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Yes, I know that I'm way behind, and I know that you haven't heard from me much lately. Life and work have gotten in the way of fun way too much lately.
Coe Parker was gracious enough to offer to sponsor a team for the University of Houston tournament this past saturday, so I went to work on rounding up a couple of trusted buddies to fish with. Aaron Stillwagon and Mike Cubbage, both top notch guys, and great anglers to boot, were more than willing to join in the fun. Most of the time we find ourselves in very competitive, professional level tournaments, so this sounded somewhat relaxing. Well, I guess that we just don't relax well when it's competition time. we put together what sounded like a great game plan where we would spend the day in an area that should have held good trout, reds and flounder all within a reasonable distance. On top of that, it was forecast to be rather windy, so we wanted to limit the beating.
Tournament day started off well enough, as we ran to the first spot. wind was light, bait was jumping, slicks were rolling. Everything looked like we had hoped. Well, the trout didn't cooperate, this stop or any other all day long! Our second stop, Aaron and I jumped out of the boat again, on a shoreline that normally holds trout along with reds and flounder. Well, the reds were there, but mostly small. Our day continued like this from beginning to end, as we fished over several flats, and shorelines that we have used successfully for years in tournaments. None worked out as we had hoped. After fishing hard from 6am until 3pm I only had one decent red, and one 2 pound flounder, Aaron had two reds, and Mike hadn't found a fish to weigh. We headed back to the second stop of the day, having exhausted nearly everything in the area, and I was able to scratch out another flounder, to round out a very small 3 fish string.
We pushed it to the limit, and didn't get off the water until 4pm and didn't make the weigh in line until 4:58! The final tally was a handful of small reds, 4 small keeper reds, two flounder and several more that didn't quite get landed. At the weigh in, my redfish was the largest of the tournament at 5.3 pounds, my bigger flounder was the largest, and I actually had the only two flounder weighed in. The overall stringer was about 9.5 pounds, and edged out the top honors of the stringer division. So, heaviest red, heaviest flounder, and heaviest stringer. I have to admit that I was totally shocked.
I want to thank Coe and all of the FWE crew for helping us fish this event. it was a fun day, regardless of the un-cooperative fish and weather. And thanks to Mike and Aaron for making it a great day with great friends!
I now have 3 new American Rodsmiths UH Tournament rods that need a new home. If you are a UH grad or fan, and want a good 7 foot rod with University of Houston label on it, give me a shout.
Coe Parker was gracious enough to offer to sponsor a team for the University of Houston tournament this past saturday, so I went to work on rounding up a couple of trusted buddies to fish with. Aaron Stillwagon and Mike Cubbage, both top notch guys, and great anglers to boot, were more than willing to join in the fun. Most of the time we find ourselves in very competitive, professional level tournaments, so this sounded somewhat relaxing. Well, I guess that we just don't relax well when it's competition time. we put together what sounded like a great game plan where we would spend the day in an area that should have held good trout, reds and flounder all within a reasonable distance. On top of that, it was forecast to be rather windy, so we wanted to limit the beating.
Tournament day started off well enough, as we ran to the first spot. wind was light, bait was jumping, slicks were rolling. Everything looked like we had hoped. Well, the trout didn't cooperate, this stop or any other all day long! Our second stop, Aaron and I jumped out of the boat again, on a shoreline that normally holds trout along with reds and flounder. Well, the reds were there, but mostly small. Our day continued like this from beginning to end, as we fished over several flats, and shorelines that we have used successfully for years in tournaments. None worked out as we had hoped. After fishing hard from 6am until 3pm I only had one decent red, and one 2 pound flounder, Aaron had two reds, and Mike hadn't found a fish to weigh. We headed back to the second stop of the day, having exhausted nearly everything in the area, and I was able to scratch out another flounder, to round out a very small 3 fish string.
We pushed it to the limit, and didn't get off the water until 4pm and didn't make the weigh in line until 4:58! The final tally was a handful of small reds, 4 small keeper reds, two flounder and several more that didn't quite get landed. At the weigh in, my redfish was the largest of the tournament at 5.3 pounds, my bigger flounder was the largest, and I actually had the only two flounder weighed in. The overall stringer was about 9.5 pounds, and edged out the top honors of the stringer division. So, heaviest red, heaviest flounder, and heaviest stringer. I have to admit that I was totally shocked.
I want to thank Coe and all of the FWE crew for helping us fish this event. it was a fun day, regardless of the un-cooperative fish and weather. And thanks to Mike and Aaron for making it a great day with great friends!
I now have 3 new American Rodsmiths UH Tournament rods that need a new home. If you are a UH grad or fan, and want a good 7 foot rod with University of Houston label on it, give me a shout.
LIVIN THE SALT LIFE 
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