PORT ARANSAS, Texas — It’s not about how many bites you get; it’s how many of the right bites.
Clearly, Chris Smith and Mark Trevino were on the right side of that equation, as their two-fish limit of 15 pounds, 11 ounces leads Day 1 of the Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter at Port Aransas, Texas.
Leading a 10-boat field comprising six two-angler teams of redfish pros, plus four teams pairing a redfish pro with a Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series angler, Smith and Trevino hold a 5-ounce lead over Clark Jordan and 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour champion Easton Fothergill. Notably, the third-place team of Mike Lauer and Jesse Craddock trail by 6 ounces.
“This was above our expectations,” Smith said. “We caught four fish today and we just happened to get bit right.”
Heading north from takeoff, Smith and Trevino made a 60-mile run to Hynes Bay, the northwest extension of San Antonio Bay. This area is also known as the Guadalupe Estuary, as the namesake river delivers freshwater invigoration into a fertile brackish zone.
“That’s what we’re used to seeing; we like fishing crooks and crannies, bayous and things like that,” Trevino said. “I’m from Galveston, so I’m used to dirty-water fishing.
“We said, ‘The tide is dumping, the fish could be coming out of the marsh, so that’s what we’re gonna do.’ We try to stick to our plan and try not to change too much, unless we have too.”
Spending their day within a 10-mile area, the leaders’ morning began with what looked like an early pace setter, but their big redfish measured too close to the 28-inch maximum length, so they released it. After that, the day required patience and persistence.
“It was slow for a while; I don’t think it ever got fast for us,” Smith said. “The last cull we made was after we made a change of scenery. In practice, the only fish in that area we saw was 40 inches, so it was just a gamble, but we were able to find one good (slot size) fish.
“We were actually trying to go up there and sight fish, but there was a lot of (particulates) on the water, so we couldn’t see. We just blind cast and got lucky and ran into one.”
Trevino said their final spot’s productivity was based on visible signs of predation.
“We were looking for shrimp getting pushed up,” Trevino said. “The fish get below them and start busting. That’s what we were throwing at.”
Trevino said he and Smith caught all of their fish on Berkley Gulp! Ripple Mullets in the morning glow color, on 3/8- and 1/4-ounce jigheads. The heavier heads helped them punch through the periods of stronger wind.
“Every one of our fish were right on the bank,” Smith said. “If your cast was 6 to 10 feet off the bank, you weren’t going to catch anything. Our fish were in about a foot of water.”
Trevino adds perspective: “We caught a lot of grass, we caught a lot of trees, we caught barbed wire.”
Jordan and Fothergill, who finished second in last year’s Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship, also at Port Aransas, are in second place with 15-6. While the tournament’s northern areas saw a sunny conditions most of the day, the southern region held dim, overcast skies. Combined with blustery wind, the challenging conditions eliminated the sight fishing option.
“We had fun today; we weren’t expecting to catch much, but we caught 10 fish or so,” Fothergill said. “It was a super-fun day and I’m learning a ton from Clark.”
Returning to the game plan that served them well in 2025, Jordan and Fothergill ran south and drift fished the vast Laguna Madre grass flats. Jordan said this area affords him the most options for any weather, but targeted drifts delivered best today.
“We’ve zoned in a couple of areas that are a little better than others, but when we drifted through them, we caught a couple of good fish, and at that point we were just trying to expand on it, so if things get tough, we know we’ll need to really hone in on that zone,” Jordan said. “If we have good luck tomorrow, we’ll try to expand that even father.
“You can catch a good one anywhere out there, but we were trying to open up that area a little bit and make a little bigger envelope of where we’re going to zone in tomorrow.”
Jordan said he and Fothergill would drift a mile and half in 3 to 4 feet of water and catch scattered fish, but their sweet spot was an area of about a half square mile. They caught all of their fish on Berkley Gulp! swimbaits on 1/4-ounce jigheads.
“This is a three-day event, so every day counts,” Jordan said. “We didn’t fall behind too far, so this is a good spot to start.”
Lauer and Craddock are in third place with 15-5. Running nearly to the event’s southern boundary in lower Laguna Madre, they spent some time on shallow grass flats, but as Craddock explained, they did most of their work along the hard edge of spoil islands on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway. It was there that Lauer started their morning with an 8-pounder.
“We knew we could come up here (around Port Aransas) and catch plenty of fish, but we’re fishing for a few big bites, not a bunch of bites,” said Craddock, who scouted the area he and his partner fished before tournament waters went off-limits. “That game plan worked out today and we also left a lot of things alone that we’re praying that have in our back pocket.”
Lauer said he caught his fish on a 1/2-ounce Johnson spoon, while Craddock threw a lighter Aqua Dream spoon.
Saturday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. CT at Fisherman’s Wharf. The weigh-in will be held at the wharf at 2:45 p.m.
All of the action can be found live on Bassmaster.com.
This event is being hosted by Port Aransas Fisherman’s Wharf.