Rookie Mistakes. . .

IS THIS THING ON???

Every year when basketball season rolls around I tell myself I am going to fish more. That I will find time on a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday morning during the season and I will just make it work. Well. . .that NEVER happens. Then add to the equation all of the excitement of my son being born and you have a really busy 4 months that do not include a lot of time on the water.

Yesterday morning I finally ended the hiatus and struck out to try a new body of water that has been on the list for a while. I set the alarm for 4am, snoozed to 4:07, snoozed to 4:14, snoozed to 4:21. For some reason I didn’t get any sleep the night before, I can’t imagine why?!? (If you have kids then you understand) By the time I reached my spot the wind speed was already twice the prediction and so I elected to throw out the drift sock and go to work with my topwater.

As I was drifting I began to see random mud boils floating to the surface, but other than that I could find no signs of the school. Just as I was about to pull my drift sock and paddle back to try my drift one more time I heard that distinctive CHUG sound and my Badonk-A-Donk disappeared. I could tell right away this was a big fish and so I immediately got staked out.

HOOKED UP!

Teaching point: Any time I hook up with a fish I try to get staked out and I do that for two reasons. Reason number 1, I want to be able to stay in the same spot where I picked up my last fish. There may be some structure nearby that is holding fish and I do not want to lose my place. Reason number 2, if I can keep the school together by not drifting over the top of them I may have a shot at taking another fish from that very same school.

After about 5 minutes and multiple runs I see my fish go belly up about 10 feet from the boat. When I reach back to grab my net he decides to spring to life for one more run and it’s this last ditch effort that frees him from my grasp as my lure comes shooting back at the boat.

I quickly get my lure back in the water and after two cranks on the reel I was hooked up again. This fish surfaces almost immediately and is another bull red. He makes one solid run toward some exposed shell and when I tried to horse him away from it my line snapped. Before I could get retied two other kayakers who had been spectating from behind me immediately cut off my drift and I watched helplessly as the school erupted and fish scattered everywhere. I paddled around for a while hoping they would regroup, but was never able to relocate them.

Despite the frustration of losing two really good fish I had a great day on the water, found a new spot that appears to be holding some pretty large fish, and after all was said and done I got to come home to this guy. . .

Fish were located on the wind blown shore in about two foot of water and were hungry for the Bomber Lures Badonk-A-Donk HP in black, gold, & orange.

Wind	Tide	Weather	Baro	Depth	Bottom	Lures
SE @ 15	Outgoing w/Avg Differential	Sunny	Rising	1-3 ft	Mixed Mud & Shell	Badonkadonk Popping Cork

 

 

 

4th Annual Castaway Cup

Last weekend I had the opportunity to fish in the 4^th Annual Castaway Cup. When I originally signed up for the event it looked as if the weather was going to be perfect. However, as the week progressed it was becoming evident that a northern was going to settle right smack dab in the middle of this event. Despite wind and wave it was still a great day to be on the water.

When I first started preparing for the tournament I had picked a launch point that I thought would give me access to multiple species of fish. The Castaway Cup is a three species tournament (red, trout, & flounder) with hourly weigh in prizes and so I wanted as many opportunities as possible. The only problem with this launch is that it required me to paddle all the way across a relatively large bay directly into the forecasted 31mph NE wind. I began to reevaluate my decision and eventually decided to launch on the north side of the aforementioned bay. This choice allowed access to a protected shoreline, which doesn’t always produce more fish, but it gave me a better opportunity to find them.

Official launch time was at 6:30, but I had a few morning setbacks that put me on the water around 7:00. I started my morning off chasing large groups of birds actively feeding on the surface, but was only able to manage a few undersized trout. After about an hour I started to understand the trend. I was doing a lot of work with very little payoff. At this point I made my way back to the protected shoreline, my original plan, and went on the search for wakes and swirls.

It didn’t take long before I spotted my first swirl about 5 feet off the grass line and right over a relatively large shell reef. I pitched my H&H Curl Tail right into the center of the swirl and was rewarded with an immediate hook up. After a short fight I had a pretty solid red on the stringer that measured right at 25”.

I continued my pattern hoping it would pay off with an upgrade, but it was to no avail. At this point I made my way to a deep cut that I had seen on google earth the day before. My plan now was to work the drop off at both ends and hopefully pick up a nice flattie. After arriving at the location I staked out and went to work. Three casts in I get a thump, but it’s not the right one. I buzz in a 16” trout and put her on the stringer. I debated on whether or not to keep this one, but with the conditions the way they were I hated to throw back a legal fish.

I worked the cut for about an hour and continued to catch trout right around 15”. They were just stacked on top of each other in that deeper water and were seemingly pretty hungry.  At this point it was getting close to weigh in time and I had a pretty lengthy trip back to the truck. A few minutes into my paddle back the wind shifted from NE to SE and allowed me to drift all the way back to my launch. I fished the entire way, but didn’t pick up a single fish.

Got the truck loaded, got my fish safely secured in my live well. And started my hour long drive to Harborwalk for the weigh in. ***Side note*** I have been extremely pleased with my homemade live well. I have yet to lose a fish since I started using it and have had as many as 3 reds in it with no problems. I hope to get some photos of it up soon!

The weigh in closed at 3pm and I made my grand entrance at 2:15. After weighing in my fish I was greeted with some unfortunate news. I misunderstood the rules and there would be no hourly winner awarded between the 2 and 3 o’clock hour. If they had awarded money for that hour my fish would have banked me a $200 check. I guess I should have attended the captains meeting, because as things stood, I didn’t stand a chance in the overall with my two very average fish. So all that was left to do was buy a few raffle ticket, grab a plate and a cold beverage, and enjoy the live music.

I also made a trip over to the Castaway van to pick up my free gift. Every angler received a free Castaway rod and a $50 gift card to the Houston Gold Exchange. I assumed that we would just get whatever overrun rod that Castaway had in stock, but after talking to the reps I was pleasantly surprised. They actually had several models with multiple speeds and actions. Every angler had the opportunity to handle each sample and pick the one that best suited their needs.

 

The buffet dinner was provided by “Floyd’s on the Water” and the entertainment for the afternoon was “Harbors Over Highways.” Both the food and the music were outstanding and I expect to see them at more events in the future. The local CCA partnered with Castaway to host a great family friendly event with lots of cash and prizes. I can’t wait to try my luck again next year and you should too! If you are interested in fishing this event you can find more information at castawaycup.com

Wind	Tide	Weather	Baro	Depth	Bottom	Lures
30 MPH	Incoming w/Small Differential	Sunny	Rising	1-3 ft	Mixed Mud & Shell	Skitterwalk   H&H Curl Gulp Curl

FTU Demo Day in Sugarland

This last weekend I volunteered at the Fishing Tackle Unlimited Kayak Demo Day in Sugarland. We set up Saturday morning at The Club at Riverstone and started preparing for what was sure to be an eventful day. By 9:30 the plastic navy was lined up on the waters edge and ready for deployment. There was a huge stack of life jackets laid out on the ground (which would later prove to not be big enough) and the EZ-Up’s were waiting for the first potential customer of the day.

Things started out slow, but once word had spread the bank of that pond looked like front row seats at a rock concert. We had a DJ blasting tunes, the weather was perfect, and there were plenty of people willing to try their hand at paddle sports. At one point the crowd got so large that we realized our life jacket supply was not sufficient enough and so a special trip was made to the I-10 store for more.

At the end of the day we broke down camp and started re-loading the trailers. With paddles stored and kayaks stacked and strapped everyone began discussing the days events. I am unsure of the official headcount, but based on the number of wristbands left there were well over 300 people registered to paddle.  That makes the inaugural Sugarland Demo Day a potential record setter.

At this point everyone was exhausted and ready to make it home for the last half of college football, a cold beverage, and a comfy recliner. Thanks to everyone who came out and made this event a huge success. If you missed out on this one, but would still like to paddle a kayak, join us at the next event in Cross Creek Ranch on October 10th.

LSKS #3 for 2015

Yesterday was the third LSKS event of 2015. This event has a few conflicts with people fishing in the BWKC and a few pre fishing for the IFA, but there was still a strong turn out with a total of 101 anglers. If you are looking for an organized tournament, that is well run and offers plenty of opportunities for some great gear, even if you don’t catch the biggest fish, then you should really consider signing up for these events. Dustin Koreba does a great job, and puts a ton of effort into running a quality tournament.

So I have been trying a few new spots over the past weeks trying to find a location that didn’t require me to spend 6 hours on the road for tournament day. My efforts were to no avail. All I had been able to find were small fish and lots of them. About mid-week I started to realize why there were never any other kayakers launching in these locations. On Wednesday night I started sending messages to a few buddies who had been fishing familiar water and their reports were as bleak and dismal as mine. So by Friday morning I realized I had no choice. . .I’m going in blind!

I spent most of the day Friday on google earth scanning the Texas coastline looking for something that fit the description. Now everyone has a different opinion of what makes the perfect redfish spot, but just for reference this is what mine looks like. . .

• Marsh – I am a shallow water sight caster and the marsh is where I want to stay
• Access to deeper water – fish need access to deeper water, the closer the better
• Transitional cuts – I like to see a few deep cuts in between several back lakes
• Current – Look for shell and grass  to pinch the water and increase current flow
• Structure – Again, shell and grass shorelines, places redfish can ambush from

I arrived at my launch earlier than expected, it was about 4:45 when I pulled in and I was the only one there. That quickly changed and by 5:15 there were 5 of us loaded up waiting on the 6 o’clock buzzer. At 6 am sharp I was off and paddling hoping to make it to my first stop before the sun cracked the horizon. Upon arrival the water was like glass and so I elected to tie on a SS Jr since it is considerably quieter than my Skitterwalk. On my third cast I was rewarded with a huge “CHUG” and it was off to the races.

The fight had not gone on very long when I came to the realization that this fish was not going to be in the slot. He went on 5 big runs and took half of my spool with him each time. After something close to 15 minutes I had my personal best redfish on the deck. He tipped out at just over 33”. The crazy thing about this catch, as soon as I grabbed onto my SS, the hook he was caught on pulled completely out of the back of my lure! One more run and he would have probably been gone. I snapped some pictures and let him go. Happy that I set a personal record, but disappointed that it wasn’t a really nice SLOT red.

I moved on to start fishing some shell reefs and found the pattern that would hold true for the rest of the day. Most fish were cruising the reefs and were mixed in with multiple black drum and sheepshead. In order to pick them out you would have to sit side saddle and just wait on the reds to show themselves. Later in the afternoon they began to school up and as the birds would find them so would I. For the last hour or so I chased birds and pulled singles from the outside edges of schools. Unfortunately, I was never able to find an upper slot fish. I finished the day with a 22 ¾” and one that was barely legal. Out of 10 fish those were the only two slot reds I caught all day.

Overall, yesterday was a great day to be on the water. I finished just out of the money, 28th, with 7.5 lbs and I set a new redfish PR on my kayak. Exploring a new location was fun and finding a few fish along the way made it even better. Hopefully my pointers for finding a new fishing hole using google earth will both help and inspire you to get out there a trying something new. There is one more event in the 2015 LSKS on October 3^rd. If you’re interested then follow this link www.lonestarkayakseries.com to get registered. I hope to see you there!

And by the way, congratulations to all the anglers who were able to find ’em yesterday. It only takes one cast. . .well, technically two!

Wind	Tide	Weather	Baro	Depth	Bottom	Lures
8 MPH	Outgoing w/Avg Differential	Partly Cloudy	Rising	6”-2 ft	Mixed Mud & Shell	SS Jr                KFM  Hunchback

At Least I Got To Be On The Water

The moral of yesterday’s fishing story is. . .”At least I got to be on the water.” Or at least that is how my wife phrased it in her text reply to me. It was just one of those days where nothing was going to go as planned and at a certain point I just started preparing for the worst instead of acting surprised when it happened.

It all started on Monday when I began checking the forecast to determine what day this week would be the best day to hunt for tailing reds in the marsh. I had a new area in Matagorda I have been wanting to explore and my week was pretty wide open. As of Monday, Tuesday, and early Wednesday it appeared that Thursday was going to be my best day. It looked like there would be a decent window in the morning when the wind would be less than 15mph and that was all I needed to make the call.

Fast forward to Thursday morning >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I am sitting in my driveway, loaded up and ready to head out. Radio on, hot cup of coffee in my hand and the daily forecast pulled up on my phone. WHAT THE . . . 22mph with gust up to 27mph ALL DAY! What happened to my window? This was the first of several surprises that would seemingly follow me for the rest of the trip.

I arrived at the launch around 5:30 and was off paddling by 6:00. It looked like the tide was extremely low, but it was dark and I wasn’t familiar with the area so I decided to press on. It didn’t take me long to realize I had been poling through mud for the last 800 yards or so and according to Google Earth I should have been in the deepest section of the canal. After passing my third drain that was completely blown out I made the decision to cut my losses and relocate.

When I returned to the truck I thought I would try to save time and just cart my yak, fully loaded, back to the truck and try to keep things intact as much as possible. The drive to my next location would not be a long one and I could just drive slowly. My plan was going perfectly until half way to the truck my cart broke. Please fill in the bank with any expletives that come to mind, I assure you I did. I made an attempt to “engineer” things back into working order, but it was to no avail. So at 7 am, instead of fishing, I am lugging my things back to my truck so that I can load up my now EMPTY kayak and change locations.

Half strapped with my gear just thrown all over the bed of my truck I head off to my next spot. When I finally get things ready to go, for the second time, I am greeted with a wonderful sight W-A-T-E-R! Who knew you needed this stuff to kayak? I paddled to a familiar location that usually holds a few fish and set up my first drift. The wind was howling and I was really glad I remembered to grab my drift sock. At the end of a 45 minute drift I had nothing. Not even a blowup. So I headed off to find some more protected water.

I pretty quickly decided that it was just not going to be my day and with the super low tides I converted my fishing trip into a research trip. I started taking picture of points, deep cuts and shell reefs. I made note of their stop and starts, referenced them with familiar landmarks and even made guesstimates about their distance away from nearby shorelines. I have fished this particular location dozens of times, but I was still able to discover a few things that I had not previously known. I even played around with some new camera angles for the go pro.

In summary, the day started out as a disaster and had I not refocused it probably would have ended that way as well. However, once I realized that the current conditions gave me a great opportunity to gain some valuable information about one of my favorite fishing spots I decided to enjoy the outdoors and take what mother-nature gave me. After all “At least I got to be on the water.”

Wind	Tide	Weather	Baro	Depth	Bottom	Lures
25+ MPH	Outgoing w/Small Differential	Sunny	Steady	6”-3 FT	Mixed Mud & Shell	Skitterwalk KFM         Down South

Exploring New Marsh

Alright guys, so I am little behind on this most recent report. Unfortunately I have had quite a bit of “school work” to do since my last trip and have just not had the time to sit down and organize my thoughts. But without further ado, here we go.

I hit the Galveston marsh last Tuesday looking for some tournament size fish. I have been able to weigh in at the last two tournaments, but I just have not been able to find any consistent size. To try and remedy this problem I decided to try some new water. I left the house around 4:15 and was on the water by 6. I hadn’t paddled ¼ of a mile when the sun started to come up and the grass line erupted. It seemed as if every paddle stroke was some sort of signal and another red would crash. Normally this would be great news, but the entire grass line was extremely flooded and these fish were nowhere near the edge.

I started off with a favorite bait of mine, I blame “legocrusader” & “jgj5533”, the pink and chrome skitterwalk. I started working the grass all the way down thinking surely the noise would draw a few fish out. . .NOTHING! I went back over that same section of shoreline with a KFM in East Beast rigged weedless so I could try and get my presentation a little closer to the activity and again I came up empty handed. However, on my second pass I noticed a few wakes moving about 10-20 feet off the shoreline.

On my third pass I moved a little further off the bank and that seemed to be the answer. I was immediately awarded with 3 fish in less than 15 minutes. Unfortunately these were not the chunky tournament reds I had been looking for, but after listening to them feed for the last hour or so it was just satisfying to hook up. I boated 2 reds that were both around 22” and a 16” flounder.

Even though there was still activity in the area I decided to follow my float plan and move on. After all, this was intended to be more of an exploratory trip than anything else. As I made my way across the small back lake towards a deeper canal I could see some fish tailing in the distance. I increased my pace hoping I could get there before the feeding frenzy stopped. As I got closer to the action I realized these tails were way too big to be red fish. I had stumbled into a pod of Big Uglies. Now I have always been told that black drum would not hit on artificial bait, but seeing how I have never caught one I had to try. I made a few casts at one and he didn’t even spook. After following them around for a bit I made the decision for one last cast. I thumped one right on the head with my jig and in a huge swirl, FISH ON!

The water was too shallow for the fish to make a huge run, but as he methodically made his way across the marsh there was nothing I could do but follow along. The fight was short lived as he quickly tired of dragging me through the mud. I tried netting him, but could only get about 1/3 of his body in the net. I laid him across the front hatch of my Ride and started looking for a place to stand so I could get a few pics. I finally found a reef that I could stand on and was able to get a few snap shots. They aren’t great pictures because of the sun, but I had to document what is currently the largest fish I have ever taken in my kayak.

Again, I was back on track, hoping that the rest of the day would be as eventful as the morning had been. Unfortunately this was not the case. After spending several more hours poling around in lifeless marsh I made my way back to the ICW in hopes of catching a trout to complete the slam. I drifted almost 2 miles down the ICW on the way back to my truck and didn’t get a single bite. Not even a small blow up. Once I had the truck in sight I decided it was time to call it a day and so I headed in. I was off the water by noon and looking for lunch.

Wind	Tide	Weather	Baro	Depth	Bottom	Lures
10-15 MPH	Incoming w/Avg Differential	Sunny	Rising	1-3 FT	Mixed Mud & Shell	Skitterwalk        Flats Minnow  Down South

Egret Baits Lonestar Saltwater Survival Series

This past weekend I fished in my 2^nd tournament of 2015 the Egret Baits Saltwater Survival Series, hosted by the Lonestar Fishing Team. This interesting twist on tournament red fishing was well thought out and it was definitely a challenge. My hat goes off to Cameron Barghi and crew for putting on a great event.

Now to get into the details. For anyone who isn’t sure how this tournament was different from any other allow me to explain. Not only were all of the participants limited to very minimal water, there was also a limit on the baits you were allowed to use. Egret Baits sent over packets of 6 lures for each of the anglers registered. You were only allowed to use those 6 baits for the entire day. If you one was lost, eaten, or mutilated then you had to fish the rest of the day without that particular lure. To make it even more interesting we all had to be present at the 6 am Captain’s Meeting for some final instruction and all fish had to be caught in West Bay.

At 5:30 those of us that were there received our bag of baits and headed back to the trucks to start tying a few of them on. At first glance my biggest concern was the lack of dark colors. In the majority of West Bay I would say visibility was less than 4 inches and darker colored lures would have definitely helped, but at least we would all be fighting the same battle. At 6 am Cameron hosted the mandatory meeting and sometime around 6:10 we were off. Some sprinted to their vehicles, others walked, but all were anxious to get to their spot and see how many anglers they would be competing with.

Luckily when I arrived at my spot there was no one in sight. That changed as I was almost ready to launch, but at least I would be the first one out and could claim my spot. I was out of the truck and on the water in less than 10 minutes. I started off throwing a Vudu Shrimp under a popping cork into some main drains with no success. I then moved on to fishing flooded grass lines hoping to pull a big one out of the weeds, but again no luck. As the sun starting to rise overhead I moved deeper into the marsh hoping that I could find a few crawlers.

In my very first shallow lake I was rewarded with that ever familiar gleam breaking the surface of the water. I started slowly working my way towards him and . . . TOO SHALLOW! My yak comes to a screeching halt and I am definitely out of range. I make the decision to get out and drag my boat into position, but as soon as I get both feet out . . . KNEE DEEP MUD! My last opportunity is to give him a shot and see if I can get there, but more power equals less accuracy. I deliver a shot right on the end of his nose and off he goes. As he leaves the small back lake I see about 4 other wakes go with him.

I searched long and hard for another fish, blind casting into the occasional drain or pocket, but hours into the tournament things are not looking good. I am about 4 miles from the launch and I take a gamble to paddle down a random canal that I have never before explored and about half way down, another back. I make a great cast and the wake moves right into my bait and then stops. I give it a twitch and he blows out. Feeling defeated I continue down the canal, but at some point I look over my shoulder and see that same red still cruising the grass line. I backtrack to give him more shot and this time he takes it. I get him to the boat and he’s only slightly over 21”, but he’s legal and he’s on the stringer.

As hard as I tried I was never able to locate another fish. I did catch a blue crab that grabbed onto my rudder while I was poling around. Shortly after I took the following picture I flung him into the tank well by flipping my rudder up. It wasn’t much, but after the day I had it was pretty entertaining.

I paddled back to the launch, filled up my new live well with water and headed to weigh in. I stopped on the way back and grabbed a subway sandwich since I had plenty of time and made it to the weigh in around 2 o’clock. After 45 minutes in the live well my fish was still upright and swimming around. After all was said and done I finished the tournament in 12^th place and got a check for 65 bucks. Overall I would say the tournament was a success. As I said earlier Cameron and the Lonestar Team were great hosts and I can’t wait to give it a shot in the next one. If you were not in attendance you really missed out and you should try to make the fall event. Follow the Facebook page at Saltwater Survival Series for more info.

Wind	Tide	Weather	Baro	Depth	Bottom	Lures
20-25 MPH	Incoming w/Small Differential	Sunny	Rising	1-3 FT	Mixed Mud & Shell	Egret Baits

Galveston Vacation

Last week my wife and I stayed in Galveston with some good friends of ours. The good news is this meant lots of fishing for me, the bad news 20+ mph winds all week. One of the guys that stayed with us had never been kayak fishing before and so I spent most of the week trying to get him on some fish. I think he may be hooked for life.

Monday morning I went out on my own to do some scouting and see if I could find a few reds in one of my favorite Galveston spots. Not to mention my wife had added fresh fish to the menu Monday night and so she wasn’t giving me much time to “shop” around. I was on the water by 6:00 am and saw my first back by 6:15. Four casts later I was tied into a pretty hefty 26 incher that would eventually make his way to the dinner table.

As soon as the sun began to peek over the horizon it brought the wind with it. Even in the little back lake I was in I started to see white caps early. After fishing the grass line with a topwater for a little while with no luck I decided to try drifting for a while. Paddled back into the wind for a bit, deployed my drift sock and started fishing. In the first drift I picked up two trout so I tried it again. On the second drift I picked up two more. After that the bite just shut off completely. I called it a day at10:30 and paddled back to the truck with dinner in tow.

Tuesday morning my buddy was ready to go so we went to the same place I had been Monday and we were on the water at about the same time. Tuesday morning the wind was worse and it did not wait on the sun to rise. We fought the wind from launch to paddle back. There were a few tailers early, but my buddy got “buck fever”, which I still get sometimes, and botched up both casts. We had a good laugh and then started looking for more fish.

After about an hour of searching the marsh with no luck I thought we should try drifting like I had done the day before. We paddled back to give it a shot and . . . NOTHING!  No bites, no blowups, not a single thing. We called it a day at 11:00 with no fish.

Wednesday morning we decided to spend a little time in with the family and give the fish a break. I mean after all we had just slaughtered them the day before HAHAHAHAHA!

Thursday morning I gave my buddy the option to try something new or go back where we had been the first day. He said he wanted to go back where we had seen fish. We were on the water by 5:30 and we fished some docks on the way out. We put a few rat reds in the boat, but nothing to write home about.

When the sun started to come up we made our way back to where we had seen reds the previous 2 trips and just like clockwork they were there again. I picked out a good one and my buddy makes a great cast. The red noses right up to it and FISH ON! I noticed pretty quickly that this fish wasn’t taking any drag which surprised me a little because the fish I saw was plenty big enough to peel some line out. As the fish got closer to the boat I realized it wasn’t a red fish at all, but a 20” flounder. Somehow in the midst of all the action they played the ol’ swticheroo. Still a good fish, but not the fight I had hoped for.

Since we were both checking out that morning we called it an early day as soon as the wind picked up. I must admit it was a little different for me as I tried my hand at guiding. I won’t be starting that business any time soon so no one has to worry. All in all it was a good week on the water. The conditions were not the best, but as I have been told many times, “The best time to fish is when you can!”

Thanks for reading and thanks for checking out my blog. Stay tuned after this weekend for an update on the Saltwater Survival Series.

Wind	Tide	Weather	Baro	Depth	Bottom	Lures
20-25 MPH	Incoming w/Small Differential	Sunny	Steady	1-3 FT	Mixed Mud & Shell	Flats Minnow SS Junior

Fishing the LSKS

This past Saturday (6/6/15) I decided to fish in my very first fishing tournament and what better tournament to fish than the Lone Star Kayak Series. Sonny Mills has been trying to talk me into fishing one of these events for quite some time and I finally decided there is no time like the present. With the school year wrapping up on Friday I needed something to kick off summer with and this seemed like the perfect plan.

The alarm went off at 3:00 am and I was loaded up and headed to “Reel Life’s” house by 3:30. After stopping for breakfast and a few quick snacks we were headed out. We met up with “Legocrusader” at one our favorite spots and shoved off at 6 am on the nose. I kind of expected to see more yaks on the water, but I was pleasantly surprised when I realized we had the place to our self.

After a short paddle I made my first cast of the morning and half way through my retrieve, FISH ON! A short fight later and I had my first red in the boat. She was a little over 20” and this is where I made my first tournament angler mistake. . .I let her go! I know, I know, I know, you can always upgrade, but when you land a fish on your first cast of the day you think surely I can catch two more. Well, we can talk about this later.

There was nervous bait and fish popping everywhere and a few casts later “Reel Life” hooks up with his first fish of the day and at 26.25” it goes on the stringer. We worked that section of water for another hour and never hooked up with another fish. At this point we decided to change locations to see if we could find them somewhere else.

As much as I love paddling when there is almost no wind sometimes it causes more harm than good. On this particular day it made fishing any form of protected water absolutely miserable. There was very little tide movement and with no wind blown current the fish were scattered everywhere and very difficult to find. After a couple of hours searching for fish in stagnant water we decided to head for the open bay and look for some under water structure.

After a little exploring I was able to locate a shallow water shell reef located on a point that had some decent water movement over it. On my first drift I hooked up again. This fish had some shoulders and was dragging me all over the place. In my mind this is the fish I had been looking for. When I finally get the first good look at it I realize it has way too many spots. This is probably the only time in my life I was disappointed about landing a fat 23.5” trout. I made a few more drifts and finally put one more red on the deck. At a perfect 21” I strung her up thinking I might have a good shot at winning the blackjack competition.

With time running out I turned my attention from fisherman to guide. I was thinking if “Reel Life” could get one more fish he might have a shot at the money. We fished until the absolute last minute and couldn’t find another fish. So we made the decision to hit the road and try to make weigh in. If nothing else the beer would be cold and the food would be good so we packed up and headed to the Lazy Lizard.

We pulled in the parking lot with 5 minutes to spare and upon arrival the weigh master said that we would both getting paid because were two of only 31 anglers to weigh in fish. After a few pictures were taken and some good food we received the final tally. I finished 27^th out of 125 anglers with a total weight of 3.7 lbs and even took down the black jack pot with a perfect 21” fish. “Reel Life” came in 18^th with his fish at 6.2 lbs. All in all it was a pretty good day and I am already looking forward to the August event. Next time around I won’t make the mistake of cutting loose a legal fish!

Wind	Tide	Weather	Baro	Depth	Bottom	Lures
0-3 MPH	Incoming w/Small Differential	Sunny	Steady	1-3 FT	Mixed Mud & Shell	Hunchback Skitterwalk

The Topwater Bite Is On Fire!

I had my choice of days this weekend to hit the water and after some consideration, and a list of honey-do’s I decided Sunday would be the day. The alarm went off at 3:00 am and “Reel Life” and I were loaded up and coast bound by 4:15. After stopping for a few breakfast burritos we were paddling by 6:00.

The morning started off with a brisk east wind and lots of chop. Paddling to my spot was rendered more difficult (and wet) than I had expected. After seeking shelter in the marsh we were greeted with tons of bait and what appeared to be active and feeding fish. They were feeding alright just not on anything we had to offer.

Since the tide was extremely high we decided to take this opportunity to explore the marsh a little bit. There were several areas now open to paddlers that had not been previously accessible. We paddled until we hit a dead end and I picked up my first fish of the day, a 24” red, in a marsh drain with just a little bit of wind induced current. For those of you new to the fishing game, if bait and current are both non-existent it is time to look for a new spot. He was CPR’d and two cast later I hooked up with another red on the opposite side of the same drain. This one shook the bait before I could get him in the boat.

Thinking I had a picked up on a pattern I tried every location with similar conditions on my way out of the marsh, but it was to no avail. I decided on a new plan and headed to open water with my drift sock hooked up and ready to be deployed.

I set up on a good 30 min drift across mixed mud and shell in about 4 feet of water and started working the topwater. After about 5 minutes I had seen my lure take a flying leap on 3 different occasions. The good news: there were fish to be caught. The bad news: they were a terrible aim. A few minutes later the successful sound of drag and my second red of the day. I ended up making two more drifts and finished the day with a limit of reds, and a 21” trout. All in all the weather ended up being great and the fishing wasn’t bad either.

Oh and just to add a word of caution. . .Stick It Pins DO NOT FLOAT. After netting my second red of the day I was trying to anchor off and stop my drift when my stake out stick slipped out of its clip and was claimed by Davy Jones’ Locker. They make a great product, but it doesn’t swim very well so leash it or lose it!

Wind	Tide	Weather	Baro	Depth	Bottom	Lures
1-5 MPH	≥ 1 Foot Above Normal	Mostly Sunny	Rising	1-4 FT	Mixed Mud & Shell	Hunchback Skitterwalk