NFGFC Tourney 3-16-02

Post by **Tom Keels** » March 18th, 2002, 8:50 am

Sonny, Dwayne and I set out on the same beautiful morning with all the other folks from the club. After quickly passing DoubleD and Wil in the river we headed east at buoy 6 and made our may to cobb rocks. There was enough wind still to move us in against the falling tide. Sonny and I started with jigs, Dwayne had a cajun thunder with jig combo. All 3 of us immediately started to catch fish with Dwayne and Sonny with the keepers, a 16 and a 17 1/2. We continued to catch small fish until the tide stopped and turned around.

We re-drifted the same area again. This time I hooked a nice fish on a silver and blue redfin, but after about a minute the leader knot gave way to what looked like some dry rot on the line. I promptly put that rod up. Dwayne had tied on a red/white chug bug and had several trout explode on the bait but just missing. I tied one on and on the first cast landed my first and only keeper.

As the day wore on I wanted to troll around inside Pinhook rocks for some reds but the $#%#$^&# trolling motor would not work(damn motorguide). So we idled in a slow as we could in the tannin stained water and promptly found a rock not in my GPS. Dinged the prop pretty good. Around the rocks, the water was still stained and shallow and Dwayne only managed one strike, albeit a nice one, on the chug bug. We decided to idle back out and run back west. I hit every hole I knew on the way back and did nothing. We finished the day with only 3 keepers and 30 shorts.

I would also like to thank Capt. Vic for the best food I think I have ever eaten. I was still full until lunch the next day. Thanks Vic, and everyone else who made this such a great tournament. Only makes me more excited for next months Econfina Tournament.

Post by **Cranfield** » March 18th, 2002, 9:05 am

Good reports DD and Tom,

Do you know who won?
Did any of our "regulars" get placed?
Anyone go offshore?
Anyone catch a grouper?

So many questions

Post by **Tom Keels** » March 18th, 2002, 9:11 am

Yes we know all that. However, I don't have it written down in front of me so I would hate to make a mistake. I will have the tournament results and pics up at http://www.nfgfc.org tomorrow or Wednesday.

Post by **Will_Fish_4_Food** » March 18th, 2002, 9:46 am

Never got a hit on artificial!?

I did however manage to get a limit of keepers. Unfortunately none of them exceeded 20" which looked to be necessary to compete.

I used live shrimp on equalizers till about 11 and then switched to pinfish. I lost a couple big fish on some large pins, and a big croaker. I fished about as far down as Tom was talking about...dirty water, and 5 to 5 1/2 feet is where the action was regardless of the tide.

Never got a chance to target Reds, it took all morning to weed through the peanuts to find keepers! Great tournament enviornment. Competitive, but fun. Thanks

phish-n-fool · Post by **phish-n-fool** » March 18th, 2002, 11:23 am

Thanks for the reports guy's, sounds like all had fun. Keep em' coming...

Post by **Will_Fish_4_Food** » March 18th, 2002, 1:34 pm

5 to 5 1/2 feet of dirty water and the live baits were working. What was the top producing artificial?

Leerr · Post by **Leerr** » March 18th, 2002, 1:39 pm

Sounds like a lot of fun!

Can't wait till the tournaments startup here!

Well, the water is finally in the upper 60's!

Today it's 68!!!

I am not a topwater expert but... will they start to hit some topwater yet?

jcflats · Post by **jcflats** » March 18th, 2002, 3:19 pm

Leerr,
Man they will bust the color off of a top water lure right now! Last year we were catching big trout in Feb. on top water. Low light conditions are the best, but on clear days throw top water plugs early and late in the day, or they will hit them sometimes all day when you have a good ripple on the water. Sometime a particular color will turn them on. Good luck!

Post by **RedMann** » March 18th, 2002, 6:24 pm

Well, when everyone else was heading east, Lori and I decided to be different and head west. That appears to have been a mistake. We fished hard all day in the area south of Pattys and Johns islands inside the reef. We fished shallow and deep and in between but managed only three short trout, one barely legal trout and a bluefish. The trout were caught on jigs under cajun thunders and on a crystal minnow. However, I was glad to get to fish this area since I had never done it before. And the food and folks helped make it a great day despite the lack of catching fish.

Leerr · Post by **Leerr** » March 18th, 2002, 10:08 pm

jcflats, Well I figured that out today.

I went fishing, Off of the bank and was using some saltwater asassin's. I saw a guy throwing topwater on the other side of the grand hotel, and went over there. I asked and he said he had some hits on the top dog. I tied one on and threw it about a mile, The first cast WAM! I had him on for a while but he got off.

I had 2 topwater hits all day, but got a couple. It sure was awesome. I will be throwing topwater from now on this Spring

I got tired of bouncing a jig on the for reds

jcflats · Post by **jcflats** » March 18th, 2002, 11:51 pm

Leerr,
Try to get some zara spook jr. lures these are one of my favorites, be patient and use a "walk-the-dog" (side to side) retrieve and get ready for some fun. Just when ya least expect it "WHAM!" out of no where, if you don't hook up on first strike, continue the motion and sometimes they will bust it a second or third time. I also enjoy fishing the zoom super flukes. good luck and let me know!

Leerr · Post by **Leerr** » March 19th, 2002, 11:08 pm

Jcflats, I went back today and threw a Top Dog Jr. And finally hooked up!! He was about 20" long. Man, What Fun!

That was the only strike on the Topwater. But I started throwing Saltwater assasin's and got 7 more, and all of them more than 18" biggest was 24"

fishhawkJR · Post by **fishhawkJR** » March 27th, 2002, 11:23 pm

My dad (fish hawk) and I fished the tourney at St. Marks. We first fished the oyster bars at the mouth of the st. marks river. We got no hits so then we tried for redfish between the shore and grey mere rock. I lost 2 nice reds that could have possibly won the redfish catagory. We ended up / only one keeper trout at the end of the day that I caught. Hope for better luck next tourney.