'06 Championship Winning Pattern
Team Moonlite Stuck To Plan For Flatsmasters Win

Photo: Brad Brown Brad Brown (center), Derek Carlson (left) and Jason Dudley fished their primary spot all day on the first day of competition.

When Team Moonlite Charters – Capt. Brad Brown, Jason Dudley and Derek Carlson – got ready for the 2006 Flatsmasters Championship last October out of Punta Gorda, Fla., they had two things on their mind: snook and redfish. That's because most Flatsmasters events, including the championship, are multi-species.

In the championship's case, it's a one snook and one red per day event. And truth be told, Team Moonlite probably had snook foremost on their collective mind simply because snook are heavier. A good snook (slot: 27-34 inches with a pinched tail) and a decent red (18-27 inches, pinched tail) is a lot better than the other way around.

Obviously they found, and boated, the fish to win. Here's how they did it.

Practice: Mostly Back-Up Areas

"This is a tough series because a lot of the local guides fish it and get to fish with their buddies," said Brown, himself a local guide for the last 3 years. In some boats fishing the Flatsmasters series, all three team members are guides. In the case of Team Moonlite, named after Brown's guide business, he's the only guide, though Carlson recently got his guide license.

Since snook was going to be the name of the game, and since Brown knows where some good Estero Bay-area snook are because that's where he guides, that's where the team focused. "When we're after snook, I'll run 50 miles one way to get to my home waters," he noted.

The place they wanted to fish for snook was no secret. "It's basically a community hole that holds fish most of the year," Brown said. "Snook are the predominant species, but we also get keeper redfish in the area."

So scouting wasn't a big deal, not that they practiced much. "I don't like to go in there and fish it (before a tournament)," he said. "That just clues (other competitors) into the area." He also noted that even though it's a community hole, the key is "how you fish it."

They mostly scouted back-up areas – in case the community hole was covered by other anglers. Brown, Team Moonlite's captain, concentrated on the Estero area for both species, and his teammates scouted Pine Island Sound for back-up redfish areas, notably potholes around the mangroves.

Beyond that, following were other parts of the gameplan:

• Bait – Because some Flatsmasters tournaments (including the championship) permit the use of live bait, and because it allows anglers to pen-up bait before the tournament starts, "the plan was to secure bait," Brown said. They got some and penned it. The only problem is, "you never know if it's going to be alive when you get there," he noted.

   

   

• Weather – "We were always keeping an eye to the weather because we had a 50-mile run, and also because we had competition (they figured another three to five boats) that likes to fish the same area. So it was a question of getting there first, and getting there with our equipment still intact." Ripping down to Estero "can take a trolling motor off the bow," he noted. "Crossing Charlotte Harbor on a blustery day, you can be exposed to waves 3-4 feet or more."

The bottom line here is that they knew the water and had a plan. The only wildcards were other anglers, having decent bait and the weather.

Regarding having their minds on snook, Brown said: "When you have a snook and a redfish, you can concentrate on snook for the most weight. Snook will go up to 14 pounds and still be in the slot. That can make up a lot of room for the redfish. You want a good 6-pound red, but it's a top-of-slot snook that really gets the job done."

Going in, they figured that it would take 15 pounds to make the Top 5, and more than that to win the event.

Day 1: One Gamble

> Day 1: 5.85-pound redfish + 9.15-pound snook = 15.00 pounds (3rd)

On day 1, the weather was "pretty miserable," Brown said. On the way to Estero Bay "we were trying to outrun thunderheads and downpours, trying to find protected water where we could.

"We wanted to get there first and fast, but we knew we had to have live bait when we got there. We had penned-up bait down there, but we were worried if the bait was going to be alive when we got there because dead bait just won't cut it. So we made a decision to get some baits."

That means they decided to stop on their run down there and catch some bait. By doing that, they put at risk their primary spot. But Brown said: "With the weather as rough and rainy as it was, we figured it'd slow (the other boats) down."

Fifteen to 20 minutes after stopping, they had some 3- to 5-inch pinfish in the boat and were racing to Estero. They were a little disappointed they didn't get some whitebait (scaled sardine), which Brown noted is "excellent for snook," but at least they got the 4-inch average size they were after.

Notable

> How did they get together as team? Initially, Brown and Dudley got together through the Florida Sportsman forum. They won the first tournament they entered – the Pilot Snook Slam in 2004 – and after adding Carlson fished all of the Flatsmasters events in 2005 and 2006. They made the Top 5 in points 2 years in a row (2005 and 2006).

> Brown drives the boat, a 22-foot Shearwater, and is team captain, but "we all pitch in," he said. "It's real teamwork, and it's two beats one. If someone has an idea and two guys agree to it, that's what we do." Dudley and Carlson "do a lot of the fishing. If we're in a tight area, I do a lot of the boat control and let those guys have at it." But all three do fish.

> If you're not familiar with the Flatsmasters trail, click here to learn more.

- End of part 1 (of 3) -