Big School Strategy Pays Off for Porcelli Brothers

by Bob Morris

The 2003 season of the Ranger/Mercury Redfish Tour presented by Cabela's kicked off January 10-11 in Titusville, FL with local guide Joe Porcelli and his brother Pete besting the field of 124 teams from around the southern United States.

Competitors were greeted with chilly southwest winds up to 25 mph on day one of the two day competition which made it difficult to bag a two redfish limit falling between the 18"-27" legal slot limit in the catch and release format. Further compounding the anglers' woes was the fact that water levels in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River were lower than usual - making navigation on the shallow flats treacherous to say the least.

According to Porcelli, the low waters played an important part in his winning strategy. "We had a school that was holding in a hole surrounded by a very shallow flat. We ran in, dropped in the hole, and pretty much bailed fish for two and a half hours straight! There were 400 fish in the school and everything worked out really good."

Fishing in the north end of the Mosquito Lagoon, the pair used 12 Fathom Slam-R's in a pumpkinseed pattern to get their winning aggregate of 27.17 lbs. The brothers held down the 10th place spot after day-one, and were one of only 28 teams to increase their catch on the second day of competition which found similar, windy conditions that were colder due to a wind shift from the northwest.

According to Pete Porcelli, "This was my first redfish tournament and it was a lot of fun - really fun! His (Joe's) ability to find fish in any conditions was the tough part - he put us on them and we caught 'em."

A pair of Florida Keys guides, Tom Rowland and Rich Tudor, showed that a lack of experience in the unfamiliar waters of the Mosquito Lagoon would not dampen their tournament aspirations by finishing in the second place position with 25.49 lbs. Coming from Key West and Islamorada respectively, Rowland and Tudor developed a strategy of sight casting to single fish rather than chasing the big schools - much like they do when fishing their home waters.

By 1:00 on day one, the Yamaha/Maverick teammates were faced with an empty livewell after one lost and one oversized redfish. According to Tudor, "We decided to go to a backup spot we had found that held smaller fish. I'm more of a gambler and would have stayed at our big fish spot, but Tom said we needed to make sure we got a limit - he made the right call."

"Today (day two) we had great light, yesterday it (their strategy) didn't pay off because of the clouds that presented problems when sighting fish," said Rowland. Soft plastic tube baits and jerk baits by Strike King were the lures of choice for the pros who had a 8.25 lb "kicker" fish, which was the event's largest, to anchor their second day's limit.

Two other members of the Yamaha/Maverick team, that arrived in Titusville sporting an armada of flats skiffs with graphics resembling giant redfish painted on their hulls, were television personality Rick Murphy of Homestead, FL and partner Goeffery Page of Sarasota, FL.

Murphy explained their strategy as follows: "We were going with a b-t-b strategy - bump the bottom. We figured with the cold weather the fish would be seeking the warmer deep water so we blind cast jigs - Mad Man, Exude, and bucktails to catch our fish."

The pair also ventured north of the tournament site to the Mosquito Lagoon to find the fish needed to get a two-day aggregate weight of 25.32 lbs which brought them a third place paycheck.

Fourth place went to Bo Johnson and Mike DelDuca from Naples and Pine Island, FL who managed a total weight of 25.18 lbs. The team of professional charter captains climbed the leader board after finishing day one in 21st place by catching two redfish weighing over seven pounds each on Saturday.

Southwest Florida pros Andrew Bostick and Mark Miller of Marco Island had an impressive stringer of 14.42 lbs to hold down second place on day one, but slipped to fifth after their big fish left the area for day two. The duo fished both the Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River, and caught most of their fish on DOA mullet imitations.

Of the 124 boat field, only 71 teams were able to weigh-in on what proved to be a tough two days on the water. Further proof that conditions were favoring the fish more than the fishermen is the fact that only 21 of the best professional redfishermen in the United States were able to catch a two-day limit of four fish.

The season opening event was surrounded by a media circus unlike any the tour has experienced in its existence. Camera crews, reporters, and industry bigwigs were on hand to document the event for outdoors shows, newscasts, magazines, websites, and boardroom meetings. In all, everyone was impressed with the professionalism of the anglers and the management of the tour itself. A big thanks also goes out to Mosquito Lagoon Outfitters who hosted the captains meeting and fed the crowd with a tasty fish dinner.

Like most involved, a good time was had but the fish got the best of my partner Jamie Havard and I. We found the conditions leading up to the tournament favorable and had located fish in several locations, but as usual mother nature held a grudge against the tour and we spent a great deal of effort battling the wind and low water. Considering we started out last season with a 75th place finish in Titusville, an improvement to 28th this year was a good way to begin 2003 - leaving us looking forward to bigger and better things with the Tour's return to Lafitte, Louisiana in March.