Tide: -0.4ft low at 4:45am, 1.7ft at 9pm
Today was the first leg of the 2011 IFA Kayak Tour out of Punta Gorda, FL. Thirty-seven anglers competed to catch the largest combined length of one trout and one redfish. The weather was gorgeous on tournament day with highs in the mid 80s and winds 5-10 mph out of the south. Chris and I decided to launch early and fish topwaters on a shallow flat in hopes of catching a stray red or two. We immediately got into a bunch of trout hammering bait on the surface. After an hour we caught a 23" and 19.5" trout, but no reds. We moved to a trout spot I prefished the day before and found a bunch hanging around deep, murky water. We upgraded our trout to 24" and 23" with DOA CALs and even had a double on 22+ inchers. With the trout knocked out, we made an hour long drive and relocated to my redfish spot. We weeded through a bunch of rat reds but finally banged a 26" and a 22.5" on jigs as well. The bite started to taper off so we left a little early and arrived at the weigh-in an hour early. Ten anglers showed up to the weigh-in with both species. Chris ended up in 5th (tied with 2 others) with 45.5" and I took 4th with 50". First place had 56.5" which is damn good, tournament day or not.
