This past weekend was the first IFA kayak tour fishing event this year for the Louisiana division. It was held in Empire at Delta Marina. There were 67 people registered for the tournament, which is the most they’ve had for an IFA event ever in Louisiana and I believe the most the IFA has had at a kayak event so far this year. I believe the weather helped create that great turnout because for the first weekend in a long time there wasn’t a big, sweeping cold front coming through the area. It really felt like summer this past weekend.

SATURDAY

Since the event is Sunday, I was able to pre-fish on Saturday. Working off a tip from a friend, I hit a spot I’ve never been to before hoping to find trout and bull reds. The IFA is a CPR (catch-photo-release) tournament that scores an aggregate length of your biggest trout and redfish combined, so I wanted to find a spot that had the possibility of providing trophy sized fish for both species.

I didn’t exactly make it out at the crack of dawn Saturday, but I wasn’t too far behind either. After a long paddle against the wind I got to the area I was told would be holding trout. It was basically an island, surrounded by oyster reef, with a steady current of semi-clear saltwater sweeping around. I parked on the island and began to wade fish. First cast into the water was a 19″ trout. He was tagged and released, fingers crossed he’d be around Sunday. I then proceeded to catch, tag, and release numerous trout, some under size, others decent keeper size, but most under that 19″ mark. Of course mixed in with the trout were hardheads and gafftops, just to prove that there is still a downside to using Gulp. The important thing gained here was that I found a trout spot for the tourney.

Then I ventured into the marsh looking for reds. With the high tides and steady winds I didn’t expect to have much success finding reds by sight fishing, but I tried anyway. It may not have been the most successful scouting method, but it did work. It worked thanks in part to the good water clarity we had. I had no problems seeing silhouettes in a few feet of water because the water was so nice – by Louisiana standards. I even managed to catch a few with the fly rod. Tagged and released all of the reds as well, the biggest I had went 27.5″. Just over the slot, so not quite the bull I was looking for. If you’re keeping score, that would have been a 46.5″ aggregate. I figured I would need at least 45″ to break into the top 10, so that was my goal for Sunday.

After finishing up fishing on Saturday, my mind was pretty made up that I would be headed back there Sunday. I knew I wouldn’t catch the exact same fish, but I imagined I could find similar fish and have a similar agg. score. Chatting with other guys at the captain’s meeting only strengthened my decision on fishing the same spot Sunday. There was a lot of talk about dirty water and small fish, or even no fish at all, so I was feeling pretty good.

SUNDAY

I had hopes that Sunday would be similar to Saturday, but shortly after leaving the launch I realized it wouldn’t, the weater wouldn’t allow it. The wind was relentless on Sunday and of course where I wanted to fish was about a mile or two across open water, into the wind. After paddling at a snail’s pace for what seemed like an hour I got to my island and began fishing. Took me awhile to land a trout, but when I did it went 17.5″. Fishing was obviously going to be much slower than the day before.

Kept at it a little bit longer for trout, picking up one under size trout and a few catfish and after one too many hardhead, I headed into the marsh. My plan was to go into the marsh, pick up a slot red, then head back to the bay to fish for bull reds. That didn’t exactly go as planned. I thought, because of the success I had Saturday, that I’d be able to do it again, but I was struggling. I was on fire Saturday, I had osprey eyes and could cast like KVD, but Sunday I was Mr. Magoo and all my casts were crap. Well, all except one. In the last little marsh pond that I was willing to sightfish I finally put it all together, spotted a red hugging the bank and made a nice leading cast in range. It went 25.5″ and I couldn’t be more relieved. As some who prides himself in his ability to catch redfish, not having one at a tournament weigh-in would weigh heavily on my conscience, as it did after Redfish Rumble.

I still had time to go out and fish for an upgrade to either the trout or the red, and I did, but it was pretty unsuccessful. On a day like Sunday, I was really just happy to have caught one of each. My aggregate was 43″ and as it turns out, that was good enough for 7th, so I took home a check as well. Seems it was tough for pretty much everyone else as well, except for the winner, John Kay, who turned in an aggregate of 59.25″. His score was bolstered by catching the only bull red weighed in, at 39.75″. The rest of the results and your winners are below:

From left to right: Steve Neece(2nd), John Kay(1st and big red), Casey Brunning(3rd), and Marty Mood(big trout)

Congrats to the winners, having fished the same tournament I can tell you they earned it. Only 29/67 folks weighed fish, so a big credit to those who even caught fish. I’m thrilled with my 7th place finish, it’s not every day you get paid to fish. I look forward to the next Louisiana IFA event, which will be held out of Bridge Side Marina in Grand Isle August 25th.

Fished BCKFC’s Redfish Rumble with Blake and Kevin this past weekend to less-than-spectacular results. I was fairly confident going in that I’d at least catch five redfish as the format calls for your five heaviest slot redfish, which is right in my wheelhouse, or so I thought.

The combination of high tide and winds from the south turned the spot I chose to fish into something I wasn’t too familiar with. It was tough to come across areas of good water clarity and when I did they were deep water areas. I’m much more comfortable sight casting reds in shallow water, so I was a little lost. I did so awful that I didn’t shake the skunk off until about six hours in, it was a trout that went about 13″. I did finally see a 25.5″ redfish and I managed to get him to eat a spoonfly tied by Kevin, but by that time it was too late to weigh-in and it wouldn’t have much mattered as I’m sure others had much better luck. Big thanks to Kevin on the fly and the pictures.

Still, it was fun to get out on the water with Blake and Kevin and my poor day wasn’t shared by everyone. Kevin was out in his new Cruise and he was able to stand up and sight fish a few drum and sheepshead. Standing up to sight fish was something that he hadn’t been able to previously do out of his Tarpon and I could tell he was pretty excited at the possibilities on a good day. After having truck problems last time we were supposed to go out, Blake was finally able to take his new Cuda 12. He ended up catching a couple over slot reds and picked up around ten or so trout, with a couple of those around 17-18″. On one his line popped above the cork and the cork disappeared. I found it ten minutes later in a different spot and was able to hook the line and retrieve the trout. Unfortunately not as big as we thought when he set the hook, must have had a nick his line.

So we didn’t make the weigh-in, but we weren’t the only ones. Only 32 of the 92 people registered weighed fish. Those that did catch fish, caught some really nice slot reds, with a few over 8 lbs weighed in. Here are the results for 1st – 5th:

1. Michael Ethridge     5 reds     29.75 lbs

2. Johnny Bergeron    5 reds     27.55 lbs

3. Steve Lessard           5 reds     26.45 lbs

4. Casey Brunning       5 reds     23.5 lbs

5. Tyler Hall                   5 reds     23.5 lbs

Michael Ethridge is also a fellow JK user, paddling a Cuda 14. His five fish stringer was anchored by an impressive 8.5 lb slot red! A big congrats to Michael on the win, and to all the rest that had success. I know how tough it was out there, so to see these results was really impressive. I’m always blown away with each tournament at the number of talented kayak fishermen we have right here in Louisiana. That number looks to increase as the sport grows and anglers improve upon themselves.

One of my favorite tournaments, Paddlepalooza, was held this past weekend in Leeville, LA. This year marks it’s tenth year in existence, amazing to think how far the tournament has come in ten years. A record number of people registered for the event, officially there were 272 kayak fishermen (and women) signed up, making it the second largest single day kayak fishing event in the nation! Last year’s Ride the Bull held in Grand Isle was third at 261! Kayak fishing popular in Louisiana? No, not at all….

In the week prior, the weather forecast was a little unnerving with 20-25 knot winds and thunderstorms for the day of the event, but as Saturday kept creeping closer, things kept getting better and better and by the time I launched that morning a thick fog bank had developed and wind was at a stand still. Before I get ahead of myself I did get to fish Friday.

Friday I got a late start and made it down to Leeville at about noon. Contemplating where I wanted to fish and watching the weather (there was a little wind/rain Friday), I started on the side of the road fishing culverts. Ended up not catching a thing standing on the road, but the water looked so pretty I had to launch and give the marsh a try. I was working points and cuts trying to locate flounder, but all I ended up catching was rat reds, a lot of undersize fish. I decided that probably wasn’t where I wanted to fish the next day and that I should probably just fish where I’ve put in the most work this year.

I headed over to the captain’s meeting to meet up with fellow Jackson teamer Hunter King. He was in from Mobile for the tournament. We split a hotel room for the weekend and would fish together Saturday. As we worked over our plan for Saturday it was apparent we had the same idea, even though Hunter had never been down here, he had a good idea of where he wanted to fish, it just so happened that was a spot I had been scouting since December.

The captain’s meeting was fun, as always the food was delicious. With such a big tournament this year, you could feel the anticipation and excitement while talking with everyone. It’s always great seeing all the other kayak anglers that I’ve become friends with over the past 5-6 years, ragging each other, trying to figure out everyone’s plan, and meeting new guys to the club this year and guys in from out of town. A lot of out of towners this year too, as I understand it, nine states were represented at Paddlepalooza, with folks coming from all over the Southeast. The social aspect of the captain’s meeting and the weigh-in are important elements in the tournament experience, guys that miss out on them are really missing out on the reason the tournament was originally created, to gather like minded individuals together in friendly competition. The fish stories that are told prior to the tourney may be some of the greatest out there, and they only get better the next day, at the weigh-in.

Hunter and I set off Saturday and managed to hit the water by 5:20am, a little after lines in, which was set for 5:00am. A trio of anglers launched ahead of us and we were able to located their lights to see where they were headed, sure enough they were headed in the direction I wanted to go. It was dark out there and the fog was so thick that you really couldn’t see ten feet in front of you. So instead of following them, we posted it up at a bulkead and started chucking topwaters. The water was pretty and I knew this past had a significant oyster bottom, it was only a matter of time before I had my first trout bump my lure. Shortly after that a nice redfish inhaled the bone Super Spook Jr. I got him in the boat and estimated his length against my paddle at 26″, a great tournament red, as the slot max is 27″. Hunter forgot his measure board at the truck, still being close to the launch he paddled back to get it. Might have been a bad move on his part, we’ll never know, but I kept throwing the topwater out there and ended up with two nice specks. One at 18.5″ and another at 19.5″ I was feeling pretty good and it was probably only 5:45am. Now I had to find a flounder, which are always the toughest of the slam species for me to catch.

I headed toward the nearest bank and began pounding it was a jig. Taking a cue from Fall N Tide, I was bouncing the jig along the bottom parallel to the shore, hoping to get bit by something, but getting caught on a number of oysters. As I moved further down the shoreline and into what looked like a little pocket bay, the oysters cleared, the bottom hardened, and the depth got quite shallow. Pitching into a little drain, I felt a slight tap and noticed my line moving sideways, I set the hook and reeled it in quick as it didn’t feel like much of a fish. It wasn’t, but it was a flounder. At 12.5″, it barely met the minimum 12″ requirement set by the tournament, but it was good enough. It was 6:00am, pitch black, and I had a slam. What a feeling to have on tournament day!

Hunter had made it back by the time I caught my flounder, but he was working the area where I had caught my specks, looking for any stragglers, not having any luck. I met back up with him and told him I already had my slam. He couldn’t believe it, I really still couldn’t believe it. Fall N Tide was similar in the sense that I had a slam early, but that slam I had to upgrade the red and the trout, this one was pretty solid minus the flounder. So I was looking for a flounder upgrade and Hunter needed to catch something, so we set off to a pond I really like for redfish.

We got there to find a couple people already there, no big deal, you can always find somewhere to fish by yourself in the marsh. So we kept moving, fishing obvious places, Hunter hooked a nice black drum, but lost him at the boat. I sight fished a 22-23″ red in a pond and let him go to fight another day.

Then things slowed down. The sun was up by now, but with the cloud cover it still seemed so dark, my sunglasses never stayed on very long Saturday. We covered a lot of territory fishing likely marsh and oyster flats, but with nothing to show for it.

Then as I was in one pond looking for reds I could hear one working a bank in an adjacent pond and it looked like a good fish. I instructed Hunter over there to get him. He made a cast into the grass, that hung up a little too long to be on target. I was behind him by now and cast in front of the fish by a few feet, but he turned and headed between us. Hunter flipped his lure behind him and the redfish ate. That fish bulldogged him, running under his boat with every chance he got. It looked like a nice redfish, we were a little worried it would be over the slot. When he pulled it out of the water I told him that it would be fine, a 26″ red. Sure enough he measured it at 26.75″. A perfect tournament day red because the fish wasn’t lean either. We were both pretty stoked, I knew at that point we would both walk away with something.

We fished on the rest of the day, I halfheartedly tried to upgrade my flounder, but I was really just excited that we both had fish to weigh. We ended up finding some more trout in a marsh cut, off a canal, so Hunter was able to pick up a 14″ trout too.

At this point in the day the wind began to increase and we were getting hungry. We hit one last flounder spot to no avail before deciding to pack it in. We headed on over to Tyd’s, where I had a cheeseburger that really hit the spot. Then we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for the weigh-in. I don’t think I’ve ever fished a tourney where I was able to take my time getting back to the weigh-in, but boy was it nice.

We made it to the weigh-in and caught up with some of the other anglers in the tourney. We learned that Hunter’s redfish wouldn’t be first, as his friend Tony Hart, had boated a slot red that weighed over 8 lbs! We also learned that a lot of nice trout were caught, as tons of people brought in trout better than 2 lbs, with top trout going 4.85 lbs! It was a tough day for flounder though and most of the flounder that were caught ended up being pretty small, like mine. I knew my slam wouldn’t win, but I was thinking it would be somewhere around fifth, which was definitely in the money, making me a pretty happy camper.

In Paddlepalooza tradition, the weighed fish get filleted and fried to feed the gang of hungry kayak anglers that found themselves back at Bobby Lynn’s Marina. Talk about good, those fish cleaners and cooks did one heck of a job this weekend. I found myself with Jeff, Greg, and Luke of the Lafayette Kayak Fishing Club, watching the weigh-in and cutting up. Pretty awesome to watch them all take home prizes in various categories and to see other familiar names get called. Hunter got second place with his big red, so I had to run up and snap his pic.

All categories paid out five places with the exception of the slam, which paid out twelve this year due to the amount of people we had registered. 12th place ended up taking home a little over $400 too. My slam was a good two pounds heavier than 12th, so things were looking good. As the names kept getting called, the increments were getting smaller. There were a good bit of eight and nine pound slams, enough so that I made it all the way to third, which meant instead of a check, I took home a kayak!

(Photo credit: Brendan Bayard)

A brand new blue Wilderness Systems Ride 135! Not only that, but it came with a Bending Branches Angler Ace paddle and an inflatable MTI lifejacket! I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve two kayaks in my last two tournaments, but I feel extremely blessed.

A big thank you to everyone at BCKFC who puts on the event, Bobby Gros with Bobby Lynn’s Marina for hosting us and to all the sponsors who chip in to put the palooza in Paddlepalooza. Congrats to all the other anglers out there who competed and were lucky enough to place as well. A big congrats to Tommy Eubanks whose slam beat mine by two pounds to get first. His first place finish also meant he won an invite to the Hobie World’s Tournament in Australia! I was so close! The rest of the results are below:

The new Cruise from Jackson Kayak doesn’t come with a paddle keeper of it’s own, so I needed to install them. A paddle keeper not only makes a handy place to store a paddle while on the water, but for kayak fishermen it is the perfect place to stow a stake out pole. It’s super convenient making it quick to anchor and out of the way in that spot. Well I just so happened to have a paddle keeper kit from Yak-Gear sitting in my garage. It was a raffle prize at a tournament I was in and now I could finally put it to use.

There is a set of instructions that come with the kit. They are adequate at best, not very detailed, but most folks will manage to get the kit installed with them. I’ll offer my help (and pictures) below.

1. Besides the parts included with the kit, you’ll need to gather these supplies:

- Drill with 7/32 bit (5/32 if you use the stainless screws and lock nuts)

- Pop rivet gun (or a Phillips head screw driver)

- Pliers

- Sharpie

- Tape measure

2. Next you’ll have to put together the bungees. You’ll start by sliding a sleeve over the end of the provided bungee cord.

3. Then you shove the end into what they call a terminal end. Depending on how fat the bungee cord end is it might take a bit of squeezing and pressing to get the bungee to fit in the terminal end.

4. Once the terminal end is on you can take the pliers and squeeze the sleeve over the terminal end.

5. Next you’ll want to pick out where your paddle keeper will go. On the Cruise I decided that right under the Jackson Kayak logo was the best place. Mark one of the holes with the sharpie.

6. Next, drill the hole with that 7/32 bit

7. Pop rivet one end of the bungee to set the cord.

8. Rather than trying to stretch the bungee and mark both sides with the sharpie at step 5, it’s easiest to set one side first, then stretch the cord a bit and mark the other side. Pull the bungee snug, not too tight, and not loose. Then you can repeat steps 5-7.

9. All you have to do now is find a good spot for the lash hook. Use the tape measure to find the middle of your bungee and go at least 3″ up. I went a bit further than that and placed the hook on the inside side of the yak, much like the paddle keeper on the Coosa. I had to use an ultra fine tip sharpie to mark my spot as a regular sharpie tip was too fat to fit through the lash hook hole. With the hook on the inside I can lash things either to the side, or on top the rails. I used my measure board to make sure the hook didn’t protrude above the rails, I wanted to sit them either flush or slightly below the top of the kayak.

10. After you drill that hole and pop rivet the hook in place (steps 6-7), you are done. As you can see a paddle keeper is very simple to install, anyone can do it provided they have the right tools.  To me it brings the Cruise one step closer to being a fishing machine, along the same lines as the Coosa, Cuda, and the rest of the fishing line up.

Had an unforgettable day on the water yesterday. Conditions couldn’t have been better, the weather was amazing and the fish were cooperative. When the weather is nice paddling is never a problem, so a long exploratory trip was the plan. I put in probably 10-12 miles yesterday and hardly even noticed it, yesterday or today. I guess that speaks to the comfort of Jackson’s Hi/Lo seat.

I headed out to a spot that my friend Brendan tipped me off to that may be just the place to run into some bull reds in shallow water. The chance of catching a bull red on the fly from a kayak is at it’s peak this time of year, as water clarity is at its best and bigger reds venture further inshore, putting them relatively close to some of our kayak launches.

It just so happened the first fish of the day for me was a 36″ red, probably my best on the fly from the kayak. I never measured my previous best, but this one seemed bigger.

I spent the next couple hours catching and releasing above slot reds in some of the cleanest, clearest water I’ve seen in Louisiana. The smallest I had on the day went 25″.

Then, it finally happened. I came around a marsh point and saw groups of dolphin working the water. One dolphin in particular was along the bank, headed straight for me. I tucked myself next to the mangroves because I knew that as soon as he saw me he would bolt. I didn’t want that to happen under my boat. Sure enough he saw me, did a 360, and swam away as fast as could be, kicking up mud the entire way. I thought he blew it for me, but in the cloudy water was a big red, swimming in circles. I have no idea why, I just knew that I had to get the fly in front of him. As soon as I had a good shot I dropped the fly in front of him and he inhaled it. It was a great tug of war that made me nervous midway through. As I was fighting him a 5 or so foot shark swam along side the bank within spitting distance of the kayak. I was worried he would grab the red so I let him run a little ways. Luckily the shark had no idea what was going on, kept on his way, and I was able to get out and land the fish. He was 41″ and had 10 spots scattered along his body, a beautiful redfish.

I began the long paddle back towards the launch, sightfishing along the way. My day had been made, I wasn’t sure how it could get any better, save for an even bigger fish. Well, I ran into an even bigger fish, a giant black drum. I made a nice cast that plopped down right in front of the brute and he ate as soon as it hit. The first run he went on put me into my backing. Quite possibly the first fish that has ever done that to me. He taped out at 36″ and had a very unique dent in his head. Probably the heaviest fish I’ve ever taken on a fly.

I took an alternate route back to the launch. It had me wind my way through mangrove lined bayous, they had deep water along the cut banks and mud flats on the point bar. These are things geographers notice. With the water being gin clear it felt like I was back in the 10,000 islands with the Jackson team. I picked up a few more reds in the bayou, one went 31″ and another went 40″. He looked out of place he was so big.

Like I said earlier, it was an unforgettable day. It’s amazing what a 12ft boat and a little courage can get you. Two redfish over 40″, two personal bests in a day, multiple upper and over slot fish, and everything caught on the fly. Most came on a fly that Blake tied up. I’m not sure what it’s called, but we’ll be sure to put up a SBS for it soon. Brendan pretty much gave me the final piece to a puzzle I’ve been trying to solve for a few years now. I can’t thank Brendan enough for the tip and to Blake for letting me be the guinea pig with his flies.

I’ve got a lot of video to watch/edit from the trip, I’ll try to get something up by next week.

Update, here is video of the biggest red from the trip: