Prefishing Redfish Rumble VII

  Quick report because I am not going into detail because its tournament time ,and because I forgot many of the details with Mardi Gras happening between me taking this trip and me writing this.  I decided to sneak in some fishing before Mardi Gras completely took over. I figured I would have to practice if I wanted to match my previous tournament finish. In fact I hadn't caught a fish since that tournament so I was a little rusty. I had a feeling that this would be a good day being the second day after a front passed .

  I woke up early on the 28th and headed to launch at an area within the tournament boundaries. I arrived at the launch and waited for two boats with huge sight fishing platforms to launch once they left I was on my way. My plan for the day was to cover about 11 miles round trip to see if I could spook some St.Bernard Bass and Redfish. The wind was blowing out of the southeast at 10-15 mph which didn't cloud up the water but made sight casting the fish much harder. I paddled against the wind out to my first spot  in a large open pond I fished all the way around pitching to points and cuts.I proceeded with no action too show for it ,but on the protected side I did notice some bait fish activity on the surface. I then worked the protected side of a smaller pond again more bait activity and spooked a red or two. I meandered through a series of interconnected ponds and bayous seeing lots of bait but it seemed that I was the only predator.I exited out of a large bayou into a huge open grass flat.The first good sign was a redfish that flashed about 15 feet in front of my Outback. 

Then a sheephead darted out on the left side at this point I deployed my  homemade drift sock, and started casting.I would tell you what lures,but its tournament time I'm already saying too much. The reds were stacked in this one area and I quickly caught two keepers  26, 28.

First fish of the day a perfect 26 inch tournament fish

 I released two more over slot and lost about a 20 incher at the boat. I fished my way back to the launch picking up another 22 inch keeper. It was a good start to learning the area even though the green trout eluded me this trip. I should be out there in the next few days and I will be focused on catching them.

This was a fat fish came in at 28 inches