Fish Catching Travel
Taking your whipping like a man.
Practice
So here it is, the ugly truth. I have fished the Nazareth Church tournament a couple of times before and the team has always managed to put a fish on the board and get a couple of bucks. This time not so much. We struggled, and when it was all said and done we were not even close.
We practiced Friday and when we went to check on our tailing redfish they were all over the bank tails up. We put a couple in the boat, and I did catch a good one, so we left them hoping they would act the same the next morning. We fished the rest of that area and not much happened. This time of year lures are a much harder way to put some in the boat, and of course I know that, it just is they way I prefer to fish. And in the past it has worked out.
After a while we left that area we headed to the area by the Coast Guard Station. The only thing that happened there was we watched a flounder chase Chris’s bait all the way to the boat. After striking out there we headed over to Green’s Bayou area to see what was up.
As a side note, as we crossed the bay from POC headed to Green’s the Spanish Mackerel were everywhere just tearing the bait up. We stopped for a minute and caught one, then moved on. There were so many that you could see them under the boat. Additionally, when we got back to the weigh in on Saturday a young man at the table had caught a 30lb. Kingfish there that afternoon. So if you want a little fun just head out to the bay and look for the birds, you will have a ball.
When we got to Green’s the water was falling, so we drifted just looking for some trout and I did put a nice keeper in the boat.
A nice trout, but you would have needed 5 of these to be competitive.
After messing around there we were on the way back to POC and stopped at one of the rigs in the bay and there were lots of trout there. We caught on plastics and popping cork, though most were over 8 foot deep. We checked a few other rigs without luck, and the practice day was over.
Tourney Day
According the rules you could start fishing at 5, so we were on the water at 5 and fished the lights in the intercoastal. There were plenty of short trout and we put 10 or more in the boat, but none measured. Chris had a good red on a topwater and when he took off he just pulled off. A sign of things to come. So at daylight we headed to Big Bayou and the tailing reds.
When we got there we saw a few, but nothing like the day before. The plan was to throw Gulp on a light jig head to them, and it did work, sort of. I then got in the act and lost a good one, so at this point we have lost 2 good reds. To make a long story short, we ended up catching about 10 reds in there during the day, 6 or so on plastics, and 4 or 5 on spinnerbait, with none making the grade. As an aside, I did put 2 keeper trout in the box, both on the Gulp. Both came from throwing to tailing reds. There are not to many days when I catch that many reds and do not have a couple of good ones, but it happened.
So off to Green’s Bayou area to fish the rig for trout. Again as we were crossing the bay out in front of the Jetty area the Spanish were tearing it up. Of course we stopped for a minute, caught one, and moved on. They were coming up in pods all over. I actually had 2 small Cobia follow my spinnerbait there. There is a ton of fish there feeding on bait. If it had not been a tournament day there would have been a killing.
We got to the rig and the trout were there but not as active. I was able to put 3 more keepers in the boat on plastics. As they had probably been fished before they were deep. I used a 1/8 ounce jig head on a smaller paddle tail and let it sink almost to the bottom in 12 foot of water and then hopped it up and they would smack it. After it slowed down we did a drift in that area under birds, and of course put a few Gafftops in the boat and this one.
A Bonnet Head shark. The second shark I had on in a couple of days if you count the Blacktip that broke me off.
The water color near the shoreline in most areas was bad. So we headed back to POC and on the way hit another rig and I put another keeper trout in the boat. Once back at Big Bayou the tide was all the way out and we went to throwing spinnerbait and put 4 small reds in the boat. It was just not our day.
So we headed back to the ramp at quitting time, and we get to the madness that is Froggie’s. To top it all off there was another tournament there having a weigh in at the ramp. It was crazy crowded there so were headed to a friends private ramp to take out. It worked a lot better and we were out in 5 minutes. And to the idiot who flipped Chris off when he was trying to get out of Froggie’s parking lot, and not trying to cut in line in front of you to take out, sad to know that there are dumb nuts like you who jump to conclusions. So next time you are about to insert you head you know where you might take a minute to think it through. No wonder there are hassles at the ramp with people like him.
We got to the weigh in and there were lots of fish. We weighed in our biggest trout and donated the other 5 for the fish fry. I saw some nice reds as usual, but also some great trout. Clearly we were not in the same league. Speaking to some of the guys it was clearly a croaker day. As I have said in my posts lately, it is live bait time. I also met Larry who is one of my readers, nice to meet you, and thanks for reading my stuff. It is always nice when folks introduce themselves and I look forward to meeting any of you who say hi.
We hit the road instead of staying there to eat, and the shrimp at Bubba’s was great. Good thing as Chris talked to someone later and apparently they ran out of fish at the fish fry before everyone got to eat. He also heard that the game warden was called as someone might have brought in a redfish with a trimmed tail. How that came out I do not know, but I know one thing, if you cheat at a church tournament you are going to hell. How low can you go?
And in that vein, it is the reason 25 years ago I quit fishing any bass tournament that was a partner, and not a draw for boat partner, tournament. Cheating happened frequently. As the number of tournaments continues to grow on the coast expect that trend to continue. In fact, last year there were people actually charged at the Texas Women’s Angler Tournament for potentially cheating. Additionally, my last trip to Amistad we found a fish basket tied up to a bush way back in an isolated creek that was high and dry when the water fell. The conclusion was obvious. Catch some good ones and bag them up the day before. Sad it continues to happen in the sport I love so much.
Chris asked me at supper if I ever question myself after a tournament if things go so poorly. Of course I do, but since I fished my first tournament in 1975, when it happens like it did this weekend I am not surprised. Now do not get me wrong, I was not happy, but been there done that. As it was his first tournament it was a little harder to swallow. Nothing like feeling like you have embarrassed yourself in front of the other fisherman. You just have to remember, you were not the only one who did not put fish in the boat. But as far as questioning myself, lets look at it.
Things I should have done, and not done.
1. Stick to the plan. If you know what works keep doing it. When you are actually fishing tournament day it is not time to experiment. You should already have a plan or you should not be out there. It is the rare occasion when you find something spectacular tournament day and win. That happens to other guys. If you are varying from the plan it means you are already toast.
2. Do not practice where you know they are. Why waste your time? All your searching should be done before hand. Cover lots of water and try to narrow it down.
3. Do what you do best and live with the results. So combine the how and where, and then do what you do best. It is not time to explore new techniques to catch fish. I know it can be tough to stick with it when it is not working, but if you are good at what you do then stay with it.
4. Fish live bait. If that is not on your agenda, be sure you take it like a man when it is live bait time and you fish lures. And in the middle of the summer doldrums, live bait is the ticket. So if you want to fish a summer tourney on the bay, buy croakers.
5. Spend your time with the bait in the water. Running all over the bay is wasting fishing time. If your fish are an hour apart, and you know you can catch them, fine. But if you spend a couple of hours on plane out of a 10 hour tournament you have wasted 20% of your fishing time. And I have never caught a fish hauling ass across the water.
Now I am sure there are lots of other things I wish I had done differently or better, but those are the crux of it. Tournament fishing is not regular fishing. And as I have only done it very few times on the coast I still have a lot to learn. I do know that I will probably keep trying a few, but since live bait will never be on my program, I have to be sure to set realistic goals and then live with the results. But on the other hand, I enjoy the competition of both bass and bay tournaments and taking a butt whipping like we did this weekend will not stop me from fishing a few now and then.
So there you have it. Not the best weekend I have spent on the water. But I could have been sweating on some line making car parts or some other thing and wishing I was somewhere else. But I was on the water, and there is no place I would rather be. Coleto for an evening trip is next, then off to Fayette for the day on Thursday. So thanks for reading my stuff, I appreciate it.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
