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Fished yesterday afternoon in order to get ready for the upcoming KO Kayak Tournament. Started fishing some marsh for some reds, but with the outgoing tide coupled with north winds, I decided to quickly leave the marsh and look for a drain. That was the right call as fish were aggressively feeding on the baitfish leaving the marsh. It was pretty cool to see mullet, shrimp and shad being blown up left and right. Unfortunately, my bait was competing with all the other bait and the casts had to be perfect in order to get strikes. I was throwing a hackberry in morning glory on a 1/8th oz jighead. When the casts were perfect I caught trout after trout, mainly in the 16 inch range. I then noticed the flounder shooting sky high with mouthfuls of bait. I subsequently caught a 19 inch flounder that was begging to be stuffed. As the sun set, the fish were even more active. I saw a pod of reds move in. I threw a black super spook jr, in hopes of catching one. As the light faded I saw my spook disappear (with no fiery watery explosion involved) and my drag started singing. I know that some big trout like to just pop bait and take off with it and I reasoned that with all the bait being busted up around me, I must've missed the blow-up.
The fish made a beeline for the open bay. Along the way out, I could feel the line hitting baitfish. I did a quick release of my stake out pole and let the fish pull me away. The fish never came up to the surface, which made me doubt it was a trout but a red instead. I finally pulled the fish within a few feet of the yak...and there it was...a monster flounder hanging on by the back treble hook. It was the first time I hooked a flounder on topwater! Strike that off my goal for this year. I netted it, and measured it. It went 23 and was pretty hefty. I didn't have my phone on me, but the fish was way bigger than this 19 incher I kept.
Today, I had the same game plan. The trout were active, and I caught 40 + keepers pretty much the whole day working drop offs, guts, and rip rap. There were the occasional 20 + inchers, but I couldn't locate them with any consistency. I then moved off the trout to look for flounder and revisited the drain from yesterday. Unfortunately, the tidal movement was not in my favor, and I couldn't find them. I proceeded to go and check out my plan "D" onward spots in case all of the other locations don't produce tournament day. I ended up staying at one spot that was just a deep channel. I found very small trout in it but nothing to write home about. Along the way out, I saw some bait fleeing and made a cast with a TTF MTK in morning glory. Forty five minutes and one mile later, I pull out this behemoth on 10 lb braid. Needless to say, I was tuckered out and decided to head in.
I was so stoked for tournament day that I woke up at around 3 and didn't go back to bed. I was out on the water by 6:30 paddling to my spots.
My goal was to try and get the trout early, and move to flounder later in the day as the tide shifted. By 8:30, I had one trout that went 17 and nothing more. I decided to go to the drain which should be at the beginning stages of flowing out and go after flounder and revisit trout later. Along the way out I passed a flat that always looked promising but I never got around to fishing it. I got to the flat and first cast…BAM…ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz FISH ON! I make battle with it for a long 7 minutes and pull up a big red! I was shaking while I netted the fish. I then boga'd it to find she went a little over 9 lbs. I thought I had just won the redfish category! I pull out my check it stick…28.00000000000001. GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
But…all is not lost. Where there is one redfish, there should be more! I fish the flat hard and switch over to a spinner bait with gulp. I reach the edge of the flat and BAM! ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz FISH O….. came off! I see the red surface and turn around looking for its missed meal. I give the bait a twitch….ZZZZZZZZzzzzzz FISH ON! WHooooo……NOOOOOOOOO…fish came off again! I look for signs of the fish returning to no avail. However, I did see one tailing a dozen yards away. Make a pitch…twitch and flutter….FISH ON! What?! A 15 inch flounder beat the red to the bait! I still see the red as I unhook the flounder. I make one more cast….nothing. I had just messed up my shots at catching reds.
By now I was pretty discouraged. I make a move to the drain to find it devoid of any signs of fish. Morale pretty much bottomed out at this point. I decided to go back to my plan “D” spot and see if I could make some magic happen. First cast…and BOOM, 26.5 inch red. A hefty specimen which got me second place in the tournament. I released her after the weigh in as thanks (and for good karma)
The fish made a beeline for the open bay. Along the way out, I could feel the line hitting baitfish. I did a quick release of my stake out pole and let the fish pull me away. The fish never came up to the surface, which made me doubt it was a trout but a red instead. I finally pulled the fish within a few feet of the yak...and there it was...a monster flounder hanging on by the back treble hook. It was the first time I hooked a flounder on topwater! Strike that off my goal for this year. I netted it, and measured it. It went 23 and was pretty hefty. I didn't have my phone on me, but the fish was way bigger than this 19 incher I kept.
Today, I had the same game plan. The trout were active, and I caught 40 + keepers pretty much the whole day working drop offs, guts, and rip rap. There were the occasional 20 + inchers, but I couldn't locate them with any consistency. I then moved off the trout to look for flounder and revisited the drain from yesterday. Unfortunately, the tidal movement was not in my favor, and I couldn't find them. I proceeded to go and check out my plan "D" onward spots in case all of the other locations don't produce tournament day. I ended up staying at one spot that was just a deep channel. I found very small trout in it but nothing to write home about. Along the way out, I saw some bait fleeing and made a cast with a TTF MTK in morning glory. Forty five minutes and one mile later, I pull out this behemoth on 10 lb braid. Needless to say, I was tuckered out and decided to head in.
I was so stoked for tournament day that I woke up at around 3 and didn't go back to bed. I was out on the water by 6:30 paddling to my spots.
My goal was to try and get the trout early, and move to flounder later in the day as the tide shifted. By 8:30, I had one trout that went 17 and nothing more. I decided to go to the drain which should be at the beginning stages of flowing out and go after flounder and revisit trout later. Along the way out I passed a flat that always looked promising but I never got around to fishing it. I got to the flat and first cast…BAM…ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz FISH ON! I make battle with it for a long 7 minutes and pull up a big red! I was shaking while I netted the fish. I then boga'd it to find she went a little over 9 lbs. I thought I had just won the redfish category! I pull out my check it stick…28.00000000000001. GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
But…all is not lost. Where there is one redfish, there should be more! I fish the flat hard and switch over to a spinner bait with gulp. I reach the edge of the flat and BAM! ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz FISH O….. came off! I see the red surface and turn around looking for its missed meal. I give the bait a twitch….ZZZZZZZZzzzzzz FISH ON! WHooooo……NOOOOOOOOO…fish came off again! I look for signs of the fish returning to no avail. However, I did see one tailing a dozen yards away. Make a pitch…twitch and flutter….FISH ON! What?! A 15 inch flounder beat the red to the bait! I still see the red as I unhook the flounder. I make one more cast….nothing. I had just messed up my shots at catching reds.
By now I was pretty discouraged. I make a move to the drain to find it devoid of any signs of fish. Morale pretty much bottomed out at this point. I decided to go back to my plan “D” spot and see if I could make some magic happen. First cast…and BOOM, 26.5 inch red. A hefty specimen which got me second place in the tournament. I released her after the weigh in as thanks (and for good karma)
......good job on your 2 place finish!
COMMUNITY WITH A LARGE
PROBLEM AND A 
PROBLEM.
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