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| First place |
I had only fished in Cocodrie once before and that was the dreadful Minimalist challenge. I was determined not to repeat my performance and just to catch something to weigh in. After studying every report from Cocodrie on the internet I was able to make a map of likely areas and techniques that I would target. Prefishing the Friday before I launched and headed south to begin a nine mile circuit that would let me cover multiple different . On the day of the tournament I would concentrate on the best area. Prefishing scressful and did not see a fish the entire day. I did count eight otters and four dolphins. So that night I decided to go to an area I read about in a report that had been pretty consistent throughout the winter hoping they would still be in the area. The only problem is that it was a long trip and the weather had been more like spring with temps in the 60's and mild winds.
5:00 am the bag swap I received bag number Twelve it contained eight paddle tail baits and a gold weedless spoon. Immediately I tied on a chicken on the chain colored paddletail on a 3/8th ounce jighead along with the weedless gold spoon and my wildcard a topwater. I launched my Outback and awaited the signal to start. Once the signal was given at 6:30 I took off peddling and didn't stop until I reached my destination at 7:45. The pond I was fishing had one bank that gradually dropped off to about 12 feet deep ,and the other bank dropped off sharply within two feet of the bank. It took me a little while to figure out where the fish were holding on the drop off. At 8:18 I hooked up on my first Redfish which quickly came up to the surface and spit the hook. I cried for two minutes then resumed my drift where I caught a nineteen inch Redfish one of the two I ended up weighing in. Later on that same drift I caught a seventeen inch red which I threw in the box and figured if I didn't catch any thing else at least I would have two fish to weigh in. I made the drift a couple more times and caught eight reds all under sixteen inches. I then experimented with different drifts around the pond to find some larger fish without a bite. I then returned to the hot bank and caught a couple more small fish and another nineteen inch fish the second of my fish I weighed. I caught a few more fish on the same drift none better than the two I already had. So I decided to make my way back in at 12:00. I took my time on the way back and got to coco marina around 2:30 and awaited the weigh-in. I ended up catching eighteen Redfish on the day and they were all tiny. They were all caught by bouncing a 3/8 ounce jighead and soft plastic of the bottom. I was surprised to find out only three people out of thirty five brought fish to the weigh-in.With my two nineteen inch reds I was able to secure first place by .1 pounds.
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