Everybody wants to be the points champion at the end of a tournament series. Jeremy Waltrip and Chris Edwards of Team Pete's have done just that. Waltrip and Edwards had a 75 point lead over second place and a 135 point cushion over third place. Team Pete's finished in the Top 5 at the two stops that were held before the series was stopped due to the oil spill. Mike Telich and Brad Territo of Team DPS finished second, with a Top 10 and a Top 5 finish in the two tournaments. Third place belonged to Chris Shelton and Brent Carlson. Lucas Bisset and Bob Blanchet finished in fourth, while two teams tied for fifth. Josh Hall and Justin Duncan of Team Sportsmen's Ice, who won the Cocodrie tournament, tied with Jason Ellender and Steve Stroderd, who won the Lake Charles event. As the points champion, Team Petes's have won free entries into the 2011 Pro Speck Series and will be looking to defend their title this fall.

The Official Custom Rod of Saltwater Fishing Association

Jason Ellender and Steve Stroderd take the win at Calcasieu Point.
High strong winds and the weather service calling for thunderstorms all day Sunday, forced tournament officials to make a hard decision. The decision was to cut Sunday from the tournament and make it a one day event. Tournament officials gave the teams an extra 1-1/2 hours of fishing time Saturday to allow more ride time due to the high winds. The fishing was as rough as the lake that day. Teams ran all over trying to get out of the wind and some teams even managed to find fish. Two of those teams would end with a tight finish. Jason Ellender and Steve Stroderd weighed in 20.61 lbs, then John Solari and Steve Lanza approached the scales with 20.06 lbs. Both teams had their limit of 5 specks. Solari and Lanza had a 2.00 lb live fish bonus. While Ellender and Stroderd only had a 1.50 lb live fish bonus, but it would be just enough to hold on to 1st place. Both teams also had the two biggest specks weighed-in, Ellender and Stroderd with a 7.67 pounder, then Solari and Lanza had a 6.04 pounder.

Official Weighing system of
Saltwater Fishing Association

Josh Hall and Justin Duncan win in Cocodrie!
It was the first weekend that the winds had calmed down, somewhat. The fish hadn't moved back in from the hardest winter we've seen in a long time. The water levels weren't back to normal yet. And even though everyone struggled to find clean water, a few teams were able to find their limit of speckled trout at the first stop on the 2010 SFA Pro Speck Series in Cocodrie, LA. Josh Hall and Justin Duncan of Team Sportsmen's Ice was a team on a mission. A mission to win! Hall and Duncan had a 10 lb stringer on Day 1 that gave them a 1.50 lb lead over Eddie Berthelot and Terry Hawkes of Team Southern Outdoors. But Berthelot and Hawkes made a gamble to go look for bigger fish on Day 2 and it didn't pay off, dropping them to third. Don Chauvin and Tom Turner for the Bluewave Team brought in a limit on Day 2 weighing 11.53 lbs moving them near the top, but it would be 5 lbs short of what they needed to knock Hall and Duncan from first. The Sportsmen's Ice guys put together a 5 speck limit each day and kept their limits alive to add in an additional 2.50 lbs to their weights. It was this strategy that helped them pull off the win.
The biggest speck on Day 1 came from Keith Ward and Lanny Brunet weighing around 2.22 lbs, while Sam Sellers and David Billeuad almost doubled that on Day 2 with a 4.32 lb speck. We are also proud to announce that we had a successful release rate of 98% during this event. Congrats to all the teams for their efforts to keep their catch alive.