PORT ARANSAS, Texas — Early productivity played a key role for Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro Easton Fothergill and redfish pro Clark Jordan Jr., who maintained their lead on Day 2 of the Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter at Port Aransas.
After weighing a two-fish limit of 17 pounds, 3 ounces in the opening round, the leaders added a Day 2 limit of 16-8 and tallied a two-day total of 33-11. Fothergill, who hails from Grand Rapids, Minn., and Jordan, who makes his home in Pearland, Texas, head into Championship Sunday with a 4-pound, 7-ounce margin over second-place Tyler Williams and Chris Cenci.
“Who would’ve thought a kid from Grand Rapids would be out here chasing redfish,” said Fothergill, the reigning Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour champion. “Clark has been teaching me a lot about redfish and it’s been a blast watching him do his thing and learning from him.”
In its fifth year, the Redfish Cup Championship fields 10 two-angler teams — six comprising all redfish anglers and four pairing a Bassmaster Elite Series pro with a redfish pro. With a catch-weigh-release format, each team is allowed to bring in two fish per day within the 20- to 28-inch Texas slot limit.
Returning to where they fished on Day 1, Fothergill and Jordan caught their reds in the Upper Laguna Madre, south of Port Aransas. Jordan said he favors that region because it’s relatively protected and fishable in a variety of conditions.
“It’s clear water and shallow flats — the most consistent type of fishing you’re gonna find,” Jordan said. “You can locate as good a quality of fish as you can anywhere (within tournament boundaries).”
The leaders’ game plan comprised long casts with paddletail swimbaits and fast retrieves. Same as Day 1, they got the ball rolling quickly with their first keeper in the boat at 7:35 a.m. They had a limit of 14 pounds within an hour of the 6:45 takeoff.
“The way we’re fishing, we’re not getting many bites, so to get off to that fast of a start allowed both of us to slow down and really take our time through our areas,” Fothergill said. “That allowed us the confidence that we just needed two bites the rest of the day. We were just way ahead of the game early.”
Jordan said their first hour’s productivity removed the performance pressure that begins every tournament day.
“You can be as conditioned as you want, but you have a timeframe in your mind when you should have fish and if you’re not there, you’re doing something wrong, the clock’s ticking and you’re panicking,” he said. “Having those two fish early just eliminated any of that. Now we know we can follow the game plan.”
The leaders upgraded a few times throughout the day and, as Jordan noted, his team’s early start also gave them the comfort to invest a little more time in a promising area. That decision delivered major results.
“We went through an area, didn’t catch anything, made another drift maybe 50 yards from the first one and caught our heaviest fish of the day,” Jordan said. “Easton caught a real good one there in prefishing and yesterday afternoon, we caught an 8-pounder and a 7 back-to-back, so we knew that area had good fish.”
While Fothergill’s pleased with the way the first two days have unfolded, he’s mentally preparing for what will be a significantly tougher final round. A major cold front entering the area overnight will shave about 10 degrees off daytime temperatures and pummel the region with north-northeast winds of 25-35 mph.
“It’s not gonna be easy for anyone out there; it’s gonna test everyone in this field,” Fothergill said. “No lead is safe in this one. With that weather coming in, there’s no telling what’s gonna happen.
“But like I say in the bass world, the ones that test you are my favorite days. I look forward to getting out there, getting in the areas we feel good about, grinding it out and seeing what happens.”
Jordan agrees and adds: “I’m glad to have the lead we’ve got and I think that will go a long way tomorrow, but we could stumble bad tomorrow. I think a lot of people will stumble tomorrow.
“It’s good to have a little bit of cushion, but it’s gonna be tough on everybody tomorrow.”
Williams, a Bassmaster Elite Series angler, and Cenci, a Florida redfish guide, placed second on Day 1 with 15-1 and held their position by adding 14-3. Their two-day total is 29-4.
Also returning to the Laguna Madre, they fished an area in the upper lagoon and one farther south. Cenci said they started on the upper spot, later transitioned to the lower one and then returned to the starting area.
“Each of our areas was good for one fish and we only needed two,” Cenci said. “We caught one of the fish we weighed on the first spot and one on the second spot.”
Williams and Cenci caught their fish on 1/4-ounce Slayer, Inc. Predator Weedless Jigs with Slayer, Inc. SST XL Tiger Bait bodies.
Redfish pros Tony Vercillo and Darren Frost are in third place with 28-11. Their daily weights were 13-5 and 15-6.
“It was a really good day today,” Frost said. “We started off by pulling right up to a spot and caught one that was 7 1/2 within the first three or four casts.
“There was mullet everywhere and the water was coming around a couple of the points really good. It just looked right and we hammered on ’em for about 3 hours.”
Vercillo and Frost caught their fish on a mix of Precision Tackle Flats Intruder spoons, Aqua Dreams Spoons and Rapala Crush City The Mayor paddle tails.
Sunday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. CT at Fisherman’s Wharf. The weigh-in will be held at the Wharf at 2:45 p.m.
All of the action can be found live on Bassmaster.com as well as on Roku throughout the three-day event.
This event is being hosted by Port Aransas Fisherman’s Wharf.
