The redfish world lost a great man yesterday...

Guys, I am in tears right now as I am sitting here typing this message. I regret to inform you that my tournament partner Manny Perez is no longer with us this morning. He died yesterday during the final day of competition in the HT Elite Series redfish tournament out of Galveston Texas. I do not have a lot of details, all I can tell you is that my dear friend is gone & I am completely crushed. The last time I spoke with him was Friday night & he told me "I can get 24 lbs out of my spot, i just gotta get the right ones to bite". On his final day of competition he started the day in 10th place. In honor of our fallen friend no fish were weighed on the final day of competition, the other 9 competitors all threw their fish back in the water due to the fact that Manny didn't make it back. The boat was brought to a marina in Port Arthur Texas which was the closest ramp to where the incident occurred. There just so happened to be another redfish tournament going on at that marina also. Many of the guys fishing that event knew Manny personally & the decision was made to weigh his final stringer. He caught 24.07 lbs. which would have moved him all the way up to 2nd place if everyone had weighed their fish. Of course this is all unofficial, the guys were just doing the math on the weight they each thought they had according to their bogas. Just knowing that my friend was headed back to the weigh-in with a monster bag of fish makes me smile. Rest in Peace my friend. Lite'M Up all the way to heaven!


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