Stephen Szczepanik and Jeremy Schillo, both of Jacksonville, Florida, caught a two-redfish limited that weighed 14.52 pounds to win the 2009 IFA Redfish Tour event at St. Augustine, Florida, on Saturday. To win the one-day event, which launched out of The Conch House Marina Resort, Szczepanik and Schillo bested a field of other two-angler teams to win the event, adding 200 points to their IFA Florida East Coast Division point total, moving into third place in the standings.
While Saturday brought extremely pleasant weather conditions to the area, Szczepanik and Schillo caught just two redfish on the day, but bolstered their winning weight with a 7.32-pound kicker fish - the largest fish of the tournament. The fish earned the team the Rapala Big Fish Award, which includes a $500 cash prize and a $1,000 VIP gift certificate.
"Not a bad day at all," Szczepanik said. "We were done at 9:30 this morning and only caught two redfish all day on a jig and gulf shrimp.
"It's nice when it happens, but you can't always count on catching a lot of fish in a tournament. But it's just great to be out here and a part of this organization; this is our third year fishing the IFA. We're also members of the FLA Club in Jacksonville and we're proud of the relationship the IFA and FLA Club share. It makes what we love doing so much easier when the two organizations cooperate and complement each other."
With the win, the pair won a 2009 Ranger Banshee Extreme valued at more than $30,000. The boat is powered by a 60-horsepower, four-stroke Yamaha outboard and is equipped with a Bob's four-inch Ultra Light Jackplate, Power-Pole shallow water anchor, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird electronics, Blue Point Fabrication metal work and Loadmaster trailer.
The second-place team of Scott Owens, of Brunswick, Fla., and Rob Aldridge, of Jacksonville, brought 13.81 pounds to scales, buoyed by a 7.27-pound kicker redfish. The defending IFA Redfish Tour Florida East Coast Division Team of the Year, Owens and Aldridge used Fish Bites and Strike King baits to target an area that they located in practice.
The third-place team of Jimmy Power and Chad Aliff, both of Titusville, Fla., was the team with the earliest check-in time on Saturday, bringing with them a 13.79-pound limit caught on Berkley Gulp! and Strike King baits. Hoping their sack would be enough to lead them to a win, the team was edged out by second-place finishers Owens and Aliff by .02 pounds.
As the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participants, the fourth-place team of Fred Rounsaville and Patrick Gallaway won the $1,000 Ranger Cup award for competing from their Ranger boat.
The IFA Redfish Tour continues to draw redfish anglers from Texas to the Carolinas and beyond, offering two-angler teams the opportunity to compete in six different divisions, each offering a three-event regular season. With low entry fees for the one-day, regular-season tournaments allow anglers to fish close to home and minimize expenses, while still being a part of a premier inshore, catch-and-release redfish tournament organization. Teams fishing any three of the IFA's 18 regular-season events are automatically qualified for a no-entry-fee championship event, pitting qualifiers from each of the six divisions for a combined $77,000 in payouts and prize packages, as well as a shot at the coveted Cabela's Overall Divisional Team of the Year Award for the six regular-season division winners.
Added this year as an incentive for the very active anglers capitalizing on the opportunities to fish close to home for big money and valuable prizes, teams fishing at least six tournaments in any combination of divisions are automatically eligible to compete for the IFA Redfish Tour "Ultra 6" award. The award consists of a $5,000 cash prize, presented to the highest-finishing eligible team at the IFA Redfish Tour championship tournament.
This year, in addition to $47,000 in payouts per event (based on a 100-boat field), the first-place prize package for all 18 IFA Redfish Tour regular-season events has been increased. In 2009, every regular-season tournament winner is guaranteed - regardless of field size - a fully loaded 2009 Ranger Banshee Extreme. The boat is powered by a 60-horsepower, four-stroke Yamaha outboard and is equipped with a Bob's four-inch Ultra Light Jackplate, Power-Pole shallow water anchor, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird electronics, Blue Point Fabrication metal work and Loadmaster trailer. The entire first-place prize package is valued at $30,000.
For more information on the IFA Redfish Tour, to become a member of the IFA or to become a part of the fastest-growing inshore fishing tournament series in the United States, go online to redfishtour.com.
IFA Redfish Tour events are made possible through the sponsorship and continued support of the fishing industry's most respected brands: Ranger Boats, Cabela's, Yamaha Outboards, Rapala, Trigger X, Sufix, Minn Kota, Humminbird, Power-Pole, Wrap This, CW Crab, Charter Lakes Marine Insurance, Solar Bat, Gemini Custom Apparel, Navionics, Bob's Machine Shop, Blue Point Fabrication, Terminator, VMC Hooks, Loadmaster Trailers, Powertex Group, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Castillo Real Hotel, Sunset Grille and The Conch House Marina Resort.
IFA Florida East Coast Division
St. Augustine Results (Top 10)
1. Szczepanik/Schillo - 14.52 lbs.
2. Owens/Aldridge - 13.81 lbs.
3. Power/Aliff - 13.79 lbs.
4. Rounsaville/Gallaway - 13.28 lbs.
5. Keating/McBride - 12.87 lbs.
6. Looper/Walters - 12.50 lbs.
7. Cenci/Derringer - 12.35 lbs.
8. Holland/Tharp - 12.11 lbs.
9. Durel/Schaeffer - 12.05 lbs.
10. Pittman/Turner - 11.92 lbs.
Ranger Cup Award ($1,000): Rounsaville/Gallaway
Rapala Big Fish ($1,500): Szczepanik/Schillo - 7.32 lbs.
Florida East Coast Division Point Standings
(After second event)
1. Keating/McBride - 392 points (26.22 lbs. total weight)
2. Looper/Walters - 392 points (26.15 lbs. total weight)
3. Szczepanik/Schillo - 389 points
