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AcousTennis · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 13 Sep 2010 Posts: 1319

Hey there!

A small facebook group called "JUSTUS Kayak Fishing" held a small tournament this past saturday. It was almost cancelled due to participation but luckily at the last second we managed to get some people to join and had a decent turnout of 14 people.

I was really excited because for this tournament I was allowed to fish at night. For those of yall that follow my reports you know that I grew up night fishing.

I hit the water around 8PM on Friday. For some reason I find it suitable on tournament days to try new areas that I've never fished before. I killed a hour catching nothing and wasting time.

I made the paddle to where I knew the fish would be and instantly started spooking schools upon schools of blackdrum. I staked out and could only keep two rods out at a time due to the bite. It took me 5 minutes to reel in my limits worth.

A school of redfish came crashing through and I ended up with my 8th or 9th double hookup for the night only 30 minutes in.

The first to come in was this 18" drum and a 25" red.

I managed 4 redfish in the 24"-25" range but I threw them all back hoping a bigger fish would come along. A ballsy move that could have wrecked me. This tournament allowed oversized reds to be brought in and with my buddy Steven in the tournament I knew I would need a bigger fish to take the division. I was really wishing that it was a two best slot red format because I had them on lock all night with this 28" and 27.5" red that decided to join me.

The game plan was going great! 30 Keeper drum in about a hour with 6 reds. I could hear reds and trout working up and down the shoreline. It was only a matter of time until I would get to use the oversize tag or upgrade my drum...so I thought...

Clouds were heading in from offshore and the lightning show was IMPRESSIVE! I was REALLY debating if I should leave or not but with my lightning strike at baffin a few years back I figured Id better not try my luck.

My Objective was complete. Catch my Redfish and Blackdrum so I can focus on trout in the morning.

If your wondering why I dont have full limits its because I left a spot open on the stringer in case that oversize red or drum upgrade came along.

The next morning I was on the water casting tops at 5AM. It was DEAD until about 6:15 then the bite was absolutely amazing for all of a minute. I pulled in 4 trout with 2 being keepers. Biggest went 18" and that was all for the morning.

I hit the weigh in extra early so I could avoid another casting for a cause scenario.

It was great hanging out with everyone from the JUSTUS crew. The BBQ was awesome and much needed after all that fishing.

I held onto the lead for all divisions until about 30 minutes left when Steven showed up and pulled a nice 33" bull from the cooler. It was pretty much what I expected haha. If anyone was going to knock me out of the lead for redfish it would be Steven with a big ole bull.

Even at that I was pretty pumped because the Team Oso Boys took every division in the tourny!

I placed 2nd in Redfish, 1st in trout, and 1st in drum. Steven took 1st in redfish and 2nd in trout.

The next morning I get a text from Oscar about hitting the KRS. I told him thats a far paddle and next thing you know I'm being set up with a hobie pro angler haha!

We hit the KRS with Mike Morales from Fin Factory kayak charters. Super cool dude and nice enough to let me "paddle" the pro angler. It was awesome to say the least!

I managed a few trout trolling the usual lures. Mike was the first one to find a red fish.

We started our drift. I was working a topwater most of the morning but it was tough to work it properly with all the floating grass. When I could keep a steady click going it would often get blow ups.

Apparently the popping cork was the way to go that morning because Oscar was next to find a red.

We drifted and fish the rest of the day with a few dinks but no more keepers. Still wasn't bad for fishing territory that none of us have ever fished before.

It was a few great days of fishing and Im sure there will be more these next few days before I head back up to lake Buchanan for some freshwater fun.

Till Next Time
Life is good.
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ltorna1 · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 3240

Congrats Tino, and kudos to your friend Steven! Great report and spectacular pictures. Those are some beautiful reds. The ones fresh out of the water are just beautiful, magazine quality pics.

Its funny what you said about floating grass. In the winter, when theres no floating grass, all I do is dream about that summertime warm water and that early morning topwater bite. In the summer when dead grass is everywhere, all I think about is slow twitching a suspending plug in clear, chilly grass-free water. I'm never satisfied! Very Happy

If you wanna yak sometime this week in our usual haunts shoot me a text.
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...if my boss ever finds this forum I'll be unemployed...

MECE · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 6:14 am Post subject:

Excellent Job Tino!!! Those are a nice pair of reds you caught for the tourney. Always enjoy reading your reports. TRTR

landlocked beachbum · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 8:43 am Post subject:

redfin21 · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 5:28 pm Post subject:

Wow! Those were some nice fish. Sounds like a great little tournament. That would be something I would enjoy fishing. Hope y'all keep it going. Congrats to everyone on the catches.
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wishin i was fishin!

troutless · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:37 pm Post subject:

Congrats Tino & Steven!! It sounds like yall are getting the small turney up and running fine.

manuel9622 · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 11:46 pm Post subject:

Nice! Wish I could get down there. Oh well stranded here in SA enjoying the fishing reports.
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Shallow Sportn' it

RedSniper · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 12:04 am Post subject:

Awesome Job
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