Forgotten Coast Boys @ the IFA Kayak Fishing Championship
Posted: November 14th, 2010, 10:28 am
My take at least! My brother and best fishing buddy, Liam, and I drove over to Orange Beach Alabama on Thursday morning. We met up with Jeff Suber in Pensacola and did a little prefish session on a shallow grassflat near Doc's house. We caught a couple decent trout, but no reds, so we hightailed it out of there and headed for the Alabama coast. The fishing there is quite different than here. The reds are really tough to target. All sand bottom with very little grass or other structure for me to relate to. Liam and I both found it tough to figure out any type of pattern with the fish over there.
Already having identified a good trout spot, we went looking for reds. We found them in a little cut emptying into the gulf. Huge school of fish that we could easily see and sight fish for, so we quit fishing and went to get a hotel room. As many already know, there's nothing glamorous about a fishing tournament roadtrip
DAY ONE(The tournament is a longest single trout and redfish combined length 2 day format)Liam and I were asked to be followed and microphoned by the camera crew chase boat all day, so the pressure was on. Fishing for trout early, I busted a rediculous 29" trout with a Spook. After a chinese firedrill getting the fish landed and photographed, I followed Liam around until he landed a respectable 21 inch trout
Next, we moved to spot 2 to catch our redfish for the day. Weather conditions had changed that morning, though, and the now 15 knot east winds had completely blown up our spot making it unfishable. We then loaded our kayaks and hauled ass over to a spot we had caught small reds at last month at an IFA regular season event. Fortunately in a back of a small creek and with time running out on us, we found a couple decent fish and high tailed it back to the day 1 weighin
Day one results concluded with me sitting in 3rd place at 52 total inches and Liam in 6th with 44 inches. the wind really made for some tough fishing with only 10 anglers turning in two fish aggregate totals. Suber was in the top 10 as well. The two guys in the lead had both found bull reds and looked unbeatable.
On day 2, Liam and I again fished for trout early. Liam quickly picked up another21 inch fish. This left the pressure on me to find one, and eventually about an hour into the day I was able to again pck up another great fish that went 27 inches.
We then went back out to the beach to see if it was fishable for reds. The wind was just as bad and there were 2-3 foot breakers where it had been slick calm 2 days earlier. Liam decided to just teather his kayak to him and wade knee deep into the surf and toss a jighead tipped with a soft plastic bait. REDS! They were still there, we just couldn't see them! Nothing huge, but big enough. We both picked up a few decent fish and then headed back to the final weighin where judgment awaited.
My two day agregate total ended up at 102.5 inches and good enough for 2nd place overall. Liam finished right around 90 inches and 5th place. Suber was around 80 inches and 8th place overall. The winner caught two giant bull reds over 40 inches apiece and won it going away, and I'm left to wonder what could have been if we had been able to fish our redspot under better conditions.
I still won a Hobie Outback Mirage and a nice check for Biggest Trout. Liam finished 1st place for Overall angler of the Year and won a nice paycheck. Congrats to all the winners, and congrats to my fellow Forgotten Coast boys for many good showings at the 2010 IFA Professional Kayak Tournament Trail!Full results are here: http://www.ifakayakfishingtour.com/tour ... _2010.html
Already having identified a good trout spot, we went looking for reds. We found them in a little cut emptying into the gulf. Huge school of fish that we could easily see and sight fish for, so we quit fishing and went to get a hotel room. As many already know, there's nothing glamorous about a fishing tournament roadtrip
DAY ONE(The tournament is a longest single trout and redfish combined length 2 day format)Liam and I were asked to be followed and microphoned by the camera crew chase boat all day, so the pressure was on. Fishing for trout early, I busted a rediculous 29" trout with a Spook. After a chinese firedrill getting the fish landed and photographed, I followed Liam around until he landed a respectable 21 inch trout
Next, we moved to spot 2 to catch our redfish for the day. Weather conditions had changed that morning, though, and the now 15 knot east winds had completely blown up our spot making it unfishable. We then loaded our kayaks and hauled ass over to a spot we had caught small reds at last month at an IFA regular season event. Fortunately in a back of a small creek and with time running out on us, we found a couple decent fish and high tailed it back to the day 1 weighin
Day one results concluded with me sitting in 3rd place at 52 total inches and Liam in 6th with 44 inches. the wind really made for some tough fishing with only 10 anglers turning in two fish aggregate totals. Suber was in the top 10 as well. The two guys in the lead had both found bull reds and looked unbeatable.
On day 2, Liam and I again fished for trout early. Liam quickly picked up another21 inch fish. This left the pressure on me to find one, and eventually about an hour into the day I was able to again pck up another great fish that went 27 inches.
We then went back out to the beach to see if it was fishable for reds. The wind was just as bad and there were 2-3 foot breakers where it had been slick calm 2 days earlier. Liam decided to just teather his kayak to him and wade knee deep into the surf and toss a jighead tipped with a soft plastic bait. REDS! They were still there, we just couldn't see them! Nothing huge, but big enough. We both picked up a few decent fish and then headed back to the final weighin where judgment awaited.
My two day agregate total ended up at 102.5 inches and good enough for 2nd place overall. Liam finished right around 90 inches and 5th place. Suber was around 80 inches and 8th place overall. The winner caught two giant bull reds over 40 inches apiece and won it going away, and I'm left to wonder what could have been if we had been able to fish our redspot under better conditions.
I still won a Hobie Outback Mirage and a nice check for Biggest Trout. Liam finished 1st place for Overall angler of the Year and won a nice paycheck. Congrats to all the winners, and congrats to my fellow Forgotten Coast boys for many good showings at the 2010 IFA Professional Kayak Tournament Trail!Full results are here: http://www.ifakayakfishingtour.com/tour ... _2010.html
Just kidding.
