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My partner "Chewy" and I launched at Shell Point specifically to fish one spot. Upon arrival we were a tad shocked to find 3 other boats anchored up there. We fished for about 10mins and decided to move on East. We took a thorough arse whoppin on the boat ride towards Aucilla, fished around Palmetto Island...nothing. Then hit up 5 other spots, and ended up with one trout 17" back in a creek. By 1:00pm frustration had really begun to kick in. My trolling motor has been busted for the past 6mths but I have managed to get by. However, with the wind blowin like it made things extremely difficult to fish the shorlines and creeks. We would have to drop anchor, fish, drop anchor, fish, and so on. We were able to "get by" fishing this way until the anchor rope rubbed a rock and broke free.

By now, things aren't lookin so good. It was either tuck our tails between our legs and head in or hit the proverbial "last spot." We made a short run closer to the Aucilla mouth and set up a drift. Within seconds Chewy hooks up on a good fish throwing topwater. We boat the fish and are quite pleased with his measurement 26 3/4"s. Amazing how one fish can turn the day around. I hook up shortly after and put a 26 1/2" red in the boat, and we proceed to catch 4 or 5 others that were just shy of the first two.

We decided to pack it up around 2:00pm and make the long trek back to Shell Point. We felt confident that we would place in the red category but were shocked when we took 1st place. It was a heck of a day on the water, and it just goes to show that everything can turn around in an instant, when fishing tournaments. Congrats to all who fished and special grats to those who won.

Congrats.

We spent 5 hours fishing all over the mouth of the Aucilla for a stupid redfish and came up empty.

Good job!

BTW, 2 words, Power Pole.

Fishing was definitley tuff, given the wind. A Power Pole would have worked wonders, however I can't bring myself to spend anymore $ on my G3. It'll have to be dumbells for this weekends tourny. Thanks for the advice though.

Trolling motor issues suck CaptKeyser! I've been dealing with that for about a year.
The Minn Kota Autopilot has been having issues ever since I got it. I finally got it
fixed and it was pain in the ass on Sunday with all the wind and moving current in the creeks.

Good job Eric.

I saw those same three boats at your first stop, seems one of those boats placed first ka, second red fsu, and another one finished second ka, third red fsu. Could have been the right spot???? Those two boats won $ 2122.00. Next time you might have to nose in.

Great day CK and Chewy - Congrats on making some money. What tournament are you fishing this weekend?

Grasshopper, you guessed it. I would have stayed but I can't stand being clustered up. I was pretty bummed to see everyone in there though, oh well I am glad that they won some cash.

Mojokoko, I feel ya man. I have been through 3 trolling motors in 4 years and am flat tired of messing with um. That is why I have been TM free for the past number of months. However , you simply can't tournament fish without one. I am going to have to sack up and remedy my situation as you did.

Casey, the Krissi Flatt (Platt?) tournament is this Saturday at Carrabelle. Check out myhometownfishing.com for details. It should be a good one though. $1000 Big Red, $1000 Big trout.... $500 for second on each and $250 for third. Kings, Grouper and Cobia all pay out the same. Check it out, could be a good time.

Heck of a fish close to 7#, thats a heavy upper slot for around here bro, nice job!

I fished Friday with FinsandGrins and caught around 30 trout and 20 Reds. We had trouble catching reds because there were so many trout. We had several reds over slot and 2 that were an 1/8 under 27" a 23" trout and a 28.5" trout. On saturday SanBlasSlayer and I spent the first 4-5 hours catching nothing but short reds and catfish and getting beat to death. In the Last 30 minutes we caught two reds one 26.5 and the other 25 and two trout right around 20. They were the only two trout we caught all day. We ended up second in big red and we placed third over all.

KMama...where did you guys fish on Saturday?

Nice going.

Good report. Congrats.