Didn’t get to scout Friday because of work commitments and knew it would be lot different from the spectacular results of the previous weekend because of the week long cold front and high pressure conditions. Arrived at Bridgeside around 530 Friday afternoon and made the social rounds just before the filling of the captain’s bags. They had so much help, I just watched. As usual, many asked where I was fishing and I either blatantly lied or just smiled. Sorry! Pastalaya was served shortly after and it was fabulous. Unfortunately there was a lack of chocolate chip cookies, much to my dismay. Roomed at Bridgeside with Josh Redd, Luke Beslin, Jonathan Aucoin, Jay Shultis and Breck Hotard. Our camp was clean and well equipped including a 14 cup coffee maker which is always a high priority. I loaded it up with Cafe Bustello(man coffee) for the morning and passed out shortly after telling Breck a bedtime story.
There once was a man named Breck. He fished with a bait that looked like a turd. The end.
Saturday
Didn’t sleep well and was up at 325. Started coffee and shortly thereafter people started rousting. I rolled to the marina and iced down as trucks were taking off north. I had numerous plans and drove to the bay side of the marina and shined my headlight into the water. When I saw 2′ visibility in green water, my mind was made up. I launched at Bridgeside and pedaled north around 5, into a breeze and stiff current. Glad I have a GPS. Oh, yeah, it died around 540 when I was about a quarter mile from my target. Lovely. Good thing I have a $11, 99,000 lumen headlight from Ebay. It got me to my spot. I anchored and waited, impatiently. At precisely 6am, I started casting topwater then slow suspend, then jighead, then 4HPoppin into the current and breeze. Nada. Moved up 20 feet and repeated. First cast on 2nd round of jighead was the ticket. Bump then bent rod, netted 18″ trout and in the box. Moved again and caught several more nice fish, keeping only a couple over 17. Immediately started fishing for flounder, slowly drifting all the way to the point at Elmer’s while slow jigging. Caught quite a few more trout on the way but no flounder. Pedaled back into the raging current and headed back to Bridgeside. Rolled north around noon while 2 other competitors called me to tell me they were leaving the area I was heading towards. One with reds, one without. I launched and pedaled about a quarter mile before casting 4HPoppin into a current line between 2 little islands. Hit but no connection. Cast again and set the hook on a 24 1/2″ red, which rested comfortably in my ice chest shortly after. I switched to jighead and pounded the shorelines, cuts and points until it was time to head back, and like magic, a chartreuse Outback comes upon me as I’m releasing a 23″ red. Low and behold, it’s Benjamin Day. He had a slam and enthusiastically told me about his day. We split up and headed towards our launch sites. I ran into Brenden Bayard at the launch and he’s flashing something odd from his ice chest bag. Damn if it ain’t a triple tail! Wow! While emptying my boat to load, I drive a treble hook into the back of my seat. Lovely. After a short struggle, I put my fishing pliers to work and was able to spare the seat, but not the hook. Rolling south!
Reached Bridgeside about 340 and joined the weigh in line, which started at the SE corner of the covered area and ended near the bait station. Great to see after 2 horrible weather tournaments early in the year. The weigh in line is an awesome social opportunity in itself. Eddie Tyre was behind me and I convinced him to adopt the name Tyreeeee because it had Cajun Character. Shortly afterwards, Matt Dearman came by and said the same. I’d kept 5 trout and the biggest was 1.99 pounds, really. Probably caught 30 plus but was just keeping the bigger fish for weigh in. My red was not outstanding and neither was the trout, but it would do for today. Spahr’s catered dinner and the shrimp pasta was awesome with a little crab meat in the sauce. Luckily, I was able to snag the final chocolate cookie. Our sponsors were well represented with the Backpacker having a display, Massey’s having 2 people watching the end of the line, including the fabulous Val Chauvin, and Louisiana Custom Kayaks Brock Miller fishing the event as well as showing product. After what seemed a lifetime, Michael Ethridge began the awards ceremony. Heart Faust won ladies division early then placed in flounder as well. I won 3rd place trout which added $150 in Academy gift cards to the take Jack fishing fund. Thanks for the contributions. Josh won 2nd place red which he earned by launching 3 times at the far ends of the tournament boundaries.
The weekend before, when fishing on the backside of the island, I came across 2 ladies, one fishing in a PA14. Naturally, I had to check them out. They were fishing the Caminada Redfish Rodeo with no success. I gave them a spot for Sunday but asked they leave it alone for the next weekend because of Fall N Tide. She did in fact catch at that location Sunday. One of the ladies, Tracy Bourgeois, did indeed fish Fall N Tide, with her husband Barry, who won 3rd place slam. Sorry y’all, I’ve once again awakened the monster.
Awards complete, we went to our camp and took numbers for the shower. I got cleaned up, readied the coffee maker, and got in bed with my roommates whooping and hollering over college football. I was out like a light! I did hear stories the next day about a fierce corn hole tournament and 2am fishing from the end of the marina. Animals!
Sunday
Launched at 530 with Josh and Heart Faust for a trout meat haul. I replaced the treble hook I’d destroyed when picking up so my topwater was intact. Shortly after we started fishing, Josh and I crossed topwater baits and they were closer to me, so he let off and I grabbed to detach. Yeah, mine slipped and lodged itself into the webbing on my brand new PFD. Lovely, and yes, it was the same hook I’d just changed. I beached, took off my PFD and began the battle again to find I’d bent my aluminum pliers trying to cut the hooks. Luckily, I had a brand new pair and was able to destroy yet another treble hook and install a 3rd, while Heart landed a 19″ trout right in front of me. Greaaaaaat. I moved onto a flat and started picking up a few on jighead. Heart fished in same area and also caught a few. Josh headed back first, then Heart, leaving the diehard fishing. I picked up around 11 and started cleaning fish. When I was cleaning up, Austin Johnson and Danny Compagno came to clean redfish they’d caught with a group in the morning. Supposedly, 6 of them pulled up and caught around 30 reds in about 10 minutes. Outstanding! At the fish cleaning station, I saw Benjamin Day leaving with his camper so I called and exchanged pleasantries until we all waved goodbye as he passed on the bridge.
What an awesome weekend! Thanks very much to the BCKFC officers for putting on a great event. Thanks to our sponsors for the fabulous prizes and support. Congratulations to all the winners and competitors. As always, I can’t wait till next trip! Trout Challenge is 3 weekends away. I’ll be practicing and will see ya’ll down there. Hopefully, before you see me!
Awesome report Jack!
Hopefully I’ll see you down there again soon.