For the past week I spent my time out on the water trying to fine tune my fishing spots for Saturday's Calusa Blueway Fishing Tournament, a charity tournament which was a part of the annual Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival that has been going on all weekend all over Lee County. All week I had been fishing Matlacha trying to find quality fish that would help me get a win. After battling the wind and rain in Matlacha for 4 days I decided on tournament day that I was going to change my spot. I headed to the launch at Pineland at 530am for a 7am launch. A bit early but with only a few parking spots I wanted to make sure that mine was reserved. Surprisingly when I pulled in I was not the first one there. Quickly the parking spots filled up and by 615am 6 of us were waiting to catch a glimpse of the sun so that we could launch.

When we finally launched it was a brisk 54 degrees. Me and one other person headed south while everyone else headed north. I spent the first 20 minutes paddling to a spot that had always held big redfish in the past for me. My plan was to get my redfish and trout in Pineland early and then head to a spot where snook in the upper 20's are a sure thing. I paddled around the point into the cove that I planned to target reds when I noticed a fish aggressively feeding up against the bank as snook usually do. What luck! If I could nab a snook by 720 I would be in great shape. The fish had managed to beach itself while chasing a school of finger mullett, it was no snook, it was a monster redfish that had to be in the mid 30 inch range. I immediately threw my towards him and started my retrieval. I noticed a wake starting to close in and BAM! I had my first strike of the morning, however it was a missed strike and he would not give it a second chance. I continued to paddle the shoreline looking for movement and baitfish. About 30 minutes had gone by and I noticed some very small bait fish scatter out on the flat. I tossed my gulp shrimp about 3 ft passed them and started to retrieve. My line got very heavy very quick. I saw a big tail thrash out of the water and knew I had a big red on. I managed to land him and get him in my boat. Once on the measuring board I was trying to place the token that the tournament folks had given us in the photo as required when he got a bit of energy and knocked it overboard. As I reached for the token the 31" red that I had on my board went off the other side and back into the grass never to be seen again. I sat there in looked with a blank stare on my face for probably a good 10 minutes before I was able to let that go and continue to fish. By this time the wind had started howling across the sound and had sent all the other reds on their way and I wouldn't see another one for the rest of the day. Hours had gone passed and I had yet to get a measurable fish. I decided to change my tactics refusing to go in empty handed. I started hitting the pot holes in search of trout. I started getting small hits and at 10am I had another fish on. Once landed it was a lizard fish, garbage on most days today it was the tournament bonus fish. I got him measured up and sent him along on his way.

I continued to catch lizard fish and decided that there was no way that I could pull this one out. At about 11am I started heading in still fishing the potholes hoping for some struck of luck. Finally at 1130 I got a small 15 1/2 inch trout on the board.

I raced back to my car and headed to my sure thing snook spot. I had my yak in the water by 1220 which gave me about an hour and a half to fish. For an hour and 45 minutes I fished and caught nothing. I packed up my gear and headed to the weigh in with a 10" lizard fish and a 15 1/2" trout to show for almost 7 hours on the water.
What a day, the cold, the wind, the fish lost, the competition and the fast pace.........basically everything I hate about recreational fishing and everything I love about competitive fishing. Trying to overcome things that are thrown your way. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't. For 10 people out of a field of almost 50 things did work out. 10 people managed to get a slam and walk away happy anglers that day.