All of the participants fished in downright brutal conditions on tournament day. You could not have scripted worse fishing conditions: extreme low tides, high winds, high pressure, and a cold front that drop the water temperature several degrees in less than 24 hours. My hat goes off to my fellow competitors that were brave enough to battle and/or able to find fish in these extreme conditions.
Some of my best fishing lessons have been acquired through trial and error, especially error, while prefishing or preparing for a tournament. I learned a few things this past weekend that will be helpful to me in future and that made me a better angler.
First, I learned that my teammates Tony and Chris hate the Corpus area. Second, the T-Pain iPhone App is well worth the money. The entertainment it provided us throughout the weekend was worth every penny spent.
Next, Tony and Chris hate Corpus. In addition, don’t try to fish the marsh when the tide is extremely low unless you want to be completely muddy and exhausted by the time you make it back to the launch. Dave (Nueces Bay) can attest to this.
Furthermore, Tony and Chris hate Corpus. Also, don’t make an hour and twenty minute paddle one way when the wind is forecasted over 20 mph all day. Sometimes the weather guessers are right. Additionally, carrying a spare paddle might not be such a bad idea. You tend to learn this type of lesson when you’re over 4 miles away from the launch and you’re holding what resembles two oars.
Did I mention that Tony and Chris hate Corpus?
All joking aside I actually did learn a lot about a few areas I have been fishing over the last few years and how certain conditions affect these areas. I was able to cross out a bunch of unproductive water (36 miles worth over 5 days of fishing) given certain conditions and I even found a pattern that I’m sure I’ll be able to reproduce in the future.
Out of the five days I spent in the area, I was only able to find fish on my first day in the area. Although the fish were plentiful, the bites on the other hand were almost nonexistent. That first day I literally had fish swimming all around me and I didn’t go a few paddle (oar) strokes without seeing a fish. But they refused everything I had to offer and I finished the day with only one fish landed.
Tony and Chris both despise fishing around the Corpus area but not without good rationale. Most of their fishing experiences in the area have been bad and nonproductive. I was supposed to be the gracious host for them this weekend showing them a few spots to hopefully change their outlook about the area.
I think I failed miserably in helping change their minds and if anything, I made their viewpoint even worse. I apologize and assure you both that the fishing is not always as bad or tough as your experiences suggest. We’ll have to make a trip to the area when the conditions are more favorable so I can redeem myself.
Tournament day was comedy of errors. The area we decided to fish was blown out almost completely. We struggled to find fishable water much less any signs of fish. By the time we reached an area where fish might inhabit, most of our fishing time was used up.
Chris saw an area that looked similar to fishing back home and went to work almost immediately. He put on a display by quickly landing a nice mid-slot redfish and bunch of undersized reds. Sam also managed to pull out and bunch of rat reds out the same area. I remember mentioning to Chris that “you can take Chris away from Freeport but you can’t take Freeport away from Chris.”
We found these fish in small deep creek that fed off of main channel. Plastics and gold spoons bumped slowly along the drop-off produced the best bite. We worked the creek and main channel without much more luck and our day was coming to an end. Tony and Chris decided to head back to the launch to make it to the weigh-in on time.
Me and Sam decided to check out one last area that we had scouted on Google Earth in hopes of pulling out a last second miracle. Making our way to our last spot was definitely not easy with the wind and tide. I considered turning around a few times but Sam alleviate my hesitation by reminding me that we had absolutely nothing to lose.
We made our way into the area and Sam immediately hooks up with a solid redfish. After a few minute battle, Sam gets the fish close and by this time visions of a last minute Hail Mary are going through both of our minds. Within sight, the fish makes one last run and headshake for survival and the hook pops out. We both just stand there and stare at each other in amazement at what could have been.
We fish the area for about an hour more and we both managed to catch numerous undersized redfish. By this time there was no hope of making the weigh-in so we relaxed and began to fish solely for enjoyment. In the midst of the mayhem Sam managed to catch, the biggest red of his life, a 35” beast that ate a ½ gold spoon. This was by far the fattest redfish I have ever seen with my own two eyes. The fish bottomed out a 15lb Boga Grip. It was probably well over 20 pounds and as fat as can be.
By now it was about 2:30pm and we were a long way from the launch so we decided to make our way back in. On the way in we decided to make one last cast before leaving the area and we both hooked up simultaneously with undersized reds. We smiled at each other and decided it was the perfect way to end an otherwise arduous day.
We found all of our fish sitting on drop-offs where the water went from 1'-2' to 4'-6' deep. Gold spoons out fished plastics 3 to 1. If only we had found this area sooner who knows what the outcome would have been. Live and learn.
I love the format and the potential this tournament series possesses. The inaugural event had some setbacks but nothing that can't be easily fixed. Overall things were very professional and well-run. I’m looking forward to fishing the entire series this year. Hopefully the conditions will be more favorable for the remainder of the series.
Paddle or Oars?
Testing the new Fish Grip
The Beast
Just under 35"
Big Red Released
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