Inaugural Hobie IFA Tour

Tomorrow is the kick-off leg of the Hobie IFA Kayak Fishing Tour-Redfish Tournament Trail of the Southern United States here in Jacksonville.

Me and 29 of the Southeasts finest kayak anglers will vie for fabulous cash and prizes! as well as the coveted title of king of the kayak Redfisherman!

Okay, maybe its not all that, but Hobie has put up boats for the first three places and the top five will get their entry fee back. It the tours first year and they are having some birthing pains (rule changes and such), but it should work out well. 

Wish me luck (I still need to replace my drive)

Buena Suerte, Compadre.  you must have been reading minds. had just been asking around about you.

a new drive will be a good thing. a new yak, even better. hopefully you're getting some much needed sleep right now.

Good luck bruddah Wali. Represent!

Z

Sounds like a blast! Best fishes for a first place win!

Slay 'em!  Make us proud.  I want a detailed debriefing.

i'm jealous
have fun out there

good Luck!!

So, how'd you do?

-Allen

Thanks guys for the support. But the day was not mine   It was TOUGH out there.
Rodger Bump maintains the throne and remains the reigning Redfish King of yakfishers. Gotta give credit where it's due though. He's won the last two Jax Classics and placed in most of the ones they have had.

First off (excuses,excuses) a last minute rule change wrecked my evil plan to dominate the Redfish category.  

 I wanted to go fish the St John's river near the jetty which regularly kicks out Bull Reds (+35"). It's deep, moving water, with large commercial traffic, that you have to anchor in (sound familiar?). Take into account that its strictly catch & release (27" max for reds) and you have very few people bold dumb enuf to try it in yak.

The Jacksonville Classic wisely has the jetties out of bounds and I suspect that a conversation with its organizer led to last nights rule change at the captain's meeting. They announced that there would be a 27" max for Reds.  No matter how big the red, it still only counted as 27"
That was probably for the best though. Its definitely not a newbie spot and with the conditions we had today, I'd probably be passing Bermuda about now.

The plan went something like: Get out to the jetty at first light, anchor up, drop half a blue crab on a 7/0 circle hook over the side, then reel in 40" Red and take his picture. Then pack up, go to Mill Cove and find a trout, get back to the hotel by 2:30 (deadline was 3), and collect FABULOUS cash and prizes!*
The best laid schemes of mice and men.....

Oh well, on to Plan B. In anything other than a west wind, Mill Cove is always good for a slightly oversized Red and I've pulled some good trout out of there as well.

Naturally, it blew out of the west at 15 to 20 and was gusting to 30 when I finally got back to the ramp. I could not buy a vowel let alone a bite. All the fish were hunkered down somewhere else.
I was in good company though. Chappy who took all of Mr. Alter's boats the last first time they had this event was skunked as well. Today was the first time he'd been skunked in a tournament.
I was amazed at how hard it was to get my boat moving. I have NEVER had to paddle that hard to move so little, and the conditions were not that big!
Oh well, guess I'm just gonna have to break down and just buy that drive.  







*Noticeably missing from that 1st plan was how one gets said 40" red to pose quietly in ones lap and fit him into the frame of the picture on a flexible ruler while riding the wake of that Cabin Cruiser and the Car Carrier. Where's AJ when you need him.