I Hate Prefishing:FallnTideIX

The weather leading up to the event was perfect and fishing was easy ,but two days before the tournament a cold front passed through and threw a wrench in my plans. The winds picked up and made the area I planned on fishing look like the muddy mississippi river water. So I opted to hit my favorite launch on 23 and explore some areas I had never been to before. I launched early Friday morning in the 37 degree and 20 mile an hour north wind to look for some tournament winning fish. I started in a familiar area where I had caught all three fish before. I gave it 30 minutes and searched high and low but couldn't get a bite so I moved on to uncharted waters. I decided to head south along the levee that was blocking the wind. I made it to a dredged out canal that was about 25 feet and began jigging the drop off. After figuring out where the fish were holding I began to catch 11 inch trout every few casts after doing that for 15 minutes I decided to move on to find some bigger trout. By this time the sun had gotten over head and I moved to an adjacent flat that had some relatively clean water. I also noticed some mud slicks on the flat which can be a giveaway for rooting redfish. As I was working the bank with topwater I heard a huge splash behind me. I turned just in time to see a dolphin fin disappear below the surface . Then another dolphin breached 50 feet in front. At that point I gave up on that flat and decided to see if I could find the series of  ponds I had scouted on Google earth. When I made it to the entrance pond I was greeted by a 20 inch red that I initially thought was a big speckled trout.  After netting the red I could see a bigger one crashing bait and working down the shoreline towards me. As it neared I put my deadly Dudley right on his nose a little too close and instead of eating it he took off in a cloud of dust. At this point I decided to switch rigs to a bass jig and a gulp trailer. As i pulled into the pond i could see the reds floating and I staked out in a well traveled corner. It was like a conveyor belt of fish and with the bass jig flipping it in front proved to be deadly. I went through fish after fish and caught a perfect 26 3/4 fat redfish. After catching about 10 reds I decided to move out of the pond and double back to some of my tried and true trout spots. These turned out to be either too rough or too dirty to fish so I headed back to the launch.

Finally the Fall Run

Lake pontchartrain anglers have been waiting for the speckled trout to show up on the normal fall hotspots. I had been fishing all around lake Pontchartrain and catching a few here and there but have not been able to get anywhere near a 25 fish limit. This past  tuesday I had a couple hours that morning before I had to get to a meeting. I loaded up the night before and headed out early I arrived at the launch before the sun came up. I started working the mouth of a bayou close to the launch where I had been catching trout on topwater and suspended baits all october but nothing happened. Not one bite on the shoreline so I moved on to a nearby reef . My first cast at the reef yielded a solid 15 inch speck I spent the next hour catching fish on everything except topwater. I now switch my focus from lake pontchartrain to down highway 23 and the Fall n Tide tournament.





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Ifa Kayak Tour Championship Day 2

Day 2 started with a high confidence and higher expectations. My day 1 goal of 50 inches had grown to a 60 inch minimum for day two. Launching Saturday Morning the road was crowded with boats headed to the launches and I hoped no one would be in my trout spot by the time I got there. I got to my launch early rigged everything up on the outback and waited for safe light to launch. Finally after launching I headed out full speed to my trout spot. When I got there a couple boats were in the area but they weren't catching much. I worked around them for a while throwing top water but all I could get were two blow ups. I left them and went to work the shoreline I had so much success on the day before.  I started on the bottom with a 5 inch jerk shad and quickly picked up a big gaff top and then a little pinfish after that I switched back to topwater. This was the correct decision and on my first cast I was hooked up with a nice trout I took my time to not apply too much pressure, but as I raised my rod to put the fish in the net the hooks pulled and the big trout swam away. Next cast one twitch and fish on this was a visibly smaller fish but I took my time and ensured this one made it to the net.

A small speck.

I worked this shoreline for another 45 minutes never catching a trout over 18. By this time it was past 9:00 and I needed to begin looking for a 40 inch plus redfish. This was the part I was most concerned about I knew they were in the area but I wasn't sure if I could pull one out for a second day in a row.  I started jigging my gulp on a drop off in about 25 feet of water. On my first cast I was about to reel up and recast when my drag starts singing. I couldn't believe it on my first cast I had hooked a huge Bull red. After taking the initial run I was able to work the fish about 6 feet under the boat I could barely see it but I could tell it was long at this point it took another deep run. This time after it stopped I was able to work it to the surface and I realized I wasn't fighting a Bull Red I had perfectly hooked a big Alligator gar he was about 4 or 5 feet long.

Not the intended species but a nice catch.

After unhooking it and snapping the above picture I went back to jigging for the intended species. I continued jigging for an hour and a half with nothing to show but I stuck to my plan and kept dredging the bottom for that one big bite. At around 10:45 I felt a peculiar thump and immediately set the hook the line started stripping off my reel and I was sure I had the big one this time. I took my time fighting the fish but after the first minute or so  I could tell it wasn't as big as I needed it to be. after a mishap with the net I was able to land a thick baby bull red.

 

Not quite big enough for a check.

At this point time was getting low and I decided to move to a different spot closer to the launch. I had about an hour before I had to get on the road . I did hit a little flounder there but that was it I headed in with 47 inches to see where I would place. I ended up in 20th after a disappointing day 2 but overall I was proud of what I had accomplished. The entire weekend was a great experience and even though I didn't reach my goal the experience I gained will help me exceed the goals I set next year.

Election Day

Today while everyone was casting their vote I decided to cast a line for some speckled trout and redfish. I met up with my buddy Cody at the first launch on Paris rd. after the green bridge. We didn't really have a plan for the day just to fish trout early and then see what happened from there. We started near the bayou Bienvenue lock and Cody immediately had a bass on but it quickly shook off the hook. We then crossed the mrgo and the water began getting much cleaner and after a scientific taste test saltier. I began trying to find the speckled trout I threw topwater early but bites were few and far between. I did manage a couple blowups and was able to land a nice bass.

Barely hooked

I continued to work the area most days I would exclusively throw a topwater before 9am but it was so slow I switched to my current go to trout bait a Mirrolure Mirrodine Xl.With in the first hour Cody And I had only a bass and a speck he was having better success on topwater at the mouth of a bayou where water was draining. At this point I changed my strategy to drifting to locate schools of specks because I had tried all of the obvious areas. I began my drift about 50 feet off the bank working my mirrodine much slower than I have been in the past few weeks. I soon drifted into a school of mullet and wham I had a nice fish that ripped itself from the hooks. After resetting my drag I quickly had another bite and landed a solid 17 inch speckled trout. I continued this drift for a while and received steady hits but was only able to land two trout along with another bass. At this point I was tired of searching for specks and I decided it was time to explore deeper into the interior of the marsh for some slot reds. I met up with cody and we worked our way way back into a broken marsh area. The water was really high so we were able to get back in an area that doesn't see too many humans. I began blind casting a seein spots inline spinner to every point and little cut. About ten minutes into the redfish hunt I was hooked up with a 21 inch red that put up a little fight in such shallow water. I continued covering shoreline spooking a few nice reds I then moved back onto the lee shore and I quickly developed a pattern the reds were hugging so tight to the bank they were almost on dry land and they were hungry. A couple of the fish I caught hit as soon as the bait hit the water. One fish in particular hit the lure three times before I hooked it on the fourth cast. I prefer to fish for Big speckled trout but the redfish bite made me forget about my failure to catch any earlier in the day. It only took 30 minutes before I had my limit and I headed in at 12:30.

There are more pictures but I cant seem to find them Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for more pictures and tips that don't make it to the blog.
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One more thing Dont forget to vote for the kayak angler choice awards 2014 Vote Here

Ifa Kayak Tour Championship Day 1

 DAY 1 It started early Friday but not that early Because we had to wait until 6:45 safe light to launch. After taking my launch picture I hit the water and headed straight for my trout spot. I knew I would have to peddle fast because the sun was coming up and the big girls don't like to hit the top water much after the sun gets over the horizon.  I was unsuccessful in beating the sun but it was still early enough to catch a few on top my first was a decent 19 inch speck  I quickly took a picture of and released.

The picture is missing something. 

My goal was to catch at least 20 inch speckled trout. I knew that would put me in contention for the big trout so I kept throwing top water. Not even Five minutes later I had a huge blowup on top and I could tell I had a bigger trout on as he wouldn't come up to the surface. I took my time making sure to not apply too much pressure and rip the hooks out. I finally landed it and at 8:00 I knew I was done targeting trout for the day.

At this point i realized I didn't put the token on the other fish. 

I left my trout spot and headed for my big redfish flat that is situated right off some deeper water. As I was pulling up I could see finger mullet being blasted up and down the shoreline. I cast my top water in and after one twitch I was hooked into a nice 18 inch trout this continued every other cast for about 150 yards until I reached the flat. I did hook something big while fishing this stretch but it popped my line right after I set the hook. Once I got to the flat even bigger mullet were being chased and I knew the big reds were there nope more trout. If this wasn't a tournament I would have bee thrilled to be catching all these trout especially since they were all 16 inches or better but I needed a redfish. Abandoning that trout bite was hard to do I more than once thought about saying screw the tournament and filling up my ice chest . I stuck to the plan and headed to a deep main drain where the water was moving and I had caught a couple bulls before. Five minutes in I hit what I thought was a snag  but soon It started moving. A couple minutes later I had a solid 30 1/2 inch redfish and was taking my picture. I felt great having 51 inches and it was only 10:00 especially since that was my goal going into the day.

Notice anything missing?

In my excitement I forgot a very important element for the picture again twice on the same day.   Forgetting the token on a 18 inch trout and upgrading was a part of the plan, not having a 30 inch redfish that I landed count would be devastating. After taking a quick water break and composing myself I went back to jigging. After 15 minutes of nothing I had a hit turned out to be a gafftop. Then I popped my line twice in the next ten minutes. I continued jigging At this point I had roughly an hour and a half until I had to head back to the launch.  I wouldn't need that much time because my drag began to sing and I knew I had a big fish on the end of my line. I took my time with this fish as I only had 15 pound mono spooled up and I didn't want my line to pop. I was praying it wasn't a black drum but I took my time and fought it much longer than normal. I landed it and headed to the bank to measure. It was big but I guessed it was 36 inches when I finally measured it was 39inches and it would have been at least 40 if it had a whole tail.

Headed to the bank to measure. 

The fish was not as excited as me.

Maxed out at 39 inches.

Day one went about as good as A tournament has ever gone for me I was able to stay calm and composed throughout and execute my plan. There were some great numbers put up on day one ,and after the first day I was near the top of the leader board.I was in 6th place with 60 inches only two inches behind the leader.

Stay tuned for Day 2.