This year's tournament season ended with a bang. Me and my anglers: Dr George Brinson and Dr Scotty Gould won 6 categories including the overall tournament in the Red Trout Celebrity Classic part of the Redbone Series of tournament to benefit cystic fibrosis research. Day one of the tournament included 35-40 mph sustained winds and a high of 60 degrees. We made a long run north from the tournament checkout. While at our A spot for the day I managed to fall overboard and drown my phone and my watch. My watch continued to work but somehow reset itself 25 minutes slow. This ended up costing us first place on day one in the spin category and just back from the overall leaders.
On day two of the tournament we had beautiful weather with light winds and bluebird skies. At our first stop we landed 20- keeper trout during the first hour of competition. All fish fell for two different types of plastic attached to various jigheads depending on the slowing current at the end of the falling tide. During this time George and Scotty were catching fish two a time and I was unable to process the fish fast enough and take photos of each one. I had over a dozen 2-3.5lb fish stacked up in the back corner of my boat. After the fish moved we moved on to our next spot 20 minutes away and were greeted with perfect conditions to begin the onslaught. Scotty struck first on the mirrodine mini and heavy baits. Next George got a couple on a swimbait. I had pre fished all week at over a dozen spots in the general area and Dr Scotty Gould was very familiar with this area as well. We hit one of his spots first and then moved onto the areas I had pre fished once the tide got a little higher. The guys immediately started wacking trout two at a time at the 3rd spot we hit and I once again had a pile of trout to record and release. (The redbone series is a release tourney and the guide has to measure and photograph each fish before release) Thankfully our disposable camera had only 20 exposure and we maxed it out at our first spot-one less step for me to deal with.
After hitting 3 more spots and catching over 40 trout total for the day we decided to pursue my favorite fish-the redfish. I took the guys to a spot I had found them close by a few days earlier and honey was home. The guys quickly landed about a dozen reds and broke off a couple and pulled hooks on two or three more. They had 8 keepers so we had our reds for the tournament. Your anglers have to catch at least one of each species to qualify for overall tournament winners. We accomplished that and much more with 800 bonus points for catching those reds.
After redfishing for 30 minutes it was back to trout fishing-knowing the tide was perfect at two trout spots we had not hit yet. At the first spot we went it was game on for both guys catching two at a time once again. These were all 2-3.5 lb fish and aggressive. After this we went to another spot on the way to our final spot and picked up a few more. Then the last spot yielded about 10 more trout a piece. Being a little gun shy on time I decided to cut the guys off an hour early and leave the fish biting. I thought they had caught enough to win the tourney so we got back to the dock over an hour early and decided to fish a little more close by until we decided to go ahead and turn our forms in and have a cold one.
Turns out the guys won 6 divisions including overall team champions. Dr George won: Grand Champion, Most trout releases, Most redfish releases, and spin division.
Dr Scotty won Runner up Grand Champion he had one less redfish than Dr George-they both released 28 trout. George caught one more redfish and that was enough to just edge Scotty out in all of those individual divisions.
The two won the overall tournament by a long shot. They had over double the points of the next closest team in one day of fishing in a two day tourney.
Thanks to the volunteers that made this tournament possible. It was a great time for a great cause.
Congrats Dr George and Dr Scotty!!
Tight lines,
Captain Ren
On day two of the tournament we had beautiful weather with light winds and bluebird skies. At our first stop we landed 20- keeper trout during the first hour of competition. All fish fell for two different types of plastic attached to various jigheads depending on the slowing current at the end of the falling tide. During this time George and Scotty were catching fish two a time and I was unable to process the fish fast enough and take photos of each one. I had over a dozen 2-3.5lb fish stacked up in the back corner of my boat. After the fish moved we moved on to our next spot 20 minutes away and were greeted with perfect conditions to begin the onslaught. Scotty struck first on the mirrodine mini and heavy baits. Next George got a couple on a swimbait. I had pre fished all week at over a dozen spots in the general area and Dr Scotty Gould was very familiar with this area as well. We hit one of his spots first and then moved onto the areas I had pre fished once the tide got a little higher. The guys immediately started wacking trout two at a time at the 3rd spot we hit and I once again had a pile of trout to record and release. (The redbone series is a release tourney and the guide has to measure and photograph each fish before release) Thankfully our disposable camera had only 20 exposure and we maxed it out at our first spot-one less step for me to deal with.
After hitting 3 more spots and catching over 40 trout total for the day we decided to pursue my favorite fish-the redfish. I took the guys to a spot I had found them close by a few days earlier and honey was home. The guys quickly landed about a dozen reds and broke off a couple and pulled hooks on two or three more. They had 8 keepers so we had our reds for the tournament. Your anglers have to catch at least one of each species to qualify for overall tournament winners. We accomplished that and much more with 800 bonus points for catching those reds.
After redfishing for 30 minutes it was back to trout fishing-knowing the tide was perfect at two trout spots we had not hit yet. At the first spot we went it was game on for both guys catching two at a time once again. These were all 2-3.5 lb fish and aggressive. After this we went to another spot on the way to our final spot and picked up a few more. Then the last spot yielded about 10 more trout a piece. Being a little gun shy on time I decided to cut the guys off an hour early and leave the fish biting. I thought they had caught enough to win the tourney so we got back to the dock over an hour early and decided to fish a little more close by until we decided to go ahead and turn our forms in and have a cold one.
Turns out the guys won 6 divisions including overall team champions. Dr George won: Grand Champion, Most trout releases, Most redfish releases, and spin division.
Dr Scotty won Runner up Grand Champion he had one less redfish than Dr George-they both released 28 trout. George caught one more redfish and that was enough to just edge Scotty out in all of those individual divisions.
The two won the overall tournament by a long shot. They had over double the points of the next closest team in one day of fishing in a two day tourney.
Thanks to the volunteers that made this tournament possible. It was a great time for a great cause.
Congrats Dr George and Dr Scotty!!
Tight lines,
Captain Ren
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.