JACKSONVILLE, Fla. There was nothing usual about the way Scott Guthrie was acting after the first day of the Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup Eastern Division OPEN in Jacksonville, Fla., on Friday.
Guthrie and his partner, Rick Murphy, pulled up to the docks an hour before they were scheduled to arrive for the weigh-in. Usually, confidence like that makes for a calm and casual team, but Guthrie, who lives in Jacksonville, was slightly shaking and nervous.
It wasn't until after his fish were measured and approved that Guthrie started pumping his fist, an action usually reserved for the weigh-in stage.
Guthrie and Murphy were the second team across the stage and weighed in 13.94 pounds, which held up through the rest of the field to put them in front by a little less than half a pound.
"I'm shaking right now," Guthrie said. "We had one real close to the line, but that's what you've got to do to win these events."
The anglers are fishing for the fattest two redfish they can find that measure between 18 and 27 inches. Guthrie said he was pushing that limit.
"We caught two just like that," Guthrie said, referring to the fish he brought in that was almost too long. "We could have let that go and weighed in a five-pounder, but that's the difference between winning 50 grand or not."
The first team that weighed-in, Andrew Bostick and Mark Sepe, was also sitting at the dock an hour early, confident with their day's catch. They are sitting in second with 13.53 pounds.
"We were hoping to get on a good bite and we were able to do that," Bostick said.
Even though the first two stringers weighed-in were over 13 pounds, most of the anglers talked about a tough day of fishing. Bothers Bryan and Greg Watts, the winners of the first event of the year, the Icebreaker All Star in Clearwater, Fla., caught a limit of two fish, but they only weighed-in 8.72 pounds.
ESPN's Keith Alan asked what they would do to target bigger fish on Saturday.
"We don't know," Bryan Watts joked. "If you change your pattern three times every day around here, you might catch the fish."
All the teams will fish on Saturday, and the top-5 cumulative weights from the two days will advance to fish the finals on Sunday. The top prize is a $40,000 check, plus sponsor incentives if the anglers are fishing certain types of boats or motors.
The anglers will takeoff at safe light on Saturday and the weigh-in will start at 3:30 p.m. EST.
A cold front is supposed to move through Jacksonville Friday night and Saturday morning, and Guthrie said it could have a large effect on the fishing.
"It depends on how the wind blows," he said. "The fishing can get tough if it blows over 15 mph."