A Little "Double Trouble" in the South

I spent a good bit of time doing some research, making phone calls, checking old log books, looking at old articles and pre-fishing as much as I could manage in preparation for the first Double Trouble team event developed by Brendan "Lego" Bayard, of Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club, with a top notch weigh in set up by Blake Gill of Massey's Professional Outfitters on Carrolton Ave in New Orleans.

The last week and days building up to the event were challenging to say the least, there were days of sleet and rain, temps in the 20's, and a cold front that seemed to have taken 3 days to make its way through the southeastern states.

After evaluating all of my normal fishing locations and struggling to put together a confident stringer, I decided I would make the move west and try my luck in big lake, around an area that is consistent with landing good speckled trout. 
I arrived at the launch site with an hour to spare and I was amped up with the anticipation of bringing in trout so large that I wouldn't even have to chase red fish to compete in the next days event.  Well that anticipation dwindled quickly as I made my way down the channel to my destination.

 The water was way lower than I expected, this was a day where you would normally grab a power boat and go check out all the structures that are usually hidden under the water, so you could mark them accordingly and prepare for future fishing when the levels come back up.
 I spent several hours working a 50 foot hole off of a 25 foot ledge and after 4 hours only landed 2 trout, and neither one of them were tournament worthy trout.  At that point I decided to tuck tail and head back east, were I know I could at least catch a weighing stringer, although it might not be that large.

 On the way home I made the call to my tournament partner, Eric, and informed him that we were having a change of plans.  Rather than hit the same area together, I was going to drop him off where I knew fish would be and he would be able to catch everything we needed in two locations while I would run further south with worse odds, but a better a chance of landing trophy fish, it was a perfect combination for a team event, at least I thought.
 The morning of the tournament was awesome, everything was going better than perfect. I left my house at 1:28 am and headed to Massey's to meet Eric. As I was backing in my trailer, he pulled up, we transitioned all of his equipment over and we were on our way, ahead of schedule.  We took our time, stopped for fuel, grabbed a bear claw and a sandwich for lunch, we were in no hurry at all.  When we arrived at the first location, there wasn't a soul to be seen, we unloaded Eric's yak and equipment under the darkness of the sky, an hour and a half before he could launch.   After a quick review of some digital maps, and a hand drawn map, I was on my way.  I felt like I had just left someone in the woods with a bowie knife and roll of duct tape and wished them good luck in surviving the night.
 It was eerie and comical all in the same breath, because I'm sure Eric, standing at 6'3 with his Duck Dynasty beard and Santa Clause curls exploding from under his trademarked red Hobie hat,  could scare off the Honey Island Swamp monster if they came into contact. 

 As I showed up to my launch location, it was still black dark and the wind was blowing stronger than expected, the weatherman was right again, NOT. 
As I got everything set up I was able to watch a couple tenured anglers about 200 yards west of me stumbling and bumbling in the darkness as they were racing to get there amenities in order.  These were the same two that called me 30 minutes earlier and poked fun at me for leaving Grizzly Adams in the cold while I was sitting in a warm vehicle. 
The 5:30am launch time surfaced, I slid my yak into the water and climbed in prepared for a race to the anchor location.  As I arrived at the point I wanted to focus on with 30 minutes to spare before lines in the water, I was entertained by the two anglers still on the shore line working hard to get ready. 
 All that was going through my mind was, this is it, everything is perfect, I'm set up, my partner is set up, the sun is beginning to break and I know my chances of a couple big trout are sitting right in front of me. 
As 6 am rolled around and I was putting my phone away, I heard the most awful noise you ever want to hear, especially on a tournament day seconds into lines in the water.  KER-PLUNK, I looked down and my custom Bull Bay rod and CI4 reel was no longer there, I turned to the depth finder, that I have always questioned its sensitivity and weather it really worked or not, and I could see my 6'6 lime green rod falling to the depths of 14-16 feet.  I was devastated, as this is a rod the day before, I had decided to give to my wife along with hot pink custom rod, that is currently being built,since she is planning on fishing a couple tournaments with me this year.  So needless to say, I spend the next 2 hours attempting to find my rod, while Sherman and Josh fished all around me.  I guess it was karma, after all, the hour prior to that I spent entertained by the two anglers fumbling and bumbling on the shore line.
 At first, I took a Little George and cut the spinner off it and fixed a second treble hook on the tail where the spinner normally was.  I proceeded to drag the bottom of the pit for the next hour and a half with no luck, I couldn't even snag an oyster shell.  If I was fishing for trout this slow with a dual treble I'm confident I would have hung everything under sun.  Finally I decided to get serious, as my frustration was building and the thought of diving into 48 degree water was starting to circle my melon, I rigged up a Carolina rig like no other.  I added giant trebles on both ends of the premade Carolina rig, and then a foot behind the rig was my little George trailing the way as back up.  The ironic thing is the rod I was fishing for was a Carolina set up with a Catch 2000 at the end of the rig.  Would you believe that on my third cast, I hooked into something with a steady pull and with each crank of the handle I said a prayer, I was shaking at the idea that I might have the rod, and as my leader knot cleared the surface I could see that lime green machine starring at me.  I yelled and screamed with excitement, and as quick as I could get the rod on board I was peddling back to the truck, I didn't want anything else to do with that pit anymore. 
 I loaded up and went to spot #2. I knew the reds were there, but the wind was blowing so hard the water was beginning to muddy.  I was racing as fast I could to the pond where I know a few reds would be.  As I eased into the pond, I could see 3 fish, all hovering there on the edge of the current line, behind a point with no wind.  My heart started racing, I placed my paddle in the paddle holder around my waste, I grabbed my rod that was rigged with a matrix shad and I dropped the lure about 15 feet past the school and crawfished it through the mud to within a foot from the nose of the lead red. I could see the jig head buried in the mud as the tail was waving to the sky, all of a sudden the red darted forward and inhaled the lure, I set the hook and the fight was on. It was solid fight, a drag ripping, kayak turning kind of fight with a fish I knew was within the upper slot range and obese when compared to the other two that were near him.

 After what felt like 20 minutes, likely only 1 in reality, I had the red turned, and as I got him close to the yak he did that lay on the side move, the one they do when they have given up, and as I went to net it, my rod snapped back at me and the red was free, I lunged to the front of the yak trying to net him but I could only reach the back half of him and as I tried my final swipe he swam off like Michael Phelps swimming to a reef "er".
After further investigation it was clear that the culprit was a weak hook, believe me folks when I say, all hooks are NOT made the same.  This same hook did the exact same thing to me at FNT last year, but for some reason, I thought I would give it another chance, but not again.

The day ended with a  solid stringer and what we had hoped would have put us into the money round, but unfortunately we came up a little too long, for the first time ever, and that resulted in taking 8 lbs off our stringer to land us in 8th place.  Being 50% of the field didn't even weigh in, I'm happy with where we finished.  It was a fun day with a great partner and I would like to say thanks to Eric "Grizzly Adams" Muhoberac for stepping up and landing the majority of our bag.

I would also like to congratulate Team Pop N Cork (Clayton Shilling & Steve Lessard)for their 1st place finish and 18.80 lbs. for another outstanding finish.




And a special congratulations to Brian "Boudin" Genre for landing a tagged speckled trout.  Unfortunately it wasn't a trout tagged by me, but its still exciting to say the least.

Thanks again to Brendan for developing the format and to Massey's for holding the weigh in and the generous contribution to the winners.

Until next time, stay safe and Catch1.....