Nothing beats being on the water, and for my money, the time to fish for inshore saltwater species is spring — when the fish “wake up” with the arrival of baitfish. Sometimes, however, there are reasons why you can’t take a trip — the weather or family priorities come to mind — and still you crave to fish, maybe even hard-core tournament style with braggin’ rights on the line. The cure may be the new “Saltwater Series” on ESPN Outdoors, which depicts celebrity and amateur anglers fishing in tournaments in the fall of 2008.
ESPN Outdoors filmed the 2008 Lowcountry Redbone Celebrity Classic in Charleston last Oct. 24-26, as well as tournaments in Savannah, Key West, Key Largo and Islamorada. The episodes begin airing on March 29 on ESPN2 at 8:30 a.m. They feature guides who are competing with their peers to put their anglers on the most fish. The weather conditions dictate how the tournament is fished, but guides use their ultimate honey holes and best tactics in a quest for victory.
Fishing with a guide is a great experience, because for a modest fee, you can feel free to enjoy your fishing experience. The guide worries about the rods and reels, the bait, and where the fish might be hiding, but fishing with a guide during a tournament can be a different experience. The guide pulls for the angler to make a proper cast when he has located the fish, barking out directions. The angler doesn’t want to make an errant cast because he’s fishing for a title, plus he feels he can make the money cast.
When the pressure is on in these situations, you’d be surprised how many veteran anglers make a catywampus cast that hasn’t got a chance to catch the fish.
Follow all the fish-catching action and all the blown opportunities through the lens of ESPN cameras on the water in “chase” boats, filming guides and anglers. Guides lets the chase boats know how close they can get, and when to back out of a likely spot. Anglers are sure to pick up great fishing tips by listening to the guides, and anything that helps the recreational angler get hooked up the next time out on the water is bonus information.
Jose Wejebe of ESPN’s Spanish Fly is hosts for the Saltwater Series; he brings his point of view both as a former guide and tournament angler. The Redbone Celebrity Tournament Series was founded by Gary Ellis, and it is host to “Fishing for the Cure” tournaments that raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Ellis introduced Wejebe to ESPN some 20 years ago, and now, Wejebe hopes to give back to the tournament series through the ESPN coverage.
While the format is tag-and-release — with points being awarded only for fish of legal length — the competitive nature of the fishermen really shows up. The new Saltwater Series will depict that unique lifestyle of saltwater tournament fishing, the one where anglers show up fresh and early, and come back to the docks after an exhausting, full day’s fish in search of the tournament winning tally.
The ESPN cameras will deliver plenty of coverage of celebrity anglers like fly-master Flip Pallot, who fished the Charleston event. Pallot distinguished himself by revealing on the docks that he is an avid hunter, and that he took a nice 8-point buck in Georgetown County while visiting the Lowcountry.
Captain Mark Nichols, inventor of D.O.A. lures, also fished the Charleston event and will show secret rigging tips for his deadly weighted shrimp. Other well-known anglers will include fly-fishing legend Stu Apte, who fished in Savannah, baseball star Wade Boggs, and Bassmaster Elite Series pros Chris and Bobby Lane. While the Charleston event featured trout and redfish, other events include tarpon, bonefish and tarpon.
The Charleston Redbone Tournament, won by the father-and-son team of Ron and Steven Silverman, will be fished again next fall. Further information can be obtained by calling the Charleston CFF office at 843-722-6460. The tournament was a huge success, raising $130,000 for Cystic Fibrosis Research, a condition with which Steven Silverman’s daughter has been diagnosed. The Silvermans “won” partly because of the draw of fishing guides — fishing with Capt. Chris Wilson on the first day and Capt. Jamie Hough on day two. It probably didn’t hurt that Ron Silverman is an expert angler who wrote the humble book “Not a Great Fisherman, Just a Lucky One.” Guide Fred Rourk of Georgetown helped Ronnie Pitts win the title of Celebrity Grand Champion.
ESPN will broadcast the Charleston event on April 19.
Besides covering the Redbone tournaments again in 2009, ESPN announced that it would cover the 2009 IGFA Inshore World Championships, to be fished in the Florida Keys in July. Anglers qualify for that event by winning one of 36 inshore tourneys, and the 30 total anglers selected will fish for bonefish, tarpon, permit, redfish and snook.
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