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Juan, your completely good, SG just has it in for this guy. We just got the club back on tract after a year everyone wants to forget and after the first event Ned has something negative to say. We all have a good time and are all relatively friends so when some outside keyboard warrior starts in....well....Keaton is next and while is further away from you there are places to stay down there. Most folk stay somewhere near Keaton and a few may have a cook out on Fri. evening.

Our rules provide NFGC members with a great opportunity to spend time outdoors with friends/family, fish new territory and learn a lot. They have done so for decades. As someone who moved from Ohio 20 years ago without a clue, these monthly tournaments expedited my learning curve substantially. I also met folks who helped me with boat maintenance and rigging.

There are other tournaments with different rules, formats and anglers. The inability of this forum to appreciate the well intended effort and posts of others is why we rarely see reports anymore. With that off my chest, I’ll provide our report from Saturday.

Almost everyone launched at the Fort. Matt and I were the exception. Boats gathered in the channel prior to safe light. when the world came alive many seemed to be staying in the River, but we put the nose down and commenced a 30 mile run. We hit a couple creeks with 54 degree water and caught limits of slot trout and lower slot reds. We left the initial area with nothing but a 18.75” “backstop” trout in the box. Backstop meaning as much weight as we could weigh without preventing us from keeping a larger trout that we believed we would find.

We moved about 10 miles from that area and found cleaner water and mid slot reds. I kept about the 3rd one at 24” thinking we at least needed a weighable red.

After leaving that creek we ran most of the way back to the River when we saw some lightening and dark clouds in front of us. We were curious whether folks were even able to fish in the River given those conditions. We decided to cut into one more creek and see if the weather would blow over before we had to run into it. Matt promptly landed a 22” trout, the clouds cleared, and we throttled down.

The fish weighed 8.09#s which was good for second place and $600. My son and wife met us at weigh-in. Colin won his first fishing lure from on of our gracious sponsors. I took the hooks off and he loves the rattle and colors. We took our winnings to Cooter Stew for a beer and a burger.

Good day and great to see everyone. Jerkbaits and suspending plugs were most productive

Thanks for the report, Brian, and also big thanks to you Steve Hobbs, Steve Stinson, and the handful of others whose unsung volunteer efforts resurrected the NFGFC Tournament. I learned a lot yesterday, with the biggest lesson being that the East River is a LOT longer paddle from the Fort than I anticipated. After 90 minutes, I surrendered, and started back, hitting side creeks off the main channel (mostly to get out of the wind). Got one long trout in the mouth of a side creek on falling tide, but could not find any pattern for trout or reds. Next time I'm using my overpriced Torqeedo!

Congrats to the top three. Well done on a challenging day.

Good Lord! A 30 mile run and paddling for 90 minutes in that weather! ? You guys are either tough as leather or crazy as loons... Maybe both

Gulf Coast wrote: ↑February 7th, 2021, 11:55 am Juan, your completely good, SG just has it in for this guy. We just got the club back on tract after a year everyone wants to forget and after the first event Ned has something negative to say. We all have a good time and are all relatively friends so when some outside keyboard warrior starts in....well....Keaton is next and while is further away from you there are places to stay down there. Most folk stay somewhere near Keaton and a few may have a cook out on Fri. evening.

How do you know what guy I’m taking about? Do you know of a member that breaks game laws during tournaments?
I’m not a member, but I’ve fished some tournaments. I’m not sure, but most tournament rules say something along the lines of all fwc laws must be followed. That’s how that whole mess w Casey and Ashley came about in the RTS a few years back. I have no skin in the game and dont have it in for anyone. I’m not in the least bit ashamed, I stand behind everything. Just stating what I know l, on a public forum, to a guy I know.

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It’s great to see the NFGFC is back and rock’n. I enjoyed reading the reports. I hope you have a great season. I’ll to jump in tourney or two.

Hope to see u join again Ken and see ya all back out there.

Where did you guys catch most of your fish at? Creek mouths, on the flats, up the river, etc?

We went east first thing in the morning; though not as far as some of the teams. We tried to fish some near-shore rocks that had been holding fish but the wind was just too much. We decided to accelerate the plan and go ahead and move into the creeks, pretty much as far back as my boat would take us. I have a few new scrapes on the bottom of the hull, that's for sure. But - as always: Find the mullet, find the fish.

We caught 6 fish all day; 2 reds, 2 trout, and two football sized mullet that tail-snagged on some trebles. First place fish came from the first two fish of the day. We saw a dozen plus upgrade Reds, but I think they were on a plane by the time we saw them. ZOOMING!~

From the stories at weigh-in, bigger fish were caught up river in various places, but we had just the right combo of a hefty red and sizeable trout (not really, I think it was only 21.5 or 22") to put us at top weight.

Rough day. We never got a drizzle of rain until we decided to make a run in due to lightning. We were at the ramp by 2pm.

Besides whomever placed the scissors under the scale trying to throw weights off (kidding, was funny to find a 20" trout weight less than 2 lbs and a 24" red weighing barely 3lbs, hahahaha) - it was a hell of a tournament and great to see everyone again.

Thanks for letting us all know how it went. Glad people were able to get out and congratulations to those who had success. I enjoy reading about the tournaments even though I am nowhere near the skill level to compete. Good luck going forward. Hearing about things restarting gives hope things are returning to normal.

It’s not all competition. There is a lot of community as well. These anglers can help you catch fish if you share experiences.

Good to see a good turnout, I know conditions where rough , pretty much the reason I decided not to participate, but was really considering it. So hope to join in some of the upcoming tournaments and just have some fun


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Chris someone must of left those scissors under the scale for using during a tournament possibly to cut the tail of fish weighed to prevent anyone from weighing the same fish twice.

slow motion wrote:Thanks for letting us all know how it went. Glad people were able to get out and congratulations to those who had success. I enjoy reading about the tournaments even though I am nowhere near the skill level to compete. Good luck going forward. Hearing about things restarting gives hope things are returning to normal.

I’d say I’m probably at the lower end of skill level, but it’s fun (and challenging) trying to get better. This was my first tournament, and it was just me & my 14 y/o son. We didn’t launch until 9:30. My son caught 2 flounder (on paddle tails) - but no reds/trout to show for our efforts. We fished up the East River working the bars as we went. Packed it up early due to lightning, so I didn’t have time to fish further up the main river. When I bent over to deploy the trolling motor, the crotch of my cheap Frogg Toggs rain suit ripped from “bow to stern” (if you know what I mean ). We skipped the weigh in with the weather and the wardrobe malfunctions. We should’ve weighed the flounder - Hobbs said nobody else weighed a flounder, so my son would’ve won something. Maybe we can make Keaton next month. I’m beginning to realize that if I want to catch fish (especially redfish), I’ve got to be willing to skinny up, navigate rocks, scratch the skeg, and potentially use that Sea Tow membership I’ve got!!!

I think many of us feel unworthy of tournament fishing - my goal is to just keep my family safe, not embarrass myself, not damage my boat too badly, and maybe, just maybe, catch some fish. Glad I could donate to the pot, LOL!


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