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Game plans are a great thing....when they work out! Saturday was not a day that went as planned. All week Long Daniel and I had planned to fish one of the spots that we have caught big trout all winter long. It's interesting, because we have been trying to keep track of which of the several locations that we have been fishing was holding the heaviest fish. Given the weather, we thought we were going to be able to fish the best one. Went to bed Friday night, very confident that the plan would play out as it has all season. Saturday morning, woke up at 3 am and checked the bouys around the bay, and immediately became aware that our game plan had changed. Southeast at 20 knots!!! Just not going to work.
We made the drive to spot number two, ranke dby the weight of the fish. We got in the water at 5:07, and walked in our separate directions. We fished about 80 yards apart in the dark, and the start was very slow. Just before six I could hear a HUGE blow up on Daniel's Superspook. I stood there in the dark thinking, "Please land that fish". I didn't find out for another hour, but she had missed the plug. at about 6 I missed my first bite on the Fat Boy, shortly follwed by watching Daniel do the big trout dance. All I could see was that his headlight was on and he was spinning in circles. Still dark, I couldn't tell for sure if he landed her, but I was certainly starting to feel good knowing they were there. At 6:17 I got a big thump at the end of a long cast. This fish didn't miss. The thimp was followed by screaming drag, and I stood there thinking, "Don't be a big redfish, I'm in a trout tournament!" After several hard runs, I got the fish in close and finally saw her in the headlight. Thank goodness, she was a trout. Got her to the grab, and on the string, and knew we must be off to a decent start. My fish was right at 4 pounds.
The bite seemed to slow, so I waded towards Daniel. We compared stories and fish. He only had one, but she was a little over 6 pounds. Ten pounds on the string and the sun hadn't even made the horizon! I was feeling even better. It was back to business, and I walked back towards my preferred area. As I was getting close, the bait started hopping again. I got exited as two mullet jumped right on the little area where I usuallly catch the biggest fish. As I got within range, wham! Fat Boy got thimped again!! This fish was really nice, and had the Corky in that classic wedged across the jaw position. She spent a good 5 seconds thrashing at the surface, and then a good 5 minutes of hard fighting, while I employed ever trick that I could think of to keep her on the hooks. We danced a few circles, and as soon as I saw a clean shot, I grabbed her. Another great fish on the string at 6 pounds. A few minutes later I could see Daniel on a fish. The bite again slowed, and we started working are way back to compare the fish. Wow! was all I could say. 4 fish on the strings, at 7:30 am. 3 at 6 pounds, and one at 4!! we decided that we needed to see if any of the 3 big ones would be under 25 inches, so we walked to the truck to get the checkit stick and the digital scale.
After weighing and measuring each of the fish, we had 2 that were twins at 6.06, one at 6.09, and the small one at 4.07. This was great, but all 3 of the 6's were over 25. We culled the second two, and now only had a two fish string. Took an awesome picture of the fish sitting there in shallow water, and went back to the grind. We now only had one goal, catch a heavy trout under 25 inches. We caught a few dinks as the wind was calming down, but no more big bites. With another hour gone, and the wind under 10, we decided that a move was in order. We knew that we had a spot where the fish would be heavier, and we desparately needed a 5 punder that would be under 25 inches.
Our move was marginally successful, but very difficult to fish. The wind had picked back up and was steady gaining speed. We fished for about two hours in what looked like a washing machine full of muddy water, and found only one group of fish. The bite there was short lived, and there were no signs at all that the fish were there. I stood in one spot for just under an hour and got 12 bites. Some were most definitely big, but I was only able to keep the hooks in 3. They were all clones, at just over 3 pounds. As the wind got over 20, or maybe 25, and the waves became unbearable, we called it quits.
At the weigh in, we knew that we were in decent shape, but felt pretty sure that the conditions would have favored others. We weighed in 13.99, and a 6.2 big fish. This weight had us in 1st place, and the Daniel's bigfish was leading the charge as well. Then came the lone ranger, Aaron Stillwagon, with a very nice string of trout. 16.45 pounds!! taking the lead, but we were still holding on to big trout. Then came the team of Havens and Renteria, great friends, and great anglers for sure. They had one very big trout at 7.58 but the cards didn't give them the bites for the rest of the string.
The tournament layed out exactly as our morning observation suggested, Aaron won with two very fat trout under 25 and a nice 6 pounder to top it off. Havens and Renteria, took big fish, but their 2nd and 3rd fish just weren't enough to get them in the hunt.
Congrats to all who fished, the conditions weren't exactly cooperative, but John and Eric, with their big trout and Aaron with the best string deserve all the credit in the world! As always, it's a blast to fish against these guys, and it's always an honor to be in the running. Looking forward to the final round, on April the 17th. The points chase will run to the final tournament and if my calculations are correct, Aaron is in the lead.
Pics of the tournament to follow, the attached are one of the one of the six pounders swimming away and Daniel's big trout giving back an 8 inch mullet.
We made the drive to spot number two, ranke dby the weight of the fish. We got in the water at 5:07, and walked in our separate directions. We fished about 80 yards apart in the dark, and the start was very slow. Just before six I could hear a HUGE blow up on Daniel's Superspook. I stood there in the dark thinking, "Please land that fish". I didn't find out for another hour, but she had missed the plug. at about 6 I missed my first bite on the Fat Boy, shortly follwed by watching Daniel do the big trout dance. All I could see was that his headlight was on and he was spinning in circles. Still dark, I couldn't tell for sure if he landed her, but I was certainly starting to feel good knowing they were there. At 6:17 I got a big thump at the end of a long cast. This fish didn't miss. The thimp was followed by screaming drag, and I stood there thinking, "Don't be a big redfish, I'm in a trout tournament!" After several hard runs, I got the fish in close and finally saw her in the headlight. Thank goodness, she was a trout. Got her to the grab, and on the string, and knew we must be off to a decent start. My fish was right at 4 pounds.
The bite seemed to slow, so I waded towards Daniel. We compared stories and fish. He only had one, but she was a little over 6 pounds. Ten pounds on the string and the sun hadn't even made the horizon! I was feeling even better. It was back to business, and I walked back towards my preferred area. As I was getting close, the bait started hopping again. I got exited as two mullet jumped right on the little area where I usuallly catch the biggest fish. As I got within range, wham! Fat Boy got thimped again!! This fish was really nice, and had the Corky in that classic wedged across the jaw position. She spent a good 5 seconds thrashing at the surface, and then a good 5 minutes of hard fighting, while I employed ever trick that I could think of to keep her on the hooks. We danced a few circles, and as soon as I saw a clean shot, I grabbed her. Another great fish on the string at 6 pounds. A few minutes later I could see Daniel on a fish. The bite again slowed, and we started working are way back to compare the fish. Wow! was all I could say. 4 fish on the strings, at 7:30 am. 3 at 6 pounds, and one at 4!! we decided that we needed to see if any of the 3 big ones would be under 25 inches, so we walked to the truck to get the checkit stick and the digital scale.
After weighing and measuring each of the fish, we had 2 that were twins at 6.06, one at 6.09, and the small one at 4.07. This was great, but all 3 of the 6's were over 25. We culled the second two, and now only had a two fish string. Took an awesome picture of the fish sitting there in shallow water, and went back to the grind. We now only had one goal, catch a heavy trout under 25 inches. We caught a few dinks as the wind was calming down, but no more big bites. With another hour gone, and the wind under 10, we decided that a move was in order. We knew that we had a spot where the fish would be heavier, and we desparately needed a 5 punder that would be under 25 inches.
Our move was marginally successful, but very difficult to fish. The wind had picked back up and was steady gaining speed. We fished for about two hours in what looked like a washing machine full of muddy water, and found only one group of fish. The bite there was short lived, and there were no signs at all that the fish were there. I stood in one spot for just under an hour and got 12 bites. Some were most definitely big, but I was only able to keep the hooks in 3. They were all clones, at just over 3 pounds. As the wind got over 20, or maybe 25, and the waves became unbearable, we called it quits.
At the weigh in, we knew that we were in decent shape, but felt pretty sure that the conditions would have favored others. We weighed in 13.99, and a 6.2 big fish. This weight had us in 1st place, and the Daniel's bigfish was leading the charge as well. Then came the lone ranger, Aaron Stillwagon, with a very nice string of trout. 16.45 pounds!! taking the lead, but we were still holding on to big trout. Then came the team of Havens and Renteria, great friends, and great anglers for sure. They had one very big trout at 7.58 but the cards didn't give them the bites for the rest of the string.
The tournament layed out exactly as our morning observation suggested, Aaron won with two very fat trout under 25 and a nice 6 pounder to top it off. Havens and Renteria, took big fish, but their 2nd and 3rd fish just weren't enough to get them in the hunt.
Congrats to all who fished, the conditions weren't exactly cooperative, but John and Eric, with their big trout and Aaron with the best string deserve all the credit in the world! As always, it's a blast to fish against these guys, and it's always an honor to be in the running. Looking forward to the final round, on April the 17th. The points chase will run to the final tournament and if my calculations are correct, Aaron is in the lead.
Pics of the tournament to follow, the attached are one of the one of the six pounders swimming away and Daniel's big trout giving back an 8 inch mullet.
Attached Files
I have an uncontrolable desire to wanna jerk my rod.
COMMUNITY WITH A LARGE
PROBLEM AND A 
PROBLEM.
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