There should be nothing special about Belleair, Florida brothers Cody and Kyle Chivas winning the Land O Lakes Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division Team of the Year, besides the fact that both are teenagers, besting some of the most seasoned angler's in the State of Florida.
The Team Century anglers recently completed an impressive season on the FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division, including a second place finish in February's Clearwater event and a fifth place finish in the Titusville event, held in March.
The Team earned a total of 540 points to win the Team of the Year, catching 19 fish, with a combined weight of 102.13-pounds. Their 2007 FLW Redfish Series winning's top $15,000, but the Chivas brother's have their eyes set on the a potential $75,000 purse at this October's championship in Orange Beach, Alabama.
The older Chivas, Cody, begins classes at the University of Central Florida in Orlando this June, and holds no anxiety about balancing his class schedule and tournament fishing.
"I've been fishing professional tournaments since I was eight-years-old, and my brother and I have always managed to successfully manage keeping our grades up, and in-turn, our parents allow us to continue tournament fishing," says the eighteen-year-old angler.
Cody and his younger brother, seventeen-year-old Kyle, plan to make several trips to Orange Beach to pre-fish for the FLW Championship. Kyle begins his senior year at Palm Harbor High School this fall. They are currently fishing the Miller High Life Professional Tarpon Tournament Series (PTTS) in Florida's Boca Grande Pass on different teams. Cody and Kyle began fishing the PTTS in 2003, and won last year's week three event as a team.
The Chivas brothers grew-up fishing the inshore waters along Tampa/St. Pete in grade school, fishing from an aluminum Jon boat. They now run Century's 2202 Inshore, and were first introduced to the Century brand when they won a 1902 Inshore during last year's PTTS season. "We have been thoroughly impressed with the speed, performance, reliability and draft of our 2202 Inshore," says Chivas.
Being the Angler of the Year for a tournament series is nothing new to Cody, as he won the SKA's Junior Angler of the Year in 1999. "We've been around tournament anglers, professionals and fishing guides all of our lives, and everyone on the tournament trails treats us with respect," said Cody.
"We understand that there is still a lot we can learn from these anglers, and try to take in as much as we can," he said.
Other competitors shouldn't take the young Team Century anglers for granted though. "Like everyone else, we fish to win, and try to put ourselves in a good position to do so each and every time we fish a tournament," said the angler.
