Team Looper/Walters claims Florida East Coast Division Championship with second-place finish in region’s final regular-season event of 2009
 
LIZELLA, Ga. (September 21, 2009) – Scott Guthrie and Mark Sepe, both of De Land, Fla., weighed in a two-redfish limited that totaled 14.13 pounds to win the 2009 IFA Redfish Tour event at Titusville, Fla., on September 19. To win the one-day event, which launched from Parrish Park and hosted by Mosquito Lagoon Outfitters, Guthrie and Sepe bested a field of 81 two-angler teams en route to claiming the final regular-season event in the Florida East Coast Division.

 
The pair, fishing in their fifth year together on the IFA Redfish Tour, ran approximately 25 miles in search of their fish. As the only two-angler team to bring a pair of redfish weighing more than seven pounds each, they topped the second-place team of Bob Looper and Rick Walters by a comfortable 1.27-pound margin.
 
With the win, the pair won a 2009 Ranger Banshee Extreme valued at more than $30,000. The boat is powered by a 60-horsepower, four-stroke Yamaha outboard and is equipped with a Bob’s four-inch Ultra Light Jackplate, Power-Pole shallow water anchor, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird electronics, Blue Point Fabrication metal work and Loadmaster trailer.
 
The Looper and Walters, both of Brooksville, Fla., brought the second-largest redfish of the tournament to the scales on Saturday, with the 7.54-pound kicker fish anchoring their 12.86-pound total weight. Though the tournament victory eluded them, the team managed to secure the 2009 IFA Florida East Coast Division Team of the Year title by 11 points. By winning this highly contested title, the team is automatically qualified to compete for the Cabela’s Overall Divisional Team of the Year Award at November’s IFA Redfish Tour Championship in Orange Beach, Ala.
 
“Every move we’ve made this year has been just the right move,” Looper said. “Even late in the day today we only had about ten-and-a-half pounds. But we made it to another spot and caught our second good fish. We were running out of time and had to really run to get back – but we made it. Everything’s just worked out for us this year.”
 
The third-place team of Chris Chapman and Dan McGatlin weighed in a two-fish limit that tipped the scales at 12.84 pounds, returning to a productive area the pair located during practice.
“We only caught five after catching a lot of good fish in this spot during the week and yesterday,” Chapman said. “We caught them good early on top waters and were looking at a ton of fish.”
 
The 14th-place team of Bobby Erwin and Tom Riley won the $1,500 Rapala Big Fish Award for their 7.96-pound redfish, the largest weighed in during the Titusville event. Looper and Walters added to their successful Saturday by capping off their Team of the Year-clinching performance by also winning the $1,000 Ranger Cup Award as the high-finishing Ranger Cup-qualified team in the field. Twentieth-place finishers Travis Tanner and Joseph Wortham took home the $100 SolarBat prize for the highest place of finish for a team utilizing the sunglasses during the tournament.
 
The IFA Redfish Tour continues to draw redfish anglers from Texas to the Carolinas and beyond, offering two-angler teams the opportunity to compete in six different divisions, each offering a three-event regular season. With low entry fees for the one-day, regular-season tournaments allow anglers to fish close to home and minimize expenses, while still being a part of a premier inshore, catch-and-release redfish tournament organization. Teams fishing any three of the IFA’s 18 regular-season events are automatically qualified for a no-entry-fee championship event, pitting qualifiers from each of the six divisions for a combined $77,000 in payouts and prize packages, as well as a shot at the coveted Cabela’s Overall Divisional Team of the Year Award for the six regular-season division winners.
 
Added this year as an incentive for the very active anglers capitalizing on the opportunities to fish close to home for big money and valuable prizes, teams fishing at least six tournaments in any combination of divisions are automatically eligible to compete for the IFA Redfish Tour “Ultra 6” award. The award consists of a $5,000 cash prize, presented to the highest-finishing eligible team at the IFA Redfish Tour championship tournament.
 
This year, in addition to $47,000 in payouts per event (based on a 100-boat field), the first-place prize package for all 18 IFA Redfish Tour regular-season events has been increased. In 2009, every regular-season tournament winner is guaranteed – regardless of field size – a fully loaded 2009 Ranger Banshee Extreme. The boat is powered by a 60-horsepower, four-stroke Yamaha outboard and is equipped with a Bob’s four-inch Ultra Light Jackplate, Power-Pole shallow water anchor, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird electronics, Blue Point Fabrication metal work and Loadmaster trailer. The entire first-place prize package is valued at $30,000.
 
For more information on the IFA Redfish Tour, to become a member of the IFA or to become a part of the fastest-growing inshore fishing tournament series in the United States, go online to redfishtour.com.
 
IFA Redfish Tour events are made possible through the sponsorship and continued support of the fishing industry’s most respected brands: Ranger Boats, Hobie Fishing, Cabela's, Yamaha Outboards, Rapala, Trigger X, Sufix, Minn Kota, Humminbird, Power-Pole, Wrap This, CW Crab, Charter Lakes Marine Insurance, Solar Bat, Gemini Custom Apparel, Navionics, Bob's Machine Shop, Blue Point Fabrication, Terminator, VMC Hooks, Loadmaster Trailers, Powertex Group, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas and Port Aransas Chamber or Commerce and Port Aransas City Marina.
 
IFA Florida East Coast Division
Titusville, Fla. (Top 10)
1.     Guthrie/Sepe – 14.13 lbs.

2.     Looper/Walters – 12.86 lbs.

3.     Chapman/McGatlin – 12.84 lbs.

4.     McGovern/Crown – 12.44 lbs.

5.     Porcelli/Robbins – 12.36 lbs.

6.     Fuller/Turner – 12.27 lbs.

7.     Wysong/Slaughter – 12.26 lbs.

8.     Cenci/Derringer – 12.14 lbs.

9.     Jones/Garnto – 12.05 lbs.

10. Thomas/Ganzenmuller – 11.78 lbs.
 
Ranger Cup Award ($1,000): Looper/Walters
Rapala Big Fish ($1,500): Erwin/Riley – 7.96 lbs.
SolarBat Prize ($100): Tanner/Wortham
 
IFA Redfish Tour Florida East Coast Division – 2009 Final Point Standings
1.     Looper/Walters – Florida East Coast Division Team of the Year
2.     Keating/McBride
3.     McGovern/Crown