TEAM BAGGETT/BAGGETT WINS IFA REDFISH TOUR EVENT AT PORT ARANSAS, TEXAS

[Fishing Report]

TEAM BAGGETT/BAGGETT WINS IFA REDFISH TOUR EVENT AT PORT ARANSAS, TEXAS.
Team takes home new Ranger Banshee Extreme with tournament victory

LIZELLA, Ga. (April 6, 2011) – Kelly Baggett, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Aron Baggett, of Portland, Texas, weighed in a two-redfish limit that totaled 17.18 pounds to win the IFA Redfish Tour event in Port Aransas, Texas, on April 2. To win the event, which operated out of City Marina, the Baggetts bested a large field of two-angler teams to take home a 60-horsepower, four-stroke Yamaha outboard and equipped with a Power-Pole shallow water anchor, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird electronics, Blue Point Fabrication metal work, Bob’s four-inch Ultra Light Jackplate, an OPTIMA battery and a Loadmaster trailer valued at $30,000.

In its fourth year competing in IFA Redfish Tour events, the Baggetts ran 20 miles from the tournament launch site to focus on scattered fish in the Upper Laguna Madre area. Experiencing ideal weather during the day, the team utilized silver spoons to target redfish in shallow flats.

“We had just beautiful weather: light winds in the morning; moderate in the afternoon,” Kelly Baggett said. “The conditions allowed us to perform really effective drifts.”

Second-place finishers, Todd Adams and Albert Mills, both of Rockport, Texas, brought 16.83 pounds to the scales during the Port Aransas event, sight fishing in shallow grass flats. Relying on Berkley Gulp! baits and spoons, boated a pair of redfish that weighed in excess of eight pounds each, including an 8.55-pound kicker.

“The conditions were a little windy at times but it didn’t impact our fishing,” Adams said. “We were able to be successful sight fishing and came away feeling very happy about what we were able to accomplish on the water today.”

The third-place team of Kevin Akin, of Corpus Christi, and Brian Talley, of Houston, weighed in 16.52 pounds during the competition, following a day in which the team ran 30 miles to the Laguna Madre area. Focusing on schools of redfish, the team relied on Berkley Gulp! baits to secure their catch.

The team of John White and Tom White, 22nd-place finishers at Port Aransas, won the Berkley Gulp! Big Fish Award with their 9.77-pound redfish, winning $500 and a $500 Cabela’s gift card from Berkley. Eighth-place finishers, John Bremser and Chris Burns, won the $1,000 Cabela’s Angler Cash Award, finishing the event with 15.55 pounds.
The IFA Redfish Tour continues to draw redfish anglers from Texas to the Carolinas and beyond, offering two-angler teams the opportunity to compete in six different divisions, each offering a three-event regular season. Low entry fees for the one-day, regular-season tournaments allows anglers to fish close to home and minimize expenses, while still being a part of a premier inshore, catch-and-release redfish tournament organization. Teams fishing any three of the IFA’s 18 regular-season events are automatically qualified for a no-entry-fee championship event, pitting qualifiers from each of the six divisions for a combined $78,200 in payouts and prize packages, as well as a shot at the coveted Cabela’s Overall Divisional Team of the Year Award for the six regular-season division winners.

In addition to a possible $60,000 in payouts per event (based on a 100-boat field), the first-place prize package for all 18 IFA Redfish Tour regular-season events remains extremely lucrative. In 2011, every regular-season tournament winner is guaranteed – regardless of field size – a fully loaded 2011 Ranger Banshee Extreme. The boat is powered by a 60-horsepower, four-stroke Yamaha outboard and is equipped with a Power-Pole shallow water anchor, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird electronics, Blue Point Fabrication metal work, Bob’s four-inch Ultra Light Jackplate, an OPTIMA battery and a Loadmaster trailer. The entire first-place prize package is valued at $30,000. Lucrative contingency programs added for 2011 include $50 prize to the team claiming the big fish award in an IFA Redfish Tour event if the fish is landed with an EGO Net, $25 prize for both the big redfish and big trout in IFA Kayak Tour events; $250 prize to a qualifying winning team which competes from a boat equipped with OPTIMA Batteries; PENN reels for tournament-winning anglers who compete with PENN reels.

For more information or to become a member of the IFA, the fastest-growing inshore fishing tournament series in the United States, go online to www.redfishtour.com or www.ifakayakfishingtour.com. To discover more about kayaking and Hobie Fishing go to www.hobiefishing.com.

IFA events are made possible through the sponsorship and continued support of the fishing industry’s most respected brands: Ranger Boats, Hobie Fishing, Cabela's, Gulp!, Gulp! Alive, PENN reels, Yamaha Outboards, Columbia Sportswear, Minn Kota, Humminbird, OPTIMA Batteries, Power-Pole, Wrap This, Blue Point Fabrication, EGO Nets, Spiderwire, Sebile, Bob’s Machine Shop, 321fish.com, Kayak Angler Magazine, Loadmaster, Powertex Group, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, and Port Aransas (TX) Chamber of Commerce.

IFA Texas Division
Port Aransas, Texas (Top 10)
1. Baggett/Baggett – 17.18 lbs.

2. Adams/Mills – 16.83 lbs.

3. Talley/Akin – 16.52 lbs.

4. Turner/Turner – 16.22 lbs.

5. Logan/Reznicek – 16.18 lbs.

6. Watts/Scroggs – 16.12 lbs.

7. Mazariegos/Gagliano – 15.98 lbs.

8. Bremser/Burns – 15.55 lbs.

9. Tabor/Becker – 15.52 lbs.

10. Mock/Curry – 15.26 lbs.

Berkley Gulp! Big Fish Award ($500) + Cabela’s Gift Card ($500):
White/White (9.77 lbs.)

Cabela’s Angler Cash ($1,000):

Bremser/Burns

[Fishing Report]

CHUCK HOOD WINS IFA KAYAK EVENT AT PORT ARANSAS, TEXAS
Texas Division event draws record-setting field of 68 kayak anglers

LIZELLA, Ga. (April 6, 2011) – Chuck Hood, of New Braunfels, Texas, caught a redfish and speckled sea trout that measured a combined 51.25 inches in length to win the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Presented by Hobie Fishing event on April 3 in Port Aransas, Texas. The event, which operated out of City Marina, was the regular-season opener for the IFA Kayak Tour’s Texas Division.

Using soft plastic baits to drift fish around pot holes in the Lighthouse Lakes and South Bay areas, Hood overcame windy conditions and overcast skies to boat the second-largest redfish and sea trout caught during the event. With the win, Smith took home a Hobie Mirage Pro-Angler Kayak valued at $2,399, plus an additional $200 in Hobie Cash for winning the event while competing out of his Hobie Revolution.

“The weatherman had it wrong. It was very windy; very overcast,” Hood said. “With the conditions what they were, my expectations weren’t high, but the fishing was better than expected. I’m satisfied with what I found out there.”

Second-place finisher, John Kay, of Port Aransas, measured a 25.75-inch redfish and a 24.50-inch trout for a total length measurement of 50.25 inches to secure the $1,000 second-place prize. Kay’s speckled sea trout, the largest measured during the tournament, won him the Berkley Gulp! Big Trout Award, for which he received $100 cash and a $100 Cabela’s gift card from Berkley in addition to his $382.50 in Anglers Advantage winnings.

Utilizing information gained through his two weeks of pre-tournament practice, Kay focused on the Estes Flats area, using topwater baits as he drifted in the windy conditions.

“It was very windy and there was drizzle out there,” Kay said. “The wind I expected, but the drizzle I didn’t. I used the wind to my advantage and drifted around and was lucky enough to locate fish.”

Third-place finisher, Clint Barghi, of Friendswood, Texas, won $500 plus $210.37 in Anglers Advantage prize money with a combined length measurement of 48.50 inches.

Using the wind to his advantage, Barghi targeted the Port O’Connor area using topwater baits to secure his second third-place finish in two seasons fishing the IFA Kayak Tour.

Jason Brou, who finished fourth, took home the $100 Berkley Gulp! Big Redfish Award for his 32.50-inch catch.

Each of the Cabela’s IFA Redfish Tour 18 regular-season events will commence on Saturday with the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Presented by Hobie Fishing contested the following day (Sundays). In its second season, the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Presented by Hobie will feature 18 regular-season, catch-photograph-release events across six different division (mirroring the IFA Redfish Tour format, location and scheduling) as well as extremely lucrative payouts and expanded fishing opportunities for non-motorized fishing crafts.

The redfish/trout tournament will pay twenty places (based on a 100-boat field) plus Big Redfish, Big Trout and Junior Angler Awards. The winner will take home a Hobie Mirage Pro-Angler valued at $2,399, 2nd place prize will be a $1,000 Hobie cash and 3rd place $500 Hobie cash. New for 2011, kayak anglers can take advantage of the Angler’s Advantage program. Anglers who participate in the program can pay an additional $25 entry fee, which is paid back at 100 percent to participants, based on place of finish. Lucrative contingency programs added for 2011 include $50 prize to the team claiming the big fish award in an IFA Redfish Tour event if the fish is landed with an EGO Net, $25 prize for both the big redfish and big trout in IFA Kayak Fishing Tour events; a PENN reel for tournament-winning angler who competes with PENN reel.

The IFA Redfish and IFA Kayak Fishing Tours continues to draw redfish anglers from Texas to the Carolinas and beyond, offering anglers the opportunity to compete in six different divisions, each offering a three-event regular season. Low entry fees for the one-day, regular-season tournaments allows anglers to fish close to home and minimize expenses, while still being a part of a premier inshore, catch-and-release redfish tournament organization. Teams fishing any three of the IFA’s 18 regular-season events are automatically qualified for a no-entry-fee championship event, pitting qualifiers from each of the six divisions for money and prize packages, as well as a shot at the coveted Overall Divisional Team of the Year Award for the six regular-season division winners.

For more information or to become a member of the IFA, the fastest-growing inshore fishing tournament series in the United States, go online to www.redfishtour.com or www.ifakayakfishingtour.com. To discover more about kayaking and Hobie Fishing go to www.hobiefishing.com.

IFA events are made possible through the sponsorship and continued support of the fishing industry’s most respected brands: Ranger Boats, Hobie Fishing, Cabela's, Gulp!, Gulp! Alive, PENN reels, Yamaha Outboards, Columbia Sportswear, Minn Kota, Humminbird, OPTIMA Batteries, Power-Pole, Wrap This, Blue Point Fabrication, EGO Nets, Spiderwire, Sebile, Bob’s Machine Shop, 321fish.com, Kayak Angler Magazine, Loadmaster, Powertex Group, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, and the Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce.


IFA Texas Division
Port Aransas, Texas (Top 10)
1. Chuck Hood – 51.25 inches

2. John Kay – 50.25 inches

3. Clint Barghi – 48.50 inches

4. Jason Brou – 48.50 inches

5. Fil Spencer – 46.75 inches

6. Mickey Collins – 46.63 inches

7. Jason Blackwell – 46.00 inches

8. Melinda Moudy – 44.50 inches

9. Cody Phillips – 44.00 inches

10. Al Denham – 43.50 inches



$100 Berkley Gulp! Big Redfish Award + $100 Cabela’s gift card:

Jason Brou (32.50 inches)



$100 Berkley Gulp! Big Trout Award:

John Kay (24.50 inches)