It's a brand new
season on the tour
This year, we're kicking it
off in Titusville Florida
But a series of cold fronts
coupled with high winds
and low water
Have taken their toll.
- [Man 1] We're gonna
have to work hard.
Work really hard.
- Grind it out and
don't run out of time.
- Just got there
and sling lures man.
- You just gotta run into
those right two bites.
Can't have any
missed opportunities.
- The pin rods, the
gulp alive, this just
We got the equipment and
we just got to execute.
Welcome to stop number one
of the IFA Redfish tour
presented by bass pro
shops and Cabela's
the premier inshore tournament
fishing series in the nation
and new for 2020.
We'd like to welcome
ascend kayaks.
Latest member of the IFA family.
- The first event of the
year got a good kick off.
Early February did have
eighty-five teams turn out.
And I know it's a little
bit, been a little bit cool,
windy, the last couple of days.
And it's laid down
a little bit today.
The first day of
the tournament so,
you know we'll see what happens.
Located about an hour East
of Orlando on the
Atlantic coast.
Titusville as well known for its
Clearwater and
abundant sight fishing.
Though the fishery has struggled
since hurricane
Irma ripped through
- You know that storm was
devastating here in Florida.
You know, but Mosquito
Lagoon has one Inlet
at New Smyrna and I
think one further south.
It's just pristine grass.
I mean it's just a
beautiful place to come.
- [Chris] Usually there is
some here on the water pound.
You get up on the bank
for the water drops.
And you can sight fish.
But, it can be anybody's game.
I think, if you
catch 12 pounds here,
I think you'll win
this tournament.
checking the numbers.
We've got 83 boats on hand
with a total purse worth
better than $50,000
including ranger mercury
package worth 27 grand
to the champions
for the details. Look
us up @ ifatours.com
heading to launch at Paris
park under the max Breuer
Memorial Parkway.
Conditions are
not as forecasted.
It was supposed to be
five mile an hour
winds this morning.
It's pretty chilly.
And it is blowing
probably all of
25 miles an hour right now.
So we're going to
go to our spot.
We got about a three football
field long spot
that we're going
to sit in all day
and hopefully catch
the two right ones.
Checking the updated
bass pro shops forecast
the cloud cover should
burn off leaving clear skies
and a high of 65 by afternoon
the winds, However,
will be an issue
for both small craft
and the sight Fishermen
making the run North.
We're on board with the
father son team of
Tony and Mark crews.
You know, we wanted to look for
grass when we came up here and
we finally found this grass
over here and we found facia
ratings and hopefully today
they're going to want
to do the same thing
as they did the other
day. So we'll see.
As soon as the sun gets up,
these fish will start
crawling around.
So what we've been doing
is using these to kind
of sight fish them
and they've been jumping
all over these, uh,
first thing, we're
going to bounce
some gulps on the
outside of this bar.
See if we can't get some
laid up fish to eat.
We're gonna get right
up on the edge of it.
Okay, we're good.
Still got plenty of depth,
I got six inches underneath
the trolling motor.
so still early morning, uh,
gone through a
little bit of, uh,
the outside area.
We were kind of
waiting for the sun
to come up and the wind
to kind of die down
cause we're gonna try to
do some sight fishing.
Uh, right now it's still
blowing a little bit,
so we're staying
out off the fish.
Just trying to get lucky
on this outside edge.
We're gonna move
in here probably
in the next hour or so
and see if we can't, uh,
start spotting some
fish and doing a little
bit of sight fishing.
It's gonna be tough, you know?
There's a lot of grass
that used to be here
that is not here.
We have a cold front
coming through.
Gonna be very windy.
Pre-fishing was tough for,
from what I've talked
to a lot of teams.
Hopefully, it turns out to
be a good bite for everybody.
It's early in the day.
We're just getting started.
Stay with us.
We'll be right back
with more from the
IFA red fish tour
in Titusville, Florida,
Right after a word from our 
sponsors.
This segment of the IFA Redfish
tour is presented to you by
bass pro shops and Cabelas.
Your adventure starts here
by ranger boats. Still
building legends one at a time
and by mercury
outboards go boldly.
Welcome back to
Titusville, Florida
and stop number one
of the 2020 season
on the IFA Redfish
tour, we launched
83 boats on Paris
park this morning
under less than
ideal conditions.
- Been windy for the
last three or four days.
And we've been on the
water a couple of days.
We've located some
pretty good fish.
The wind changed out of
the north last night.
And it's gonna be tough.
- This wind is very brutal.
Like I said we
want to sight fish,
so that wind is really
just hindering on that.
- Gonna be a little
windy, a little cold.
Lot of water out there
and we're just gonna run up
north and see what we can find.
- Game plan for today
is catching two fish.
Two right ones.
Basically we're gonna go
out there, we're gonna
take a little bit of a run
first thing in the morning.
We're going to, once
we get to our spots,
I'm gonna pole for a little bit.
Have Lori up there
throwing chuck in a spoon
or a spot plastic.
And hopefully we can get twp
of them to bite right away.
So we got this 2020 first
stop of the east coast
IFA.
And
Lorie and I,
we're gonna give it a
little bit of H.E.L.L.,
when we get out there.
after winning the overall
team of the year with
Harvey Cox in 2019,
Joe Wortham is back
with new partner,
Laurie Gus Goswick and with the
season opener on his home water,
he's got a little confidence
going into the day.
- I've been on this
same school fish
for probably about two weeks.
And what we're gonna
do is just go out there
and just work it slow
like I've been doing.
My partner came into town today.
Doesn't know anything about it,
doesn't know the spot.
We're going blind.
- Little bit chilly.
Coming through Haulover now.
(Inaudible) For probably
about a mile and a quarter.
And then once we're
there we probably got
about another 21 minutes
after that, north.
The weather should be
calming down a little bit
it's blowing right
now, but it should calm
down later in the day.
I'm gonna pole for a
little bit first thing
in the morning.
Just to try to get the
first ones to bite.
Because they are normally
balled up in the morning.
And then later in the
day, like in the afternoon
around 10 or 11 o'clock,
we're gonna go hit
some islands and just,
we can actually
use a trawler motor
and start sight casting
a little bit better then.
You see him there?
No, there's two.
I didn't want anything
to do with that.
That locked off.
I think Titusville
is one of the most
difficult place to fish
every now and then.
Especially right now.
- [Man 3] The fishing
has been tough,
but there's a couple schools
and we're pretty much on them.
- [Joe] That's a nice
fish right there.
He's right there.
Here we go.
There's another one right there.
Look see him right there?
He's going back that way.
You have to go slow.
You have to use a smaller baits.
Right now it's,
pretty much you're casting at
maybe forty fifty fish.
I mean you might
get two or three.
You might get ten
of them to bite.
It's just all about
presenting the bait to them
a certain kind of way.
- [Joe] Yup. Yup. Yup.
- [Lori] That's a nice one.
Right there.
- Oh, he didn't want nothing
to do with it either.
that was a nice one.
This point of the day.
It's not going to plan.
Um, we're seeing the fish,
but we're just can't
get them to bite.
Um, we had warm weather for
a few days before prior.
We just had a bad
storm that came through
two days ago and has not,
the wind has not stopped yet.
So right now we're in
scramble mode. Mmm.
It feels like we're
in the fourth quarter
with like two seconds left,
but we still have
like three hours ago.
But our trolling
motor is going dead.
I don't know.
I'm confused.
It is what it is.
That's all I can say.
Laurie, what do you think?
I think we're going
to catch some.
We're going to find them.
We're fine.
Yeah.
They're going to eat.
They're going to eat when the
sun comes up, little bit more.
Hey, all it takes is two
fish coming up.
We're back on the water
with more tournament coverage
from Titusville, Florida
and the IFA Redfish tour
presented by bass pro
shops and Cabela's
The IFA Redfish tour
presented by bass
pro shops and Cabelas
is also brought
to you in part by
powerful shallow
water anchor system
by AFTCO. Any fish, any water,
ascend kayaks, it's
all within reach
and by Lucas oil high
performance Marine products
We're here in Titusville
on the Indian river,
on Florida's Atlantic coast,
one of the premier
inshore fisheries on
the Eastern seaboard.
And a favorite stop on both
the IFA Redfish and kayak tour.
- It's always been
a good fishery.
I mean you could side fish,
you could blind cast, you know.
If you want to go up
north and fish yoshores
you wanna fish the
river, fish the ugalat.
Probably I would
say 80% of the field
will probably go to the Lagoon.
- [Rich] I like it a lot.
The clear water,
it's different from
what we're used to.
We usually fish a lot
on the other coast.
We go to Louisiana, but it's
definitely something new.
Something to work on.
We like the challenge.
featuring impossibly clear water
anglers can sight cast a fish
60 feet out.
But on the flip side,
the fish can be
extremely spooky.
And therein lies the challenge.
- Titusville is a
real unique fishery
with Mosquito Lagoon.
It used to be really
really good here.
It used to be phenomenal.
And it's still good, you just
have to work a little harder
to find your fish.
A lot of the grass is
gone, out of the Lagoon.
And so the fish don't have
the cover they used to have.
- Titusville has changed a lot.
Titusville, you
could go out there
and catch 20, 30 fish.
Right now, you
could go out there
and catch seven
fish on a great day.
- [Interviewer] What's
y'all game plan?
- Chase 'em.
Chase 'em.
Stick 'em in the face.
And just try to find
ones that are hungry.
picking up tournament coverage.
We'll stick with the father/son
team of Tony and Mark Cruz.
- So we got a pretty strong
north wind
for the past couple of days.
Last time we pre-fished,
all this grass here
was underwater for
about six inches.
We had fish after fish.
Just cruising on
top of that grass
with their backs
out of the water.
Right now, it's pretty
shallow on the inside.
There are some fish.
Try to do a little bit of
side fishing up on the inside.
Hasn't worked out,
so we're gonna go down
the outer bar here,
and see if we can't
pick off a couple here.
Just fan casting.
Ah, there was a fish.
- (Cameraman) Where'd it go?
- He was right here.
Ah, he got spooked.
Yup, I see him, I see him.
- There's two of them in there.
Yeah I see him.
He's heading into the grass.
I saw the one, I didn't
see the second one.
- Yeah, there's two of 'em.
They got over that grass
I couldn't see 'em.
They were here the other day.
They were busting baits.
They were, you know,
backs out of the water.
And today, completely
different story.
It's the way it is usually
on tournament days.
Tony knows a thing or two
about tournament fishing.
Both he and Mark
have a long history
with the IFA and like
most father son teams,
they got their start
many years ago.
- I had started him fishing
when he was four years old.
He caught his first redfish and
he wanted me to
help him and I said
"Nope, that's your redfish,
let's go, bring it in."
Then when he turned 18,
he wanted to start fishing
tournaments and stuff.
We ended up buying a
ranger boat one year.
And me and him started fishing,
we fished the IFA for
eight or ten years.
And we did pretty good,
he had a partner came in second
the championship one year.
We came in ninth in the
championship one year.
And we've had a lot of
fun fishing together.
- Come on!
Let's get lucky.
Well, it's about 1:15
has not turned out
to be a good day.
Uh, we are sitting on no fish,
but we're coming into our last
spot where we saw some fish
caught a nice one here.
Uh, water is not the best.
It's all stirred up.
So we'll see what happens here.
Try to get at least one in the
boat before weigh-in,
checking reports.
It sounds like much of
the field is struggling
heading South back
towards Titusville.
We'll check back with
Joe Wortham and Lori Goswick.
- You would think
after we've thrown to
a hundred fish, we'd
at least catch one.
But as of right now, we've
still got a goose egg
going on the board right now.
Can't get any worse, all we
can do is go up from here.
And that's been the
story for most of the day
Casting to fish
that just won't eat.
We've got low water,
the full moon
post frontal conditions.
Take your pick
coming up.
We'll wrap it up on the water
and head to weigh in.
Right here on the
IFA Redfish tour
presented by bass pro
shops and Cabela's,
IFA Redfish tour
presented by bass
pro shops and Cabelas
is also brought
to you in part by
Garmin electronics. Fight your
fish, not your fish finder.
Berkley Gulp,
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and by G juice.
LiveWell treatment.
we're getting down to the end
of what has been a
tough day on the water.
After three days of high winds
and changing temperatures,
the fishery all but shut
down for much of the field.
By late afternoon,
the normally Clear water
clouded up and on
a fishery dominated
by sight fishing teams
were left to struggle.
It was a tough day,
that's for sure. Sure.
A lot of teams struggled.
Uh, wasn't the, uh, wasn't
the tournament that we
thought we were going to have.
But uh, that whether and
when did play a big effect
on what we were trying to do.
The fish, we had fish around for
a majority of our day in our,
good spots, but uh, they were
not wanting to eat anything.
Um, so we're going
to shut it down,
head back in, take a look
and see what the other teams
were able to pull off today.
It's telling when out
of a field of 83 boats,
less than 30 caught a limit
and only 33 even
made it to the scales
while the anglers check in
and our cameras get into place,
we'll take a look at
the payout for this.
The first event of the season,
we've got a total
purse of $51,560
up for grabs. That
includes a $27,000
ranger mercury prize
package for the champs.
We've also got $5,200 in
angler advantage money
and several thousand
dollars in sponsor payouts,
including $2,000 for the
all new ranger cup program.
We paid out over $19 million
in about 20 years.
So, uh, you know,
in 2020 we've made
some big changes
and, and uh, you know, went back
to paying some divisions
a highest finisher.
And that's some things we've
taken out over the years,
just due to circumstances
of the business.
But, you know, now we're,
we're ready to pay out,
you know, a lot of
money this year.
A lot of guaranteed money, uh,
for the first time
in several years.
To learn more about how
you can pick up more extra cash
at each event. Go
to ifatours.com
heading to the scales
and rounding out the top 10
was Steven and Leland Roberts
with two for 10 22.
- Lilo wants to get
him some money today.
They'll pick up $577 for
young Leland's college fund
heading to the top
of the leaderboard.
Patrick Rood and Nathaniel lemon
put two on the scales for 1178
and third place
earning them $4,268
We caught a lot of fish 
actually.
The water dropped quiet a bit so
Pulled them out of a lot of air,
And we weren't really
Expecting to see tiger schools
Maybe groups of 15-20
but we actually found groups of 
50 plus.
Fish and clear water with it 
being 
Really low
And so clear with the weather 
changes these last couple days
Fish were pretty spooky so it
it took a little effort to get 
them to bite.
Jeremy King and Jimmy
Franco stepped up
with a limit wing
1195 for a second,
they'll pick up a
check for $3,635.
We've come down I
guess about three times
in the last couple months.
And every time we were
able to find fish,
so we just stuck to that.
Even though we couldn't even
get into our first creek.
I mean it was just
down from that
that we were able
to get in and fish.
And we just lucked up
and the fish were there.
- [Interviewer] What'd
y'all throw at them?
And fast, slow?
- Basically a led head
jig with a Zman body
and just go out there and
crawled on the bottom,
they were hammering it.
And sitting on top was
Michael Lauer and Jesse Craddock
they brought into for 14, 73
earning them first
win on the IFA
- Our day went real well.
Early in the morning it
was definitely tough.
We were getting unpatient.
Our fish didn't show
up until about 11.
They were coming out of a creek
and dropping off in
their little pond.
We were trying to
hang them up in there
and stay with them all day.
They showed up at 11 and
we started getting bites
and they actually
turned out real good.
- [Interviewer] What'd you end
with? How you feel about it?
- We ended up with
1473 I believe.
Biggest win I've
had in artificial.
We feel real good about
because it seems like
a lot of local guys,
or a lot of you guys
I know in this tournament
sounds like they struggled.
And they're great Anglers,
so if they struggled
and we had a great day,
we're excited about that.
for their efforts.
Craddick and Lauer
will take home a
total prize package
worth $28,750 including
a mercury powered ranger boat,
500 for the big fish award,
$250 from Berkeley gulp,
and an additional $1,000 from
the mercury contingency program.
Here's a look at the
rest of the top ten,
on the bass pro shops
and Cabela's leaderboard.
That'll do it for stop number
one of the 2020 season.
Hope to see you at one
of our next events.
Check our schedule for dates.
this has been a
joint presentation
between outdoor
Teamworks and Careco TV.
Thanks for watching.
We'll see you next time.
