After an almost 6 year break from traveling for redfish tournaments, Jamie Havard and I have decided to hit the trail again in 2010. I'm pretty excited to get back out there to see if we can compete with the current crew of hardcore tournament pros.
Aside from getting clearance from our "better halves", the major contributing factor for us is the opportunity to get back in on the ground floor with an emerging tournament series that seems to have listened to the anglers and has put together an exciting format. It's almost as if the "tournament gods" read my last blog entry and answered a lot of my fellow anglers' prayers. Good cash payouts, standardized measurement system, and events at solid fisheries were more than we could resist getting involved with.
The HT Series has announced that it will be launching a pro-level tour featuring 2 day tournaments with an Eastern (Florida) and Western (Louisiana/Texas) division. We will be fishing Jacksonville, Titusville, Punta Gorda, and Panama City in hopes of qualifying for the tour championship next October.
The good news is that we will be able to compete in the eastern division with a minimal amount of time away from work and family. As it was when professional tournament redfishing began back in the early 2000's, our plan is to roll in for 1-2 days of prefishing and see what happens from there.
I'm not sure we will be on the same level as some of the full time "pros" who during our absence have built a solid network of people they can depend on to give them valuable information but that never was our strategy in the first place. Call us stubborn, prideful, or a combination of both - but we always feel the most reward when we find and catch our own fish even if they rarely are winners. We will also be fighting an uphill battle against teams who have the luxury of putting in a lot more scouting time than we do but I feel confident that, as the "semi-pro/working man" I consider myself to be, we will have a good time and cash a couple of checks along the way.
The hiring of Gritter Griffin as tournament director was another factor in our decision. Although I don't personally know Gritter, I have followed his tournament career and blogs. For the first time in professional redfishing, we will have a tournament director who has experienced what it is like to actually fish on a tournament trail and I feel strongly that all anglers in this series will get equal treatment and Gritter will run a tight ship. I have also been impressed with tour founder Pat Malone who seems genuinely interested in offering a series that caters to the anglers more than the broadcasters or sponsors.
It is also going to be exciting to compete in a Championship that is an honor teams will have to work hard to earn. We have stayed involved in the IFA Redfish Tour's Florida East division for the past few years but never have competed in their championship because we didn't like the fact that the only criteria for qualification was paying for 3 tournaments. It kind of killed the mystique for us despite the fact that we performed well enough to have earned our way if they based it on points.
Plus, the Championship is in the world's best redfishery of Venice, Louisiana which means it will be a fun trip regardless of the outcome. No longer will it be a boat challenge to get there from other distant venues which is good for us since our stable consists of a 16' Egret and a 16' Hells Bay which aren't suitable for open ocean runs - my spine isn't up to that challenge either...
Check back for updates next year as the season unfolds. Now, if we can only find some sponsors willing to pony up some cash....lol
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