Thursday
Capt D.P. and I left Pensacola around 1315 bound for Venice, La. We arrived just before daylight, got the boat in the water, and headed to polish our game plan. Our #1 spot was holding too much dirty water for us to see our quarry so we moved on to check some of the local jetties. We found a few fish, a couple of which were near tournament grade fish and decided to pack it in for the day. Upon getting to the hotel we had to get everything ready for Friday morning. That included rigging tackle, fueling the boat, attending the captains meeting, and getting some sleep.
Friday
Boat inspections began at 0600 and we had a 20 mile drive to make before that, so the alarm blared at 0430. The rods and push pole were loaded and we made our way to the ramp through the 20-30 mph winds and rain engorged clouds...it seemed like it was going to be a long, possibly very wet day. After check-out we had to navigate the Empire Lock out into the main Mississippi River, then take the river south to our chosen rock jetties.
The morning was slow, but, after making several adjustments dodging rain clouds and trying to stay somewhat out of the wind (which was nearly impossible), we found a red hot bite at one of our rock piles. The fishing went from slow to phenomenal in that one 3 mile run. The conditions were well short of perfect with constant 3-5 foot swells and an occasional 7-8 footer, I know neither of us would have taken a charter out into those kinds of seas, but the bite was unreal! One man ran the boat, trying to keep it clear of the rocks, while the other fished, trying to secure our place in next years tournament series. I happened to be up first and caught probably 7 or 8 before the incredibly mean, dirty fighting redfish of South Louisiana got the best of me; and that's how the rotation started. Every 10 or 15 minutes we'd swap spots until the guy on the bow got tired or the guy driving just couldn't stand watching the other any longer. For a solid hour (maybe longer, we kinda lost track of time there for a little while) we caught fish, one cast after another. These fish were so ferocious they did this to my POPPING CORK!!! (That's a new one on the left)
Literally eating the popping cork while another fish was already hooked on the trailing jig, 2 feet away. DP caught one fish that was 40 pounds if he was an ounce...I broke the landing net trying to boat him and Dusty had to use both arms to get the fish off the deck and back into the water. UNBELIEVABLE!!! The clock was running out and we had a 45 mile ride back to the weigh in. We had done well and had two fish, a 27" and a 26 3/4" fish, to take back to the scales.
We made it back to check-in with less than five minutes to spare and a fuel gauge that read barely over "E". On the stage our fish were weighed, totalling 15.04 lbs, putting us in 9th for day one. SWEET! Check it out here DAY 1 RESULTS
Food,Fuel,Shower,Rig Tackle,Sleep,Alarm at 0430...
Saturday
Saturday morning dawned bright, with lighter winds than Friday (in the 10 mph range). Of course we ran right back to the spot where we caught our fish the day before. There was only one real difference from yesterday; there were two charter boats sitting there, wearing the redfish out! Our hearts sank.
We fished further down the jetty but only caught over-size fish. In a unanimous decision, we headed for another set of jetties a few miles away. Good thing too, watching them catch and release those fish was beginning to make me nauseous. At the next stop we found a few fish in the slot, but overall they were too small to really help us in the tournament. We stayed there until we couldn't stand it any longer and had to return to the previous set of rocks.
The charter guys were leaving when we showed up, time to get to work! Nearly every fish we caught the first 30 minutes was a upgrade. After getting two nice fish in the well we started having trouble finding larger fish that fit into the slot and were bigger than the ones already in the live-well. The clock was running out fast! At 1315 we HAD to leave with what we had, one right at 27" and one just over 26". Two nice fish, sure, but not enough to get us to the 30.5 lbs we figured we'd need to qualify.
Our day two weight was 13.7, added to Fridays 15.04 we had a two day total of 28.74. That left us 1.67 lbs short of the three way tie of 30.41 for the final qualifying slots. Disappointing? Absolutely. Total loss? Absolutely NOT!
We finished in 21st, above quite a few of last years teams and a few familiar faces from Saturday morning TV. That's just how tournament fishing (and fishing in general) goes, one day you can do no wrong, one day you can do no right. We have 12 months to get ready for the next Invitational. To those 20 teams that finished higher...watch out, we're coming for you! Full results can be seen here FINAL RESULTS
Thanks to:
-My wife, I couldn't do any of this without you!
-My kids, for sending me all the fishing luck you could muster.
-The rest of my family and Captain Dusty's family for supporting us throughout all we do, it means the world to us!
-All of our friends who were rooting for us, I think if they based qualifying solely on the size of your cheering section we would win hands down!
-You, for taking time out to read this.
Stay tuned for stories from the upcoming IFA Redfish Tour Championship Nov 7-8.
