Local anglers shine

Blair Wiggins of Cocoa and his partner Travis Tanner lead the field after one day of fishing at the FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event in Panama City. The anglers ran 60 miles to catch their two-redfish limit weighing 15 pounds, 14 ounces to move into first place, but heavy winds may prevent a repeat performance on Friday.

But Tampa Bay-area anglers are holding their own in this event that will net the winning team $50,000. Rounding out the top five teams are St. Pete’s Frank Jackson and his partner Charles Espenlaub of Lutz (two redfish, 14 pounds, 7 ounces); Ken and Jeff Mullett of Sarasota (two redfish, 14 pounds, 6 ounces); Brady Nelson and Josh Ramsey of Palmetto (two redfish, 14 pounds, 2 ounces) and Raymond McDonald and Sean Creel of Panama City, Fla. (two redfish, 14 pounds, 1 ounce).

The $1.9 million Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series features three day events. The full field will fish again Friday and then the top five teams will advance to Saturday’s final round. The winner will be based on the combined heaviest three-day total weight.

The Redfish Series has two divisions – East and West – and each one holds four $170,000 qualifying tournaments. The top 50 teams advance to a no-entry-fee $300,000 championship to be held Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in Biloxi, Miss. The winning two-man team will take home a $100,000 purse.