Day-one Dave delivers co-angler title
08.Mar.2014 by Brett Carlson
SENECA, S.C. – Despite being a Walmart FLW Tour rookie, David Redington was developing a reputation back home in Texas for starting bass tournaments with a bang. The only problem was that he tended not to back up those strong day-one weights. That trend followed him to the FLW Tour where in his first tournament he caught 14 pounds, 12 ounces on opening day at Lake Okeechobee. True to form, he only boxed two keepers on day two and slid down the leaderboard.
Day-one Dave caught them again at Lake Hartwell, opening his week in second place with 13 pounds, 11 ounces. But this time, he bucked the trend on day two and caught the heaviest co-angler stringer of the entire tournament – a whopping 17-pound, 13-ounce limit that had even the best pros in awe. He needed all of that weight because on a shortened day three (3-hour fog delay) he failed to bring in a keeper bass. His 6-pound, 10-ounce cushion was just enough to hold off hard-charging Todd Lee.
“When we came off the water, I thought there was no chance I won,” said Redington, the younger brother of FLW Tour pro and Lake Fork guide Tom Redington. “I was just hoping to stay in the top five. It almost doesn’t feel right.”
While brother Tom favors reading electronics and understanding the offshore game, the younger Redington prefers shallow-water fishing. Without any practice, he figured his best chance this week was to throw a big-fish bait and hope for quality versus quantity.
“Everything I caught this week was on a custom vibrating jig with a Lake Fork Live Magic Shad as a trailer. I have a buddy in Dallas that makes them for me and they are awesome.”
Redington used three colors on the vibrating jig – tilapia, watermelon red and white. His swimbait was 3 1/2 inches in length.
