This was my experience in the tournament...
We didn't get any fish in our boat (not even garbage fish, and on top of that neither of us even got good hit). Couple hours before weigh-in we decided the trout was not going to happen, decided to go up some new creeks we weren't familiar with on the rising tide to see if we could make a decent shot at the redfish pot. Me and Mojokoko both target reds 95% of the time so we figured it was our best chance of not getting skunked. We found two creeks holding good reds in a few spots. Redfish Magic spinners and spinnerless 4" glass minnows, assorted saltwater assassins given out at meetings and previous tournaments, gold, silver, red and chartreuse spoons from johnson capt mikes and capt action, Skitterwalk, Mirrolure 7M, S52, mirrowminnow, catch 2000, top dogs jr and sr, pop-a-dog and frozen shrimp (and I'm pretty sure I missed a couple) were all thrown at them from our boat and we didn't even get a bite. I literally hit one in the head with a cajun thunder holding a delicious dead shrimp on a slightly off-target sight-cast and it didn't even significantly move at all.
I'm pretty sure it was said at the weigh-in that none of us even SAW a single trout. I know we didn't. In fact, I'm pretty sure the first living creature we saw in the water all day other than otters and porpoises was a couple bait fish out on the nipple. We ran out there to try the different depths and see if the water was warmer further off shore. My water temp theory held true and it was about 4-8 degrees warmer than near shore as we drifted around a bit, but no fish bigger than 2 inches anywhere. Even that would have kept us there longer but we were seeing 2 and 3 at once 5 or 6 minutes aprt, not schools of bigger bait congregating around the boat like normal.
It was another learning experience for me. A couple more pages of the book I'm working on "How to Lose at Competitive Trout Fishing." I believe the barometer was to blame for the lack of bite - that plus the fact that we weren't in a kayak, but it's hard to say whether or not the trout were biting because we never found any.
We fished several spots along the grass between the fort and St Marks river mouth, multiple oyster bars on east and west side of river mouth, several spots out in the flats between lighthouse and grey mare, a spot over near the bird rack that I usually catch trout, and drifted around the nipple for a bit. Also went up in Stoney Bayou some. Threw everything in my previous list at just about every spot. No bites. So now you know where not to go in that weather.
I still had a great time, but would have been better if more people showed up. There will be free punch and pie at the next one
. Happy fishing!
