Brian and his crew ran a great tournament and the last I heard were able to raise over $6k in their first outing! Outstanding work folks! Over 40 anglers were treated to great food from sponsor Grill's Seafood Deck & Tiki Bar http://www.grillsseafood.com/ (sushi, seared tuna, and fish dip at the capt meeting; mahi, rice, and steamed veggies at the weigh-in.....sorry no food porn pics, admittedly, I was too busy gnarfing! I promise not to slack on the pics for the foodies next year). In addition to the delicious table fare, a load of great tournament and raffle prizes were up for grabs:
SLAM
1st - Malibu Stealth 12 Kayak
2nd - Adventure Technology Fish Stix Paddle, $25 Gift Certificate to Indian River Outfitters
3rd - 7'6" Okuma Baidara Kayak Rod and Shimano Sedona Spinning Reel
Redfish
1st - AT Fish Stix Paddle, $25 Gift Certificate to Indian River Outfitters
2nd - 7'6" Okuma Baidara Kayak Rod and Shimano Sedona Spinning Reel
3rd - Wang Anchor System
Trout
1st - AT Fish Stix Paddle, $25 Gift Certificate to Indian River Outfitters
2nd - 7'6" Okuma Baidara Kayak Rod and Shimano Sedona Spinning Reel
3rd - Wang Anchor System
Snook
1st - AT Fish Stix Paddle, $25 Gift Certificate to Indian River Outfitters
2rd - 7'6" Okuma Baidara Kayak Rod and Shimano Sedona Spinning Reel
3rd - Wang Anchor System
Raffle Prizes
- Malibu Explorer 12 Kayak
- Penn Conqueor Spinning Reel
- Costa Sunglasses
- Native Sunglasses
- 4 Tilley hats
- 3 x 7' St Croix Triumph Spinning Rods
- Okuma Rod and Reel Combo
- Patagonia Long Sleeved Shirt
- Scotty rod Holders, Hammerheads and extensions
- 1 night stay at Mosquito Lagoon Fish Camp
John, Blake and myself were looking forward to fishing the area as it had been a while since we fished that section of the Indian River Lagoon. Tournament boundaries were the Coast Guard Lighthouse in Daytona down south to the 17th Street Bridge in Vero. PLENTY of fishing room. Seeing as how it's just a 3 hour ride to most of those areas, John and I made a pre-fish trip over two weeks before the tourney just to check out a couple of spots. We left Sarasota @ 5am and launched by 8:15am in the Merritt Wildlife Refuge and saw some humongous reds that unfortunately didn't want to chew...probably for the greater good since my chest was pounding hard enough at just the sight of those monsters. I'll be back for them! The second day of pre-fishing we traveled down to the Sebastian area thinking that would be our best bet for scoring a snook in the tourney.
Some pics over the days:
The dolphins making their morning breakfast rounds in the Merritt Wildlife Refuge
Moved on down South the next day.....launched within the Sebastian Inlet State Park....cloudy sunrise over the inlet
John finds the closest flat and hops out of the kayak to wade fish.....remember to tether off to the kayak first folks!
And soon after, he hooks up with his first fish......
An undersize Snook, but a Snook nonetheless!
I actually managed a slam (if you add both days of the tourney weekend together
) This little fighter of a trout looked like a freshwater rainbow trout with the tangerine glow coming off the Grand Slam....
Managed a quick de-hook of this guy and decided he'd be good for a quickie photo op....
It figures I catch a big 'ol trout the day BEFORE the tourney. She put a big smile on my face regardless.....amazing how great a Seatrout's natural camouflage works. It looks odd out of the water, but immediately disappears only a few inches deep into a grass flat.....I estimated her at 60 to 65 inches
......
Later on a Snook was kind enough to come out and play with my lure....this pic should answer the question, "Why do they call 'em linesiders?"
HornetBear was right.....no need for lures....just dab some peanut butter on your thumb and Snook will come right out of the mangroves to suck it off....
A little Jack Crevalle showed up later to completely destroy my last soft plastic....if you look closely, you can see the finger mullet he barfed up during the fight floating around the middle bubbles.......as an aside, you haven't lived until a Snook pukes up a fist sized ball of glass minnows in your lap...
We were greeted with another gorgeous sunrise the morning of the tournament......
I only caught a couple of dinker trout and this baby red on tourney day.........
On the paddle back to the launch I was able to snap a few pics of an Osprey about to enjoy his freshly caught afternoon snack.....
Back at the photo weigh-in, Blake won 2nd place trout (20") and John got 3rd place slam (19" red,18.5" trout). It was a rare slow day for the area....a large amount of rainfall in the days prior really muddied up the normally clear water.......here's the Team Emotion Guys striking the winning pose.....Congrats my friends!
Once again, big ups to Brian and crew for putting on a well run tournament. Many thanks to all of the sponsors as well! All anglers and family were treated with free entry into the weigh-in site, the Brevard Zoo as an extra treat. Looking forward to making the trip again next year.....See you all there!
