For Immediate Release July 8, 2012 Jacksonville, Florida By Bob Morris

Strike-Zone Fishing Presents the Florida Lure Anglers Championship Challenge

The Florida Lure Anglers is a non-profit, family oriented fishing club based in Jacksonville, FL. which was founded by professional anglers with the desire to promote an "artificial lures only" salt water fishing format to anglers of all skill levels. The club’s 2012 roster of 98 anglers shows the diversity of the FLA as the makeup of teams includes fathers and daughters, husbands and wives, families, and all lady angler pairings.

The Strike-Zone Championship Challenge was the culmination of a nine month season where club members targeted redfish, trout, and flounder in a variety of different formats using only artificial lures in a “catch and release” format. The “championship” aspect of the two day event on July 7-8, 2012 was illustrated by its invitation only field limited to 30 boats. The “top 20” in the Team of the Year point race automatically qualified and the final ten spots were earned by fishing a one-day shootout on June 2, 2012.

The “challenge” was in the format - both competition days featured a “North Florida Slam” consisting of one legal sized redfish, trout, and flounder. To add to the task, contestants arrived at the checkout armed with only rods, reels, and line – identical lure packs were provided through a partnership with club sponsor Strike-Zone Fishing and manufacturers whose merchandise they sell. Not only did teams have to perform one of the most difficult feats inshore fishing has to offer by catching a slam but they also had to do so with no previous knowledge of the lure selection or colors for the day.

Competing teams found high temperatures and calm winds at check out where each boat received a Strike-Zone weigh bag filled with tackle and merchandise from Bite-a-Bait, Bomber, Berkley, Calcutta, D.O.A., Exude, Fishbites, Gamakatsu, Great Atlantic Outfitters, Gulp!, Johnson, MirrOlure, Owner, Rapala, Slayer Lure Co., Strike King, Trigger X, Tsunami, and Vicious. After a long and hot day on the water, only 19 teams brought fish to the scales and 8 slams were weighed. Most anglers pointed to the hot weather and influx of fresh water into the ecosystem from recent flooding as contributing factors to the slow bite.

Dean Oakley teamed with Shelly Williams to finish in the lead on Saturday with a weight of 11.60 lbs. “We elected to stay close to the ramp thinking we could get all three species but I was a little worried not knowing what lures we would get,” said Dean. “After dumping the bag on the deck I found a pack of Fishbites paddletails which I have used before and rigged them on a D.O.A. jighead. We caught all three fish on that setup.” The husband and wife team of Scott and Connie O’Brien took second place with 11.38 lbs and Capt. Jeffrey Crabtree and Baker Berg rounded out the “top 3” with an 11.24 pound limit. Club sponsor Shep’s Discount and Salvage sponsored the day’s $500 cash payout.

Sunday also found the fish unwilling to make things easy on competing teams but Jeff Pope and Allen Flowers put together a plan which netted them 10.62 lbs and the day’s top prize. Pope said, “Yesterday we didn’t catch a flounder so we decided to target them first and got one on a Slayer Lures paddletail and jig combo. We then caught our red using the same lure and after an all day struggle we got a trout using a MirrOlure MirrOdine.” When asked about the “challenge” of using an unknown bait selection he complimented the sponsors for providing the tools needed to cover the water column.

A big thanks goes out to In River or Ocean and the annual Clay Roberts Memorial Tournament for sponsoring the day’s $500 cash payout. Todd Weatherly and Paul Misner were in second place with 10.08 lbs and Scott and Connie O’Brien’s 9.04 lb slam took third for the day.

Consistency was the key for the Strike-Zone Championship Challenge award winners Scott and Connie O’Brien whose second place finish on Saturday and third place finish on Sunday netted them a combined weight of 20.42 lbs. According to Connie, “On Saturday we lucked into a nice flounder at our trout spot using one of the Slayer Lures paddletails rigged on an Owner jighead. We got our red soon after that but it took a long time for us to finally catch our trout which came on the Tsunami topwater lure.” They made a slight adjustment on the second day and spent more time in a spot they felt would yield all three species. “Today the trout were hitting topwater but wouldn’t get the hooks so we ended up catching them and the flounder on Slayer plastics. The redfish ended up being the tough one but Scott finally caught one on the Berkley swimbait we got in our package this morning.”

In addition to cash prizes won each day, the pair will have a big trophy and bragging rights until next year. Tom Riley and Chris Kellem found enough fish both days to weigh 17.86 lbs for a runner up finish and Todd Weatherly/Paul Misner combined for 17.56 lbs to claim third.

For full results, photos and information about the Florida Lure Anglers please visit our website www.flafishingclub.com .