of 29.74 pounds – less than a pound from making the top five.

“Would we have liked to have been in the top five?” asked Brian Watts. “Absolutely. But eighty-two other anglers would have liked to have been there too. We’re very happy with a top ten finish today.”

Lucky Craft baits proved their worth for the Watts brothers this weekend, as they fished shallow water with plenty of structure, including oysters and chunk rock.

“On Thursday, we were on some crankbait fish, and Greg and I really love crankbaits,” Brian continued. “We were structure fishing this week in about a foot to four feet of water. The Lucky Craft Flat CB and the Fat CB (in Aurora Gold) were working really well out there. We also had some big bites on the Lucky Craft Pointer Minnow in three different colors; Pearl Ayu, Black and Gold and Nishiki. The fish were lying on a broken oyster bottom. We would kick the baits off the bottom and then let them suspend slightly; and the fish would just tear them up.”

“I had two redfish eat the Pointer Minnow headfirst,” Greg added. “That means the fish is ‘killing’ the bait, which is unbelievable. The aggressiveness that bait pulled out of those fish was incredible.”

The Watts brothers didn’t go far to find their fish. Many teams decided to stay close by and that proved to be the smart choice.

“We only ran about 10 – 12 miles in Galveston Bay, fishing the ship channel,” Brian said. “The ships go in and out of the channel, sucking the water out and then throwing it back in. There was a lot of water movement in there, besides the tidal movement, which isn’t very noticeable. The water would wash the oysters and chunk rock around and bring the crab and the baitfish out; then, bam, there were the fish. I wish we would’ve had two locations like that to go to, but we only had the one. It was a back and forth pattern – go down, turn around and come back.”

Conditions changed a bit for competition on Friday and the Watts brothers had to change up their patterns, but only slightly.

“We go in there today (Friday) and the water was a little different,” concluded Brian. “It wasn’t quite as high. We tried throwing the cranks today, but they weren’t hitting it like they did yesterday. We switched to a spinnerbait and that’s what we caught them on today. It’s not unusual to see those fish change overnight.”

Even though the Watts brothers were just shy of a top five, and possibly a win, in Kemah, they were pleased with their performance and looking forward to Port Aransas. They have been there several times and won the tournament there in 2003 – and are hoping for a repeat in August.

The Watts brothers are also currently in first place in the All-Star standings and second in the hunt for Team of the Year, a mere 14 points behind the leaders. For the All-Star tournament, eligible teams must have at least one member who has competed in each event from 2004 to 2006. Scheduled for November 2 – 4 in Gulf Shores, Ala., the tournament will consist of the top 25 teams from the 2004 – 2006 seasons. All teams competing in this year’s season of the Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup are eligible to win Team of the Year, with the team accumulating the most points all season taking home the title.

>>> Mark “Gritter” Griffin and Paul Jueckstock

Lucky Craft’s Gritter and Jueckstock finished 36th this week, with a weight of 13.44 pounds on Thursday and 8.14 pounds on Friday, for a total of 21.58 pounds. Although that was not enough to have them fishing on Saturday, Gritter and Jueckstock were pleased to have brought in a two fish limit every day.

“There was a lot in Kemah we weren’t used to – deep water, crankbaits, spinnerbaits and suspending fish,” Jueckstock explained. “We found some jetties with holes housing some redfish and we keyed in on those areas. Every time I’ve fished here, I’ve always run to Louisiana. This is my first time actually fishing here – and we fished very close.

“We had a game plan to go to three spots and make sure we could get two fish in the livewell,” Jueckstock continued. “Then we were going to go to two more spots to try and upgrade. That’s exactly what we did the first day and it really worked out well for us. We caught both big keepers on a Lucky Craft Fat CB B.D.S 2 in Tennessee Shad. The fish were absolutely annihilating that bait.”

After a pretty good day on Thursday, Gritter and Jueckstock thought they were in good shape going into Friday. With the same plan of action as Thursday, Team Lucky Craft couldn’t seem to locate the big ones.

“Today was a struggle,” Jueckstock said. “We did the same exact thing we did on Thursday, but it just didn’t pan out. We caught a few smaller fish about 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning, but didn’t have anything else until about a half hour before we came in.”

“The tournament didn’t go exactly like we wanted it too, but we worked as hard as we could,” Gritter added. “We knew we were facing a very serious challenge after our poor pre-fishing and, quite frankly, I don't know how we could have survived the Kemah tournament without Lucky Craft. It was the crankbaits, especially the BDS 2, that saved the day for us.”

Port Aransas could mean redemption for Gritter and Jueckstock, as they look again to Lucky Craft crankbaits to bring in the big ones.

“We will probably be using a lot of the Lucky Craft Fat CB SSR – it’s a very shallow fishery over there (in Port Aransas, Texas),” explained Gritter. “You can get on crystal clear sand flats with about 8 inches of water. You can also crank deep there on the rocks and channels, but I bet half the guys will be fishing shallow. You can run for miles in either direction, but we’ve been there three times and have some experience. We know where to go during pre-fishing and we’ll find the right size fish.”

Gritter and Jueckstock plan to be in contention for both the Team of the Year title and the All-Star tournament. Currently, they are tied for 14th in the Team of the Year standings and sit in sixth for the All-Star tournament, an indication of the team's consistency.

>>> Another “Lucky” Winner of Tackle Box Giveaway

		This weekend’s ‘lucky’ winner of the tackle box giveaway was Cullen Lee, of Texas. Team Lucky Craft’s Gritter Griffin and a member of Lucky Craft’s promotions agency made their way to the stage Saturday afternoon to announce the winner of the Lucky Craft tackle box. The box was full of saltwater Sammy 128’s and Flash Minnows – a value of almost $300.00. Cullen seemed very excited as he almost sprinted to the stage to claim his prize. Congratulations to Cullen and we hope you enjoy your new tackle box and make many memories fishing with your new Lucky Craft lures!