ESPN Saltwater

ISLAMORADA, Fla. — Jeff Parrish is from Buffalo, N.Y., and has fished a sum total of three ESPN Saltwater Series Redbone Celebrity events prior to this weekend. But he goes into Day One of this two-day event here tied for first place in Redbone Trilogy points.

The Trilogy is the Triple Crown of the Redbone Series — total points from the Key West S.L.A.M., the Key Largo Baybone and this weekend's Redbone event here.

Sharing first place with Parrish is Troy Pruitt of Naples, Fla., who won the Trilogy in 2006 and thought he'd won it last year.

"(Mo Smith) told me at the dock that I'd won it," Pruitt said.

But Smith, a Memphis area neurosurgeon, forgot that he'd placed fourth in an earlier Trilogy event and finished with the Trilogy Grand Championship in 2007.

Smith is 250 points behind Parrish and Pruitt going into this weekend's two-day event. While Parrish and Pruitt pre-fished for the weekend tournament, Smith and guide Mark Krowka combined to win the one-day Superfly event Friday.

Smith was the only man in the 15-man Superfly event who managed to catch a bonefish. Combined with the one redfish he and guide Krowka landed, they had the only Slam — a combination of the two targeted species — redfish and bonefish. That would indicate he might be prepared for another come-from-behind victory.

"I'll be nervous," said Parrish, who works for Rich Products, a major Redbone sponsor in New York. "I want to win because I know they don't want the New York guy winning this thing.

"I grew up fishing for bass and walleye, and I've been casting since I was about four years old. So that's no problem. I just don't have a lot of experience catching fish in saltwater."

Smith doesn't exactly have a saltwater background either, since he lives in Memphis. But he's a veteran of these Baybone events, and he's got one of the best guides in The Keys in Krowka, so, in some ways, he is considered a local angler.

But Pruitt, who lives in Homestead, Fla., seemed the most confident when he came to the dock Friday.

"I think it will take at least five redfish and five bonefish to win it," Pruitt said.

Because this is a multi-species format, the combination of redfish and bonefish earns bonus points of 100 points per "slam" after the first combination of the two species. If an angler, for example, catches 20 redfish and no bonefish, he is ineligible for the overall championship, as long as someone else lands both species.

Fly tackle and artificial lures or live bait on spinning tackle are scored in decreasing totals in this event.

"It should be decent for bonefish (Saturday)," Pruitt said. "I think the redfish will be tough. Most people will be blind fishing in ditches (with live bait, rather than sight-casting)."

Pruitt would enjoy adding another Trilogy title, especially after coming so close to repeating last year. But he said that isn't his primary motivation.

"It would be nice to win, but I really just enjoy being out here in The Keys," Pruitt said.

That may have been a little "dock talk," on Pruitt's part. They don't compete without wanting to win.

With guide Brian Helms and partner John Timura, another accomplished Keys fisherman from Islamorada, you know they'll be fishing for a championship this weekend.

"The fish are scattered," Timura noted. "We didn't find anything bunched up."

Along with some possible inclement weather forecast for Saturday, everything points to a down-to-the-wire finish in this Redbone tournament and the Trilogy title.