) put together in a hurry and got to bed. 
Partner showed up at 5 and we headed to Jerry’s, registered, and continued to Savanna’s for the second most important part of the trip basics 
After a successful visit at Savanna’s, we made it to the Lighthouse and were on the water by 7am. There was quite a bit of cloud cover and the weather to the East looked suspicious. Wind was not bad out of the East but the rollers coming in from offshore were pretty tricky. With the drift headed toward shore there were a couple of times when we were caught off guard from the blind side. That actually contributed to a stagger’n contact with a sharp corner and the resulting wardrobe malfunction which required some duct tape tailoring. The breeze kept things comfortable and the clouds continued to hang in there. We started fishing in 4-5 ft with soft plastic’s on the bottom, and my partner started us off with a “just barely keeper” and then a second “fore sure” keeper. 
The speed of the drift actually prompted us to put out a drift sock which stabilized some of the rolling as well. While we were casting into the drift, we were dragging a couple of Cajun Thunders with “gulp” on them. There were a couple of sail cats which were kept and the lady fish kept wanting to show off as well, but for the most part things were pretty slow. I had a decent trout on the way to the boat when the trip was interrupted by Mr. Shark. 
About 10am, I moved us closer in looking for a better bite but never really found it.
At 11am I decided to move us back out towards where we started. However, half way there, we came across some good spotty bottom with 4-5 ft of clear water and decided to try there. It was interesting that we seem to keep finding clear water and then cloudy water and then clear water again. It wasn’t just a single demarcation between where the cloudy met the clear, it was more like alternating areas of clear and cloudy. The clouds had left by this time and the sun was out in full force. It seemed like this was a trigger for the bite as well. Between 11:30 and 12:30 we had a great topwater bite. The 3 biggest trout were caught during that window. We had other blowups and could see several mid slot trout following the plugs just underneath to the boat but were just teasing. The bigger trout didn’t mess around, they really hit with the intent to eat it. The big one is my personal best so far just over 23 inches and 3.45 lbs at the weigh in. There were a couple of tense moments getting the fish to the net as he ran around the corner of the stern and then circled back and got hung on the outside of the net. 
My partner was able to get the fish into the net and then hit me in the chest to get my heart started again.
The weigh in produced some fun moments as always. My partner and I had a second fish that we had measured 3 or 4 times on our golden rule (no cooler top this time) and it was just a hair under 20 inches one time and the next it was a hair over. We were offered a “courtesy” measure before the weigh in ( this is a good thing to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment!)
In an effort to be of service, Casey agreed to climb onto the weigh in table and placed his foot on the fish (stomped actually) to ensure an accurate flat measurement, 
it was determined that indeed it was over 20 inches. 
This meant that to stay in the game, we needed to go to our bench (remember that “just barely” that my partner caught?) and fortunately we had one on the bench that we could put into the game.
I also had visions of the one that I had to share with Mr. Sharky that would have been a good tournament fish and probably put us into first place in this tournament. But we were happy to claim 2nd place in a field of 21 boats with some great fishermen who just happened to have an off day.
It was one of the best days on the water that I’ve had in quite a while and ending up in the money was an added treat.
In addition to second place, we had the second biggest trout weighed in and thanks to Custom Detailing it added another $25 to the pot. Congratulations to the first place winners and all the participants actually. We have a great tournament series thanks to the work of several club officers and members over the years.
I have to thank my partner for making the 10pm phone call and carrying us to 2nd place with his catch! Thanks Mike.
