(Editor's note: This is part 2 of a 2-parter on Troy and Christine Perez winning last Saturday's IFA Redfish Tour Brunswick, Ga. tournament.)

Troy and Christine Perez have won three IFA events (so far) this year. That's quite the feat. Did this win feel as good as the others? Troy said: "I still think our best win was Punta Gorda. They have some really good anglers there. Georgia has good anglers too, but there were only 30 boats in the tournament."

Holding up checks and plaques hasn't gotten old yet for Christine and Troy Perez.

Still, he noted that it was their first tournament win in Georgia (they're from Florida), and it felt "great."

Christine said: "It's awesome. Three times in a year? That's crazy. I said to Troy (at the captain's meeting when) we picked boat number three – does this mean we're going to win three times? I was just joking, just messing around. I didn't think we'd win again."

Well, they did, and here's some more detail on how they did it.

Winning Presentation

The key to their win, as covered in part 1 of this article, was the spot. It was a community hole, and the only thing it appeared they did differently than their competitors was stop for a while on an oyster bar that everyone else apparently ignored.

That's how it appeared, anyway. What other competitors may not have noticed was how he and Christine were fishing their Berkley Gulp! Shrimp. "We let it sit on the bottom and didn't move it," Troy said. "We were deadsticking it. I think that might've been the key."

With many competitors fishing for the same fish in the same spot, he might be right.

A few other details:

> They were fishing in 10 to 12 inches of water. At the second spot, by the bridge, they were casting toward the channel.

> Again, the water was so muddy they couldn't see fish. In fact, even when a big school came by in a foot of water, they only knew by seeing mud and wakes.

Winning Gear

Troy and Christine

> Rod – 7' American Rodsmiths medium-heavy rods

> Reel – Quantum spinning reels

> Line – 20-pound braid because of the bushes and oyster bars

> Leader – 30-pound clear mono, 2 feet. Why mono? Troy said: "I don't like to tie knots with fluorocarbon and I don't see (a performance) difference. The only time I see a difference is in the Keys, in crystal-clear water for tarpon when the fish are coming from under the bait to eat it. Sunlight reflects off of mono, but it doesn't off of fluorocarbon. So if the fish are going over the top (of the line), they can't tell."

> Terminal Tackle – 1/8-ounce Mission Fishin jighead, white (he usually prefers white).

Here's the winning bait, the Berkley Gulp! Shrimp in pearl white.(Photo: Berkley)

> Bait – 3-inch Berkley Gulp! Shrimp, white. Troy usually doesn't use white, but did this time "because the water was so dirty. I couldn't tell if (the fish) could see the other (colors) or not."

Winning Rig

> Boat – Ranger 18 Ghost

> Motor – Evinrude E-TEC 150

> Trolling Motor – Minn Kota Rip Tide 101

> Electronics – Humminbird

> Other – Power-Pole, Biscayne pushpole

Main Factor In Their Success

> Troy – "Paying attention to everything going on (at the spot) the day before the tournament: how the tide was going to drop, how the fish were going to move and how everyone else was setting up. And luck. Twelve boats were sitting there and we happened to catch the two biggest."

> Christine – "Being at the right place at the right time on the tournament day, and moving where you think the fish are going to be."

Performance Edge

> Troy – "We used the trolling motor and the Power-Pole a lot. We had to move the boat and Power-Pole down every 15 minutes."

> Christine – "I'd have to say the Berkley Gulp! Shrimp because that's what we caught our fish on, and that water was so dirty. We couldn't see half an inch into that water. It was like sticking your finger in cup of coffee with cream and sugar in it."

Notable

> In practice, Troy was experimenting with a spinnerbait on the oyster bar outside the bushes and got hung up. "I'm trying to yank the spinnerbait off the oyster shell and here comes a redfish out of the bushes and he's trying to dig it out."

> That and the tarpon experience (see below) have him ready to "find a piece of property there," he said. "I think have an untouched fishery there. The fish are aggressive. Look how many boats were (at the community hole) and we were all catching fish. It was pretty wild, and the people there are super-nice."

> "They have a killer fishery. They have tarpon like I've never seen. We tarpon-fished the first (practice) day. We went to our spots, but we saw so many tarpon we fished for them until dark. We were in a creek 150 yards wide, and over 100 tarpon were rolling at one time, between 50 and 150 pounds. There were so many tarpon (and the water was so dirty) they ran into our boat. They have great tripletail fishing too, and we caught good trout there, 3- to 4-pounders, real regularly."

> Troy guides in the Mosquito Lagoon out of Titusville mostly for big redfish but also for a variety of other species. Contact him at 321-268-1194.

- End of part 2 (of 2) -