NFGFC Econfina 4-4-09
Posted: April 5th, 2009, 11:14 am
We left the house at O morning thirty and headed to Jerry's to check in. Christy slept the whole way 
and I drove right by Capital Circle, the morning started out real well. Got checked in, saw and spoke to a bunch of folks and headed to Econfina. Again drove right by the road to the ramp. Met up with Bow'd Up and followed him out of the river, hit some stuff but didn't tear anything up. I was starting to wonder if I should have even got out of bed. Ran right by Seaspot stuck on a sand bar, would have tried to help but didn't know, sorry.
We hit a spot in 2 1/2' -3 1/2' of water and started fishing. Gave it 30 minutes or so and took a ride further East. We started chunking again. Christy started getting bites, but they weren't finding the hook. I was throwing top water and gave it up. I tied on a Swarming Hornet Flutter jig head and a 5" SWA Space Guppy.
Then the magic happened!
I wasn't sure what it was but after pulling off 40 yards of 15# Suffix braid, I was gonna find out.
10 minutes of this:
I had Christy crank the boat and idle towards him. He started pulling drag again, idled closer, then we finally saw him. I remembered that I forgot to put the gaff back on the boat, and tried to figure out how we were going to get him in without getting beat to death or letting him off. All I can say is Christy did a great job with the net, he measured 34 1/2", we threw him in the cooler, and took pictures once he was cold.
If only the mystery fish was still a cobia
I was already spending the Badcock & More money. Dang that tournament director 
It was also cool to catch the Cobia on a micro guide rod that I built, it held up great, couldn't be more happy! 
I told Christy that after catching my first Cobia, I didn't care if we caught a trout and she reminded me it was a trout tournament. We moved back to where we hooked the cobe and went back to fishing. Another 20 minutes and another move.
We decided to run to Rock Island and spent 20-30 minutes and then tried to figure out why we had moved from where we were. Then went to try west of the river.
Christy hollered "Fish On! Get the net!" it was only 15 1/2" of keeper trout love
.
A few casts later I hooked a close keeper but he came unhooked at the boat. A few more moves and a few more short trout. It wasn't looking good but 1 was better than none.
Back on the trailer at 2 and headed to Jerry's to weigh our prize. Found out we weren't the only ones that had trouble finding the elusive keeper trout.
Christy won a Plano tackle bag and I won a Daiwa rod and reel combo donated by South Georgia Outdoors in the raffle.
Thanks Heath for your support.
Great times, food and as always it was nice seeing everybody at the weigh-in.
Can't wait until St. Joe next month.
and I drove right by Capital Circle, the morning started out real well. Got checked in, saw and spoke to a bunch of folks and headed to Econfina. Again drove right by the road to the ramp. Met up with Bow'd Up and followed him out of the river, hit some stuff but didn't tear anything up. I was starting to wonder if I should have even got out of bed. Ran right by Seaspot stuck on a sand bar, would have tried to help but didn't know, sorry. We hit a spot in 2 1/2' -3 1/2' of water and started fishing. Gave it 30 minutes or so and took a ride further East. We started chunking again. Christy started getting bites, but they weren't finding the hook. I was throwing top water and gave it up. I tied on a Swarming Hornet Flutter jig head and a 5" SWA Space Guppy.
Then the magic happened!
I wasn't sure what it was but after pulling off 40 yards of 15# Suffix braid, I was gonna find out.
10 minutes of this:
I had Christy crank the boat and idle towards him. He started pulling drag again, idled closer, then we finally saw him. I remembered that I forgot to put the gaff back on the boat, and tried to figure out how we were going to get him in without getting beat to death or letting him off. All I can say is Christy did a great job with the net, he measured 34 1/2", we threw him in the cooler, and took pictures once he was cold.
If only the mystery fish was still a cobia
I was already spending the Badcock & More money. Dang that tournament director It was also cool to catch the Cobia on a micro guide rod that I built, it held up great, couldn't be more happy! I told Christy that after catching my first Cobia, I didn't care if we caught a trout and she reminded me it was a trout tournament. We moved back to where we hooked the cobe and went back to fishing. Another 20 minutes and another move.
We decided to run to Rock Island and spent 20-30 minutes and then tried to figure out why we had moved from where we were. Then went to try west of the river.
Christy hollered "Fish On! Get the net!" it was only 15 1/2" of keeper trout love
. A few casts later I hooked a close keeper but he came unhooked at the boat. A few more moves and a few more short trout. It wasn't looking good but 1 was better than none.
Back on the trailer at 2 and headed to Jerry's to weigh our prize. Found out we weren't the only ones that had trouble finding the elusive keeper trout.
Christy won a Plano tackle bag and I won a Daiwa rod and reel combo donated by South Georgia Outdoors in the raffle.
Thanks Heath for your support.
Great times, food and as always it was nice seeing everybody at the weigh-in.
Can't wait until St. Joe next month.
.