Team weighed in 31.85 pounds to win $10,000 top prize.
Madisonville’s Dwayne Eschete and Texas’ Clark Jordan teamed up to win the 2013 HT Redfish H20 Shock Series tournament held on Calcasieu Lake Friday and Saturday.
Eschete and Jordan built a two-day weight of 31.85 pounds to pocket $10,000.
On Friday, all 23 teams in the event faced a frontal passage with 25- to 30-mph winds, with some gusts at 40 making the lake very difficult to navigate.
But the winners didn’t let it slow them down.
“We caught all of our fish on Friday by blind-casting,” the 49-year-old Eschete said. “We started out throwing ¾- ounce Johnson Sprite gold spoons, as we needed some flash and casting distance due to the overcast skies and the winds.”
Jordan said they didn’t stay on the lake, and were forced out of their comfort zone.
“We were in the ponds because, generally, that’s where we like to fish,” he said. “On Friday, we didn’t have the option to sight-fish with the conditions.”
The duo ended up with 16.27 pounds that first day of competition, falling just behind Day 1 leaders Nicky Savoie and Gary Rettig by a 13/100 of a pound.
On Saturday, the teams arrived at the Prien Lake Park launch site to find bright, blue-bird skies with variable winds.
That provided the Jordan/Escete team to go back to what they liked to do — at least for a little while.
“On Saturday, we could see the fish a little better, so we did some sight-casting,” Jordan said. “But once the winds picked up later in the day, we resorted back to blind casting.”
But the conditions allowed them to force-feed chunky reds.
“We went with Berkley Gulp! Jerk Shads, as we could work these baits a little slower since we had more sunlight,” Eschete said.
With such high northerly winds pushing through and a low tide, tournament anglers found the lake — and especially the marsh ponds — much shallower, and that worked in the winners’ advantage, Eschete said.
“We were also successful because we were able to fish in 7 to 9 inches of water due to the shallow-drafting Majek boat we were in,” he said. “Also, our 225(-horsepower) Yamaha with its twin rotating props is about as close to having four-wheel drive in the water.
“We have a lot of experience getting in and out very shallow pond waters.”
In second place was Lee Daughdrill of Westlake and Jimmy Lloyd of Texas. Their two-day weight was 29.39 pounds, and earned the team $5,000.
“Our fish ate (Saturday),” said Daughdrill. “We used Berkley Gulp! lures on Egret Baits’ flutter hooks, and that worked well for us.”
“We fished ponds, and when you can see the fish it’s in your hands,” said Lloyd. “We could see the fish at 60 yards away.”
For more information regarding the HT Redfish series, visit their website here at http://www.theredfishseries.com/.
