Met up with Wyatt, Eric, and Vaughn this morning at Galvez Landing at 0630. These guys were interested in Redfish...Big Redfish. Our first order of business was bait; I caught a dozen Pinfish before we left, but that wouldn't be enough, so we stopped to add a few White Trout to the live-well.
The White Trout bite was excellent! We kept 12 for dinner and 20 for bait. (Of the more than 50 fish we landed in the 45 minutes we stayed) What a blast! With the bait secured, we moved to the Pass to try the deep water Redfish bite.
Score a double header on the first drift! Vaughn and Eric both boat nice Reds and I reach for my camera for the photo op. Turn it on, look through the view finder and see NO MEMORY CARD FOUND blaring on the screen. So much for that idea! Two more drifts produce three Redfish, two of which were in the slot, and a Sail Cat that had to weigh 6 lbs. By now it's 0900 and already it's been a great morning. I suggest we run the Gulf side beach and look for Pompano, the guys agree.
As we're exiting the Pass, Wyatt points out the birds diving near Pickins Point. I look over and see a wave of Bull Redfish pushing a school of Pogies. I turn the boat and head us over. What follows is best summed up by Vaughn, as he's standing there in awe, right after releasing a big red, "WOW! I just saw a thousand fish swimming right at me! That was awesome! I've never seen anything like it." ...Yeah, that's a pretty accurate depiction.
Throwing bucktail jigs and swim baits, we released probably 20 fish in the next hour and fifteen minutes. I even got to catch one, on 8#, that was cool! I just wish I had a memory card. We had fish swimming around the boat numerous times. I don't know how to properly explain what we saw; again, Vaughn's quote can't be beat.
By 1030 we were ready to call it a day, head back, clean fish, and get a nap. Thanks again Wyatt, Eric, and Vaughn, it was a pleasure.
Hey you sitting at the computer. Get out there and FISH!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
2008 IFA Redfish Tour Championship
Thursday: Pre-fishing/Anglers meeting
Dusty spent the day in Choctawhatchee Bay, checking on fish and looking for more. He did a great job! The fish I had found were still there and he found another awesome spot loaded with perfect fish. Other places we key on in the Destin-Fort Walton area were also holding fish, so we decided to make the 45+ mile run from Panama City on friday.
Registration began at 1700, followed by the anglers meeting at 1830. When registration closed, 119 teams had qualified and made the drive to fish. We drew boat #24, putting us in the first flight on day one (check-in at 1500) and the last flight on day two (check-in at 1600). (The check-out order is flipped the second day to ensure equal fishing time to all compediters) After the meeting concluded we went back to the boat to finish preparations and get some sleep. Here's an example of the lengths you have to go to make sure everything's ready for game day.
(This is the brother's Maxwell's set-up)
Friday: Day 1
The alarm blared at 0400 and we were out of the parking lot by 0430. Check-out began at 0600 and we didn't want to get stuck behind a hundred other guys at the ramp. Once we checked-out we headed straight for Destin, an hour away. The fishing was almost surreal. We caught 40 or so redfish over the course of the day. Seeing them in schools of 2-10 and nearly every fish that you could get a bait close to, ate it. Probably one of my best fishing days ever, a day Dusty and I will tell stories about for a long time.
Our two fish weren't really BIG, but they were solid 5lb fish. We felt good about what we had, yet we knew it wasn't what we needed. The scale put us at 10.86, somewhere around 20th after the first day. Sweet!
Saturday: Day 2
Todays events were very similar to yesterday with a few exceptions. Extremely dense fog in the ICW between Panama City and Destin caused us to crawl along, adding 30 min to our ride, costing us precious time. Our fish had also changed patterns over night, calling for an adjustment on our part. The bite was much slower than yesterday, where we caught 40 on friday we caught 5 today. We saw plenty of nice reds but getting them to even look at a bait was a chore. Todays two fish weren't quite as nice as yesterdays and we were hoping the bite was as slow for everyone else. We really wanted to stay in the top 25 and recover some of our expenses.
Our fish tipped the scales to 9.78, a little light, but giving us a two day total of 20.64 which was enough to secure us 20th place in the tournament. That felt good, 20th of 119. (It even looks nice written out) You can see full results here
This was the seasons last tournament and I'm ready for a break. I'm also making plans for next season! Thanks for stopping by.
Dusty spent the day in Choctawhatchee Bay, checking on fish and looking for more. He did a great job! The fish I had found were still there and he found another awesome spot loaded with perfect fish. Other places we key on in the Destin-Fort Walton area were also holding fish, so we decided to make the 45+ mile run from Panama City on friday.
Registration began at 1700, followed by the anglers meeting at 1830. When registration closed, 119 teams had qualified and made the drive to fish. We drew boat #24, putting us in the first flight on day one (check-in at 1500) and the last flight on day two (check-in at 1600). (The check-out order is flipped the second day to ensure equal fishing time to all compediters) After the meeting concluded we went back to the boat to finish preparations and get some sleep. Here's an example of the lengths you have to go to make sure everything's ready for game day.
Friday: Day 1
The alarm blared at 0400 and we were out of the parking lot by 0430. Check-out began at 0600 and we didn't want to get stuck behind a hundred other guys at the ramp. Once we checked-out we headed straight for Destin, an hour away. The fishing was almost surreal. We caught 40 or so redfish over the course of the day. Seeing them in schools of 2-10 and nearly every fish that you could get a bait close to, ate it. Probably one of my best fishing days ever, a day Dusty and I will tell stories about for a long time.
Our two fish weren't really BIG, but they were solid 5lb fish. We felt good about what we had, yet we knew it wasn't what we needed. The scale put us at 10.86, somewhere around 20th after the first day. Sweet!
Saturday: Day 2
Todays events were very similar to yesterday with a few exceptions. Extremely dense fog in the ICW between Panama City and Destin caused us to crawl along, adding 30 min to our ride, costing us precious time. Our fish had also changed patterns over night, calling for an adjustment on our part. The bite was much slower than yesterday, where we caught 40 on friday we caught 5 today. We saw plenty of nice reds but getting them to even look at a bait was a chore. Todays two fish weren't quite as nice as yesterdays and we were hoping the bite was as slow for everyone else. We really wanted to stay in the top 25 and recover some of our expenses.
Our fish tipped the scales to 9.78, a little light, but giving us a two day total of 20.64 which was enough to secure us 20th place in the tournament. That felt good, 20th of 119. (It even looks nice written out) You can see full results here
This was the seasons last tournament and I'm ready for a break. I'm also making plans for next season! Thanks for stopping by.
Monday, November 3, 2008
31 Oct - 02 Nov 2008
Friday, Oct 31
I spent today in Destin pre-fishing for the IFA Championship, by myself. A nice day on the water, no one to worry about, didn't have to answer the phone, no kids saying "I want", good fishing, it was HEAVEN! I found the fish I was looking for, putting together a 12.5 lb aggregate, sight fishing East Choctawhatchee Bay. I boated 4 fish and saw probably 20, most of which swam by as I was trying to net other fish, and maneuver the boat, weigh and measure... It was nice fishing by myself, sure, but I never said it was easy! I left Destin around 1330, headed home to fire up the grill for our usual Halloween cookout.
Saturday, Nov 01
As you well know, I've been spending a lot of time out of town lately. I've missed most of my son's soccer games this season, so I wasn't about to miss this one (with only 3 games left) I slept in, hung out on the couch with the kids watching SpongeBob, attended the game (we lost 7-1, our only loss so far this season), then played the good husband. I swallowed my pride, let my wife pick out clothes for me (she said I couldn't wear ANYTHING with a fish on it, not even a belt!), and went for a family photo session at the beach. I didn't talk bout fishing the whole day... well I don't remember it if I did. I'm sure my wife would set this straight if she had my blog password, but it's my blog and I'm going to remember it like I want. When the picture taking was over we dropped off the kids with my parents for the night and spent some quality time by ourselves.
For anyone looking for a family photographer, check out my wife's work at gypsyisle.com I know I might be a little bias, but I think her work is awesome.
Sunday, Nov 02
Dusty, our friend David and I met at 0500 in Gulf Breeze, loaded the truck and were off for Panama City. The boat was in the water a little after 0700 and we were on our flat no later than 0715. The wind was blowing out of the North at around 10kts and the tide was falling. We eased toward the beach, planning on running the bank, got within 200 feet and hit bottom. The wind and tide had taken too much of our water and we just couldn't make it where we needed to.
Plan B... hit a few of our favorite docks. Rolled up to the first one, no bites. The second dock, however, was on fire; we pulled 10 fish off of it, but most of them were too small to help us in the tourney. We peeled off to an adjacent flat that was slightly deeper than our first stop and found 5 perfect fish before moving on to check a few more flats. The water hadn't come in much, but enough for us to find a few fish on one of our preferred flats. In all a great day, we packed it in around 1500 and headed home.
Tournament dates, Nov 7-8 2008
I spent today in Destin pre-fishing for the IFA Championship, by myself. A nice day on the water, no one to worry about, didn't have to answer the phone, no kids saying "I want", good fishing, it was HEAVEN! I found the fish I was looking for, putting together a 12.5 lb aggregate, sight fishing East Choctawhatchee Bay. I boated 4 fish and saw probably 20, most of which swam by as I was trying to net other fish, and maneuver the boat, weigh and measure... It was nice fishing by myself, sure, but I never said it was easy! I left Destin around 1330, headed home to fire up the grill for our usual Halloween cookout.
Saturday, Nov 01
As you well know, I've been spending a lot of time out of town lately. I've missed most of my son's soccer games this season, so I wasn't about to miss this one (with only 3 games left) I slept in, hung out on the couch with the kids watching SpongeBob, attended the game (we lost 7-1, our only loss so far this season), then played the good husband. I swallowed my pride, let my wife pick out clothes for me (she said I couldn't wear ANYTHING with a fish on it, not even a belt!), and went for a family photo session at the beach. I didn't talk bout fishing the whole day... well I don't remember it if I did. I'm sure my wife would set this straight if she had my blog password, but it's my blog and I'm going to remember it like I want. When the picture taking was over we dropped off the kids with my parents for the night and spent some quality time by ourselves.
For anyone looking for a family photographer, check out my wife's work at gypsyisle.com I know I might be a little bias, but I think her work is awesome.
Sunday, Nov 02
Dusty, our friend David and I met at 0500 in Gulf Breeze, loaded the truck and were off for Panama City. The boat was in the water a little after 0700 and we were on our flat no later than 0715. The wind was blowing out of the North at around 10kts and the tide was falling. We eased toward the beach, planning on running the bank, got within 200 feet and hit bottom. The wind and tide had taken too much of our water and we just couldn't make it where we needed to.
Plan B... hit a few of our favorite docks. Rolled up to the first one, no bites. The second dock, however, was on fire; we pulled 10 fish off of it, but most of them were too small to help us in the tourney. We peeled off to an adjacent flat that was slightly deeper than our first stop and found 5 perfect fish before moving on to check a few more flats. The water hadn't come in much, but enough for us to find a few fish on one of our preferred flats. In all a great day, we packed it in around 1500 and headed home.
Tournament dates, Nov 7-8 2008
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