PORT ARANSAS, Texas — The redfish pros want to take their sport back from B.A.S.S., and Edward Adams and Sean O’Connell think they’re just the guys to do it.
“I think we’re definitely up for the challenge,” Adams said as his team took the Day 1 lead of the Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup presented by Skeeter with 16 pounds, 10 ounces. “We don’t have quite the same following as the B.A.S.S guys, because, obviously, bass fishing is all over the country, but it’s still just fishing. This is our sport.”
Last year, redfish Capt. Ryan Rickard and Bassmaster Elite Series pro Chris Zaldain teamed to win the inaugural made-for-TV event. In the 10-team field, there are five mixed teams of B.A.S.S. and redfish anglers and five teams of two redfish pros. After last year’s three-day competition, the mixed teams took three of the top four spots.
This year, four of the top six teams are from the various redfish circuits who receive berths. While Rickard and Zaldain, invited back as defending champions, stand second with 15-13, Barnie White and Dwayne Mills are third with 14-0 and tied for fifth with 11-5 are redfish teams of Gary Moreno/Bo Favre and Graham Taylor/Copeland More.
“These B.A.S.S. guys are great anglers. They wouldn’t be here if they weren’t,” O’Connell said. “They have a skill set that we don’t. Then again, we have a skill set that they might not have either. We want this.”
Zaldain weren’t surprised the Adams/O’Connell team put up a bigger two-fish weight. While Rickard, who had come close to major wins many times only to fall just short, was a popular champion in 2021, Zaldain thinks the redfish pros weren’t exactly happy to see a B.A.S.S. angler also walk away with the hardware.
“Yeah, the redfish guys want to take it back,” Zaldain said. “They’re coming. The funny thing is, Capt. Ryan fishes against these guys all the time, and he had mentioned their names. They’re the Team of the Year. They’re red hot.”
Zaldain, who’s entering his 11th season on the Elites, added that he’s not chopped liver either. He knows he can catch most every species of fish, and he’s rather confident under Rickard’s lead.
“If you put me around fish, I am going to catch fish,” he said. “Capt. Ryan is a fish-finding son of a gun. When you put me around them, I know where to cast, how to retrieve. He weighed one today, and I weighed one.”
Rickard is certainly happy with the partnership. It worked last year, and their Day 1 weight Friday was more than they expected. However, Rickard said he’s not so sure about the B.A.S.S. vs. redfish storyline, offering his take.
“Chris might say he’s a B.A.S.S. guy, but he’s really a redfish guy,” he said to laughs. “I say that respectfully. He’s caught on so quick, eventually I’m going pull him out of the bass world to here.”
Adams and O’Connell are trying to throw a monkey wrench into those plans. They were the last team to qualify for the Yamaha Redfish Cup, which came after winning their fourth consecutive Professional Redfish League Redfish World Series. So, both know they have two more days to set things straight, to make things right in the world.
“Again, it’s our game,” O’Connell said. “We’re the defending world champs, and that’s it. We want it.”
