The victors happily hositing their spoils

BWC redfish team members Scott Hughes and Mike Laramy made a big splash – or in this case, a big catch – in only their fourth event as FLW Redfish tournament professionals. They took first place at a two-day competition in Titusville, FL, about 40 miles north of Cape Canaveral, and banked $50,000. This year is also Bradford White's first sponsorship of a professional fishing team.

For those of us unfamiliar with how the FLW Redfish Series Tournament works, there are four, two-day qualifying tournaments in two divisions, Eastern and Western. Both sponsored and non-sponsored team boats can enter the two-day, Friday and Saturday events. The winning team is determined on the heaviest two-day accumulated weight – legal size redfish are 18-27 inches long. After the qualifying events, the top 50 teams in each division head to the three-day, $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship.

In the first of four qualifying events, held in Sarasota, FL, Hughes and Laramy finished in the middle of the field at 76th. The BWC team quickly moved up the ranks to 30th overall by taking 13th place out of 150 boats in the second event this past April in Mayport, FL, the highest finishing duo of all sponsored boats – local teams that don't fish all four qualifiers or compete in the championship usually dominate the qualifying events. On a roll, the team had high hopes as they headed to team captain Scott Hughes' home water in Punta Gorda, FL for the third event, but couldn't better their overall rankings and took 31st.

Moving into the forth and final qualifying event in Titusville, FL on August 19th, the BWC team was in a good position to qualify for the championship event in Mobile, AL. But Hughes and Laramy, typical of most fishermen, had pride on the line, and their hardnosed competitiveness made simply qualifying for the championships unacceptable – they set out to win.

The 16' flats skiff is powered by a 60hp Yamaha outboard and draws only four inches of water at rest, even less when under power

After the opening day on Friday, August 19th, team BWC was heading into day two in 7th place. Now, catching a legal-size redfish is hard enough. Catching two legal-size redfish, each weighing 8 pounds, in the same day is even harder to do. Catching two legal-size redfish at 8 pounds apiece on the last day of a major redfish tournament is virtually impossible to do. But that's just what our guys did, and with a two-day total of 29 pounds, 4 ounces they were propelled into the winner's circle.

"This is so gratifying," said Hughes in an interview after the event. "We just started fishing FLW tournaments this year, and to come out and beat some of the guys you see out here is just unbelievable. We really appreciate the help our sponsor Bradford White gave us."