Tournament Report – Riley Rods Redfish Shootout Series
Capts. Lee Parsons and Mike Pedersen, of team “Riley Rods” with the 12.41 lb. pair of red drum that earned them the win in the Riley Rods Redfish Shootout Series Championship, held out of Fulcher’s Landing in Sneads Ferry. Both fish bit Rapala Skitterwalk topwater plugs.
After a trio of events in Beaufort, Wrightsville Beach, and Surf City, the top five teams in the Riley Rods Redfish Shootout Series squared off at Fulcher’s landing boat ramp in Sneads Ferry to find out who would be the series champion.
Mustering over two pounds more than their nearest competition, the “Riley Rods” crew itself took home the top spot, as Capts. Mike Pedersen and Lee Parsons scaled a pair of red drum weighing 12.41 lbs. to earn the top spot on the leaderboard. Their 6.64 lb. big fish also topped the single big fish leaderboard handily.
Pedersen had found plenty of mid-slot red drum while fishing charters in the week leading up to the event but knew he and Parsons would need to find some a bit bigger to have a chance at the title.
“I took the Thursday before off to put in a solid day of pre-fishing,” Pedersen explained. “After again finding mid-slots throughout the day I stopped at a flat behind Browns Inlet and found a school of about 20 upper-slots right where I was hoping they’d be.”
After catching a pair of the reds to ensure they’d measure under 27,” Pedersen decided he’d found the crew’s “A” spot for the tournament day.
When he and Parsons returned two days later, the fish were right where they’d left them and the anglers had nearly 11 lbs. of reds in the boat by 7:30 that morning.
The 11 lb. bag would have earned them the title by itself, but not knowing that the pair fished hard the rest of the day, upgrading the pair of drum in the boat by a few ounces each time they landed a larger fish.
Pink Rapala Skitterwalk topwaters fooled all of the fish that propelled the “Riley Rods” crew to victory.
Lee Padrick and Dwayne Smith—“The Redfish Guys”—scaled a 10.08 lb. pair of red drum to finish second in the championship and Capts. Jason Dail and Wayne Crisco, of team “Silverspoon” rounded out the top three with a 9.14 lb. weight.
Learn more about the Riley Rods Redfish Series and the upcoming 2015 tournament dates at www.redfishshootoutseries.com.
Winning his own series wasn’t Capt. Mike Pedersen’s only success in redfish competition over the 2014 season. Switching partners, he also fished the IFA Redfish Series with Capt. Jason Dail, and the pair earned the trail’s Atlantic Division Team of the Year title, earning the anglers a free entry in the 2015 IFA season.
