Local Results for IFA tourney in Orange Beach Alabama
Posted: October 18th, 2010, 1:06 pm
Liam and I packed up last Thursday morning to head to Orange Beach Alabama for the final leg of the professional kayak redfish/trout tour. We decided to stay over there and prefish for a couple days and make the most of it in unknown territory.
Fishing over there is tough. We had no grass flats and no oyster bars. Most of the bottom there is just sand with no defining structure to relate to. After two days of prefishing we found a couple decent trout areas, but had very little success making sense of any type of redfish pattern.
Tournament day was beatiful with just a light wind blowing out of the southeast all day. Liam and I again found the trout and I got a near 25 incher to hit my spook. Liam followed up with a 22 inch fish. We fished the remainder of the day for reds and with limited success. My biggest was a suspect 20 inches, and Liam was able to grind out a decent 23 inch fish from the back of a creek.
Heading back to the weigh in, neither of us were very optimistic about our chances. We had heard of reports of a few guys over in Destin catching bull reds, and also had just fished against a couple dozen locals from Alabama and Louisianna.
Apparently fishing is tough for everyone in Alabama though, because my 44.5 inches was good enough for 4th place and a check. Liam's 45.24 inches won him 3rd place and a new Hobie Quest kayak. I also won a check for the biggest trout of the tourney. 1st and 2nd went to Lee Smith and Chris Lewis who fished their home waters of Destin and caught bull reds. It felt really good to go over there and have success against the locals.
Liam was also able to secure Angler of the Year honors for the Gulf Division. I followed him second in points, and Suber took 3rd. FCKA anglers sewed up the top three spots for the Gulf Division.
We also qualified for the two day championship in November.
Fishing over there is tough. We had no grass flats and no oyster bars. Most of the bottom there is just sand with no defining structure to relate to. After two days of prefishing we found a couple decent trout areas, but had very little success making sense of any type of redfish pattern.
Tournament day was beatiful with just a light wind blowing out of the southeast all day. Liam and I again found the trout and I got a near 25 incher to hit my spook. Liam followed up with a 22 inch fish. We fished the remainder of the day for reds and with limited success. My biggest was a suspect 20 inches, and Liam was able to grind out a decent 23 inch fish from the back of a creek.
Heading back to the weigh in, neither of us were very optimistic about our chances. We had heard of reports of a few guys over in Destin catching bull reds, and also had just fished against a couple dozen locals from Alabama and Louisianna.
Apparently fishing is tough for everyone in Alabama though, because my 44.5 inches was good enough for 4th place and a check. Liam's 45.24 inches won him 3rd place and a new Hobie Quest kayak. I also won a check for the biggest trout of the tourney. 1st and 2nd went to Lee Smith and Chris Lewis who fished their home waters of Destin and caught bull reds. It felt really good to go over there and have success against the locals.
Liam was also able to secure Angler of the Year honors for the Gulf Division. I followed him second in points, and Suber took 3rd. FCKA anglers sewed up the top three spots for the Gulf Division.
We also qualified for the two day championship in November.
