Tide: 2.1ft Low at 3:30am, 0.1ft Low Tide at 12pm
Today I came out of my three month long retirement and fished the 7th Annual Calusa Blueway Fishing Tournament held in Matlacha. I did not find any fish while prefishing on Thursday and continued with my 2012 tournament tradition of not fishing the day before the tourny. I had my mind set on fishing the pass but amid captains meeting banter I was swayed to fish the same area I prefished the day before as the big trout apparently moved in overnight very close to the kayak launch. I threw topwater from 7-9am in the area where the supposed "big trout" were sure to be but only came up with 3 trout to 18". Not exactly what I was looking for.
Now if you recall from last years tournament I said I learned my lesson and would bring cut bait as backup in the event that the redfish eluded me. Well I did. But this time I didn't need it. I launched at the spot and cautiously made my way past an alligator, a dead possum, and a feral hog, to a position that seemed ideal for intercepting one of the brute reds. After an hour of soaking fresh cut mullet without a bite, I tied on the tried and true Lil John and waded upcurrent. A few minutes went by and a big dark blotch started swimming 10 feet away from where I was standing, at one point looking directly at my legs. The blotch was fixated on stalking a small school of mullet into the shallows so I stood my ground and became statuesque so as not to blow the shot. I contorted my body, flipped the lure in its path, gave it two twitches and the rest was history. It was easily the most nervous I've been in the presence of a fish.
There was about 3 hours left to catch a snook so I launched in a nearby area where I could catch the bottom of the outgoing tide. The quality snook weren't around but I was glad to at least get one on the board.
I opted to head in 90 minutes early as things shut down completely. The first angler to weigh-in had me beat, 72" vs 70.5". A few minutes later another guy came in with 72" as well. Our scores ended up sticking for the remainder of the weigh-in. Out of 68 anglers, I took third place which paid $350, second won $550, and first won the new Pro Angler 12 kayak.
