8/9/08 - Team Daddy Day Care in the NFGFC Tournament
Posted: August 11th, 2008, 10:51 am
8/9/08 – NFGFC Tournament, Carrabelle
KVD Jr. (Brandon) and I left the house at 4:30 a.m. and made the drive to Jerry’s. We pulled in the parking lot right as Tin Can was backing his boat up. Shortly thereafter the Bass Boys and Birddog rolled up. Somehow I’d been roped in to fishing with two youngsters, Austin (TroutTrent’s 15 year old son) and Brandon (14). They are two great kids though who can really fish.
We got to Carrabelle, launched the boat and rode in darkness to the first spot. We were fishing spotty bottom in 2-3’ of water and using the light wind to drift the flat. Each of us started out throwing topwater plugs. Brandon was the first to stick a fish and he brought an 18” keeper in at 6:47 a.m on the Super Spook. Austin and I had a double at 7 a.m. with his fish going 17” and mine going 22” on a skitterwalk and the Bite-A-Bait. We had our limit by 7:30 a.m.
Around 8 a.m. Austin switched up to the CT and caught a bunch of trout with a few lower slot keepers mixed in. Brandon threw the fluke for most of the day and caught several keepers as well. The bite for us really died about 9 a.m. After that we caught fish, but none that were included in our final stringer.
We had several funny moments throughout the day…it seems the boys are obsessed with redfish and tarpon. Around 10 a.m. we’d moved to a spot with spotty bottom in 4’ of water. Austin was throwing a Fighter and hooked up on a fish that immediately starting ripping out drag. I’d just caught a 17” trout and was in the process of unhooking it in the front of the boat. Brandon screams, “Austin’s got a tarpon…I saw it. It’s a huge tarpon!!! We need to start the boat now and chase after it before he gets spooled.” He then runs to the back of the boat, instructs Austin to move to the front of the boat and fight the fish while he chases after it. KVD Jr. starts the motor and moves about 50 yards when the fish decides to circle and come back towards the boat. It swims right to the boat and we see that lo and behold, it’s not a tarpon, but a foul hooked lady fish. We had several laughs over that and for the rest of the day, every time Austin and I would hook a fish, we’d yell, “OOOOHHH, I think it’s a tarpon!!!”
We had several similar false calls where one of the boys would hook up with a jack or a blue and while fighting it would assure the others on the boat that it was an upper-slot redfish.
I also learned that 15 year old boys have one thing on their mind – girls. Austin and Brandon had the following conversation several times on the boat.
Boy 1, “Dude, do you know that girl (insert name)?”
Boy 2, “Yeah, she’s really hot.”
Boy 1, “Yeah, she is.”
Around 1 p.m. we moved to one more spot in some deep water. It had gotten really slow and so we decided to throw topwater for the rest of the day. We caught a few trout, some sharks and blues, but nothing worth measuring. At 1:40 p.m. I made the last cast call. I’d been throwing a topwater, but put it down. Brandon had a spinning rod laying on the front deck with a 3’ Gulp shrimp on a jighead. I picked up the jighead and flung it out. I had almost bounced it all the way back to the boat when I felt some dead weight. I set the hook and reeled up a small fish. “It’s a rock bass. Oh wait, it’s got wings. I think it’s a sea robin!” The boys just looked at me like I was crazy. We got the boat back to the dock and on the trailer and the Bass Boys walked up. I told them about my suspected sea robin and they walked up and confirmed that it was, in deed, a sea robin. Austin and Brandon then got excited at the potential $300 fish and suggested that we use the money to mount the .24 lb fish…you gotta love it!
It was a fun day…we ended up finishing in second, but the coolest part of the day was watching the boys interact and work as a team on the boat.
KVD Jr. (Brandon) and I left the house at 4:30 a.m. and made the drive to Jerry’s. We pulled in the parking lot right as Tin Can was backing his boat up. Shortly thereafter the Bass Boys and Birddog rolled up. Somehow I’d been roped in to fishing with two youngsters, Austin (TroutTrent’s 15 year old son) and Brandon (14). They are two great kids though who can really fish.
We got to Carrabelle, launched the boat and rode in darkness to the first spot. We were fishing spotty bottom in 2-3’ of water and using the light wind to drift the flat. Each of us started out throwing topwater plugs. Brandon was the first to stick a fish and he brought an 18” keeper in at 6:47 a.m on the Super Spook. Austin and I had a double at 7 a.m. with his fish going 17” and mine going 22” on a skitterwalk and the Bite-A-Bait. We had our limit by 7:30 a.m.
Around 8 a.m. Austin switched up to the CT and caught a bunch of trout with a few lower slot keepers mixed in. Brandon threw the fluke for most of the day and caught several keepers as well. The bite for us really died about 9 a.m. After that we caught fish, but none that were included in our final stringer.
We had several funny moments throughout the day…it seems the boys are obsessed with redfish and tarpon. Around 10 a.m. we’d moved to a spot with spotty bottom in 4’ of water. Austin was throwing a Fighter and hooked up on a fish that immediately starting ripping out drag. I’d just caught a 17” trout and was in the process of unhooking it in the front of the boat. Brandon screams, “Austin’s got a tarpon…I saw it. It’s a huge tarpon!!! We need to start the boat now and chase after it before he gets spooled.” He then runs to the back of the boat, instructs Austin to move to the front of the boat and fight the fish while he chases after it. KVD Jr. starts the motor and moves about 50 yards when the fish decides to circle and come back towards the boat. It swims right to the boat and we see that lo and behold, it’s not a tarpon, but a foul hooked lady fish. We had several laughs over that and for the rest of the day, every time Austin and I would hook a fish, we’d yell, “OOOOHHH, I think it’s a tarpon!!!”
We had several similar false calls where one of the boys would hook up with a jack or a blue and while fighting it would assure the others on the boat that it was an upper-slot redfish.
I also learned that 15 year old boys have one thing on their mind – girls. Austin and Brandon had the following conversation several times on the boat.
Boy 1, “Dude, do you know that girl (insert name)?”
Boy 2, “Yeah, she’s really hot.”
Boy 1, “Yeah, she is.”
Around 1 p.m. we moved to one more spot in some deep water. It had gotten really slow and so we decided to throw topwater for the rest of the day. We caught a few trout, some sharks and blues, but nothing worth measuring. At 1:40 p.m. I made the last cast call. I’d been throwing a topwater, but put it down. Brandon had a spinning rod laying on the front deck with a 3’ Gulp shrimp on a jighead. I picked up the jighead and flung it out. I had almost bounced it all the way back to the boat when I felt some dead weight. I set the hook and reeled up a small fish. “It’s a rock bass. Oh wait, it’s got wings. I think it’s a sea robin!” The boys just looked at me like I was crazy. We got the boat back to the dock and on the trailer and the Bass Boys walked up. I told them about my suspected sea robin and they walked up and confirmed that it was, in deed, a sea robin. Austin and Brandon then got excited at the potential $300 fish and suggested that we use the money to mount the .24 lb fish…you gotta love it!
It was a fun day…we ended up finishing in second, but the coolest part of the day was watching the boys interact and work as a team on the boat.
