A Last Second Win in a First Time Tournament

Click to see the MBKFA BAGWELL VIDEO

This past weekend unveiled a competitive edge in my daughter, Charlee, that I have never seen before. Charlee has played competitive soccer in the past, but the attitude and commitment she displayed over the last two days around fishing her first tournament was impressive.

We left the house and headed toward Mobile, Al, for the 8^th Annual Bagwell Spring Tournament, hosted by Mobile Bay Kayak Fishing Association, I could feel the adrenaline coming from the seat beside me as Charlee sat, staring out the window.   When we arrived at Bass Pro Shop  in Spanish Fort, Al for the captains meeting, Charlee immediately made friends Gracie, daughter of Jorge Cancel, and we all sat, ate dinner, and awaited the rules and regulations to be explained to us all. As the meeting concluded, I grabbed a pizza to go and Charlee grabbed her captain’s bag, thank you Jorge and Gracie for the special bag, and we headed over to Benton Parrott’s house for the evening.

The night went longer than expected as excitement was in the air, Benton and I sat up and shared stories and prepared our tackle, as Charlee and Katy played games in the darkness outside.  Around 10pm we decided it was time to call it a night, as the morning was going to begin at 3a.m.

As the alarms sounded throughout the house, it seemed as though we had only slept for 5 minutes, I got up, shared a cup of Joe with Benton, and then warmed up the truck.  My normal routine with Charlee is to have everything loaded and ready, so I can just carry her to the truck, while she is sleeping, lay her down and then wake her up as we are arriving to the launch, but this time was different.  As I entered her room, for the normal limp body carry, she was already awake and ready to go.  She jumped out of bed, got dressed and walked her tail to the truck and climbed in.  I was convinced at this point there was no way her energy would last all day, or for that matter, the hour plus drive to the launch, but in true Charlee fashion, she never nodded her head in exhaustion.
As we arrived at our launch point, a dark spot in the middle of nowhere, a place where Benton says go here, take a right, take a left, and then take a right on this trail and then park, the gps didn’t even know where we were.  When we

finished the 4 wheel drive mandatory excursion, I unloaded the Hobie PA 14, that we borrowed from Russ Pylant, the only yak big enough to haul us both and all of our gear comfortably, we got everything prepared for the journey.  I had tie wrapped a Larry Chair in the rear cargo area for Charlee,  and had fish bags strapped to the front hatch and the rear deck, the rods in the holders, headlights on, and we were off.
After nearly an hour paddle, I was amazed Charlee was still awake, we made it to our fishing location. Within minutes, speckled trout began coming over the edge of the yak.  Charlee was throwing a cork with a Rockport Rattler Jig head tipped with Gulp, and I was throwing topwater.  

We found our way to an underwater ridge that I knew I could fish one ledge while she fished the other, it was a perfect scenario.  I anchored the yak, and told Charlee to just chunk her lure off the right side, and start popping her cork, and I would fish left.  After two cast, I heard her sound off, “I got one, I got one”, it was music to my ears.  As she battled the spec the rod was bent like she had a whale on the other end, I was almost convinced she was hung up until the yellow mouthed speckled trout came to the top of the water and did its trade marked head shake all the way to the yak.  Charlee was reeling so fast, I actually netted the fish almost two feet above the water line. It was like a fast ball coming at me at 70 mph. 
As we calmed down and the excitement subsided, we were both amazed that she just pulled in a chunky 18 inch trout that almost topped three lbs.                      

The pressure was now off, she landed a good fish, and now it was time for fun.  We continued to fish the ridge and the topwater was on fire, but the fish were small, and since the cork approach for Charlee was fading, we decided we were going to make a move in search for scenery and some trolling.  I knew an area that had a few holes and ledges throughout it, so that’s where we went.  I loaded both of her rods with Rockport Rattler jig heads fitted with a Matrix Shad, both in the Tiger Bait color.  As we threw the lures out behind us, I kept the yak at
around 2mph, and as we would cross over the holes, I would tell Charlee to get ready, and you could see her head turn up to watch the rod tips.  Within seconds of every warning, the rod bent, Charlee would quickly grab the rod from the holder and begin reeling, I have never smiled and laughed so much at her excitement.  With every fish she reeled in, I was in defense mode, because each fish was coming in at Mach 1 and I knew I was going to have to catch the fish going airborne, rather than netting the fish in the water.  My net spent more time in the batter up position than it did in the normal underwater position. 
After Charlee’s 6^th spec, I asked her, “how many is that”, her reply was “one.”  I said,” you just caught 6 fish, what do you mean one?” She said,” I don’t know dad, I’m not counting, I’m just catching em,” that was the best response I could have ever asked for.   

At the end of the day, we landed over 20 specs, with Charlee having two big enough to weigh.  As we made it back to the truck, we were joined by Benton, who had a beautiful 5 lbs. trout and a nice red.  We rested at the launch for a minute, took a few pictures and then loaded up in a rush to make the ferry in time to get back to the weigh in.

The weigh in cut off time was 2:00 and it was noon now, we had all kinds of time to relax and enjoy the day, so we thought.  As we reached the ferry, we were informed we missed it, and that the next ferry ran at 1:15 and it was a 35 minute ride across.  I’m no mathematical genius, but I knew when the ferry hit land, if it stayed on time, we would only have 10 minutes to drive to the weigh in.  To make matters worse, we didn’t even know where the weigh in location was once we got off the ferry.  As we waited I started laughing at the situation, what else was I to do at this point but laugh, and Charlee immediately chimed in, “what are you laughing at? It’s not very funny; I don’t want to be disqualified.”  At that point we had a talk about

making the best of a situation and that sometimes it’s best to cherish the experience and the day than it is to dwell on what could have been.  I think she got it, but you could feel the disappointment through her silence, she wanted to weigh in.
As the ferry arrived, we loaded up, joined with Benton, who we assumed had the big trout award if we were to make it in time, and Matt, who had a stringer of which we thought was big enough to take first overall, and then Charlee sitting there with her fish, that we thought was heavy enough to possibly place.  That 35 minute ride across open water was one of the longest I have ever been on. I tried to keep a positive outlook the entire trip on the ferry, even though I couldn’t help but prepare for the worse in the back of my mind.  We all laughed and cut up and did all we could to take our minds off of what might have been, if we didn't make it in time. 

Finally, the ferry slams into port, the gate drops and the engines revved, 8 minutes until weigh in closes.  I ended up being the first of the three of us to get off the ferry and all I knew was go left and look for a pink building on stilts.  As we turned left, the radio off, windows down, and eyes peeled for the pink building, we passed a road and at the end of it we saw the building.  Brakes locked up, tires squealed and we were in reverse as fast as we could go.  We made the turn, and barreled up in to the weigh in like Dale Jr. on pit road.  Charlee and I both jumped out and ran to the weigh masters table, we made it.  As we turned back to fetch our fish bags from the truck, Benton and Matt pulled up in the same fashion, and came running up just in time and before we could get back to the weigh in tables, they announced it, if you haven’t checked in yet, the scales are now closed. Thankfully, we all made it in time.

So what’s a tournament without a dramatic ending anyway, I’m just glad Charlee got to experience the experience, staying up late, getting up early, fishing all day, and making it in time to weigh in with just seconds to spare.  It was a great time for us all, a weekend away with just dad and daughter, a tournament, a visit to 5 rivers wildlife building, bbq, drinks, and great friends.  

 

 

 

 

 

Charlee finished 1^st  in the Junior division, Benton finished 1^st largest speckled trout, and Matt finished 1^st overall, that dang ferry was full of winners……And then there was me….. no trophy….. no prize money……no monster fish…….. But, no matter what anyone else says or thinks……..

                           I was the biggest winner of them all.

Charlee spend half of the weigh in 15 feet up in an oak

Charlee was featured the M&B cover May edition

 Stay Safe and Catch1

Red Tail Hawk at 5 Rivers

Pepper the Opossum at 5 Rivers

                                                              

Dad and Daughter....yak fishing solo

 

 This past weekend I took my daughter, Charlee, on her first solo kayak fishing trip.  She has been in kayaks before, but it’s always been riding shotgun in the Hobie PA.  This time was different, this time she got to captain her own vessel, a Hobie Outback, and let’s just say she took to it like a pig to mud.

The morning started out at 3 a.m. with a long ride down to Grand Isle, and while it may have seemed like I was driving down alone, I was actually accompanied by a sleeping angel.   About 20 minutes before our destination, Charlee woke up, and she was raring to go.

As I launched the yak and held it against the shoreline, she jumped in it like it was a house boat, and with worry thrown to the wind, she unlatched the paddle and moved out into deeper water.  She was almost 40 yards away before I could get my Outback to the waters edge. 

A little bit about Charlee….she just recently turned 10, has been hunting and fishing with me since she was three, she placed in her first fishing tournament when she was 6 , with almost a 5 lbs trout she landed on live shrimp in Lake Borgne, and she is my inspiration.  Almost three years ago, Charlee was diagnosed with Tourette  Syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes you to involuntarily “tic”, but don’t worry, only about 7% of people with Tourette’s blurt out curse words, she doesn’t do that.  Her tics are usually very subtle and if you weren’t paying attention, you would likely not even notice, simple head nods, spinning in circles, tapping her foot, little things.  But lately she has developed a verbal tic that sounds like a loud mouse squeak, and when she does it once, you can expect to hear it again and again until she is able to mimic the exact tone/pitch of the first squeak.  While not happy with Tourette’s, Charlee is very comfortable with herself and open to educating anyone she crosses paths with.

Now back to the day…..as I finally climbed into my yak and caught up with Charlee, she was still paddling, we did a little education on the mirage drive, shallow water, and the rudder operation , and then we were off.  We made it to a point with some fast moving water, but no fish were to be found.

The sky was clear, the sun was shining, but the wind was doing a solid 15 mph, not the best day for a 10 year old to get acclimated to yak fishing, but she did.  We finally made it to a large canal that allowed us time to talk about what to look for and where to cast, and before you knew it, she was off on her first solo drift.  Charlee was slinging a gulp lure with a cork leading every cast, and as she drifted the run, I couldn’t help but sit back and observe her focus and commitment to the task at hand, I couldn’t have been more proud of how she was engaged in the battle to catch a fish, it was like nothing was going to stand in her way.  As she drifted down the canal, she came upon a cut in the marsh that was draining into the canal, I  quietly watched to see how she was going to handle the opportunity.  She locked in on the current change and the water running out of the marsh, like she had done this before, she drifted past the cut and then turned around and held her place peddling as she threw right in the middle of the drain.  I was impressed to say the least. I finally eased up to her and

anchored her in with a stake out pole, she was amazed that a skinny black pole held her anchored still in the wind and current.  After about 10 minutes, and cast after cast, she was ready to move on, I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a fish there.

We continued the drift down the canal until finally we were able to hook up with a good 19 inch redfish.  She was so excited to hold the fish and observe all of the unique markings on the red, from its tail mark to the scars on its gill plate, you could feel her appreciation for what had just happened.  This fish turned out to be the only fish of the morning, but it made the start of the day a success. 

About an hour later, Charlee decided she wanted to get out the yak to explore some of the marsh, for those that don’t fish with females very often, that means take a bio break.  As I held her yak against the shoreline, she hopped out, finding out real fast that you need to get more than 5 feet in the grass before you don’t sink in mud, and began her battle of exploration against the rigid marsh grass that was almost as tall as she was.  As the exploration came to an end, so did the fishing, the wind was pushing 20 mph now and I made the suggestion of picking up and re-launching further down the road to more protected waters.

She was game, and that excited me, but this was her day, and whatever she wanted, she got.  As we approached the truck, I asked her again if she wanted to go fish some more, and she quickly replied, “if you want too, let’s go, but I would kind of like to go see the beach.”  With those words spoken, we loaded up and headed toward Elmer’s Island, for a day in the sand.

As we turned into the island, we crossed paths with Josh Thompson and his family, they invited us to their camping location at the state park, his daughter and mine have become friends over the past month.  So, our day ended with almost 3 hours of fishing and nearly 6 hours of beach time with the Thompsons, and a day I will cherish for years to come. 
 

With all of the obstacles that Charlee has endured over the past couple of years, she has never once let Tourette’s conquer who she really is.  She plays sports, makes good grades, loves the outdoors, and isn’t afraid to try new things.  Spending time in the outdoors with Charlee has always been a joy and she continues to amaze me daily with her attachment to wildlife, but this trip was a little different.  Charlee showed a natural focus that I am not sure I have seen in her before, she was in tune with what was going on around her, she made adjustments on her casting like a pro, her lure placement was better than mine at times, and she maneuvered through the twist and turns like she had been there before,  all while maintaining a smile the entire day.  Proud would be an understatement.

Watching your kids grow up can be challenging at times, and sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own issues that we forget the challenges that our kids face on a daily basis.  To watch your child overcome internal obstacles, like Tourette’s, really sheds a different light on what I consider problems. Watching how Charlee handles herself in different situations has taught me a lot about how to deal with life and life’s’ ignorance’s.  Charlee and I have a saying that we always share with each other when confronted with ignorance, “Just let it Geaux”.  It’s a simple phrase that’s easy to say, but to live it can  be a challenge.  If you take a minute to sit and think about what Charlee goes through on a daily basis you just might understand.  So next time you feel the need to point the finger, or share a negative opinion, or poke fun at someone, or someone shares their ignorance with you…..”Just let it Geaux”.

AND….the next time you’re on the water and you hear a loud mouse squeaking in the distance, don’t worry, it's not the Rookin coming to getchya, its probably just Charlee and me.

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

 

Paddle Palooza XI, the not so good, the really bad, and the ugly

The weekend of Paddle Palooza XI started out as any tournament does for me, with some solid pre-fishing a day or two before the event begins.  This year I had my eye on some long paddle locations, so I decided to save my energy and bring my boat to run to and from the furthest locations. 

Along with me for the boat fishing was Voodoo Kayak Fishings' Craig Brown, and local angler Johnny Bergeron, who always seems to be at the top of the winners list on tournament days.

The first stop we made was a favorite of mine, but unfortunately the north winds had blown all of the water out of the marsh and what used to be 4 foot water depths was now a foot or less and as fresh as the water out of your sink, but colored like a sock that your two year old just ventured out in the yard with, during a rain storm.  At one point we even grounded the boat so bad, Johnny and I had to bail out and push in waste deep mud, while Craig push poled and worked the trolling motor.

The second stop, which was about a 12 mile run, yielded cleaner water and we could actually taste the salt in it, but with the wind pushing 15-20 it was tough fishing in open water.  After a while we made it to a protected cove on the edge of a channel that ran 17-25 feet deep, and we began working the shore line and the channels edge and the rods started bending.  It was a huge relief at this point to actually be in water deep enough to hold fish. 



 After some solid trout and reds hit the deck, we decided it was time to move out.  We found this place late in the day with a solid tidal movement due to the wind.  The only way to really see its ability to produce would be to revisit it at daylight the next morning, so off we went.

Spot three was new for all of us, I have fished close to it before, but never in it.  When we arrived the winds were howling, but the water was clear and salty.  It didn't take us minutes to get on the fish, first Johnny and then Craig, it seemed like every point we came across held fish, and big fish.
 We stayed in this area as the sun began to fall, when all of sudden behind us, we could see fish tailing all over the place.  We turned the bow and began in that direction, every tail we saw was a massive black drum. 

Just for the fun of it, I laid a Seein Spots inline spinner right next to one of the beast and 15 minutes later and about 300 yards of the fish pulling the boat, we were able to land the big nasty.  It was an estimated 50lbs black drum.  My 30lbs Boga bottomed out well before the fishes gut ever left the water.  After a few pics, we decided to call it a day and regroup for the next morning.

The next morning we hit it bright and early and headed back to where we found good trout the previous day, but unfortunately the fish weren't there.  No tide, no wind, no luck, I think Craig was able to pick one red up before we decided it was time to launch the plastic fleet.

We made it back to the trucks, and decided to split up, we chose our areas, and committed to keeping each other updated on productive locations and non productive locations.  Craig hit two locations and finally found a deep hole in the middle of no where and was able to land fish after fish, Johnny hit 3 different locations with no luck to talk about, and I hit three different locations with one of them full of reds and a few specs.  I quit counting my reds after I ran through the 15 tags that I had on hand.  I was in shallow
water with some deep pockets, and it was clear enough for site casting, when I wasn't keeping an eye on a burglar that kept following me.
 
The next morning I woke with excitement, I knew where I could catch big reds, and I knew I could land a trout before the sun came up, after that, it was all up to finding a flounder.  Little did I know, my honey hole was going to be invaded.
As I approached my launch location, there wasn't a vehicle in site and I got excited, so excited that I paddled off without my cooler bag, and had to return to the truck to retrieve it.  When I finally made it to the area I was fishing, it was peaceful, I had 20 minutes to relax and enjoy the quiet while waiting for fishing time to begin.  When 5 a.m. struck, I was ready, I had decided I would fish for trout up and down a 200 yard stretch of water until the sun was high and then I would move to the pond full of reds.  As I made my first run down the 200 yard stretch I had several blow ups on top water and was able to land some small trout, as I turned my yak around to head back to the hole that I knew held larger fish, I could see a silhouette of someone in the distance.  As I approached I could tell it was an angler I had crossed paths with the prior day.  All was good, I knew I could still get my trout from another hole and then hit the pond.  I took my time staying within that general area, as I knew when light broke, it was on. 
During this time I was visited by two of the fasted mammals on water.  They looked like underwater jet skis shooting a spray 5 feet in the air with every thrust of their tail. Here is a short video clip that is worth a peak, talk about amazing creatures.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECGluCogY5Y
This scene only got me more excited, as I knew I had never been so set up to place in a tournament as I was today. 

UNTIL.......

I heard voices, and they were familiar voices.  At the sound of the louder of the dynamic duo, I knew there wasn't anytime to wait for the sun to come up, it was now or never, I had seconds to get into the pond and set up on my hole so the dynamic duo would just cruise on past. 
Yeah right, wishful thinking, as I laid my Matrix shad in the last hole before the redfish pond, I pulled in a solid 19" trout while the two watched.  As I was attempting to net the trout, I heard em yell out, "we must be in the right spot, look who's here!"  I have heard those words in my sleep every night since then. 
Still, I thought, no big deal, they will just turn left or pass me through the pond.  But that didn't happen, one them started fishing within 10 feet of me.  I then warned the other about the depths of the pond and to be careful because its 10 inches deep, I then asked if they had ever been here before, and got a reply of, "Nope, we just went south, because north didn't have any fish the previous day."  I immediately went left into the pond hoping they would follow, but they didn't, they continued to pop corks in 6-10 inches of water, yell and scream over being grounded, and sling lures only to come up with grass.  As I was rushing around the pond to make it to the other side, I was pushing redfish after redfish out of my way, my spirit was breaking with every push of my stake out pole.  When I made it to the other end, I staked out well ahead of the duo, but in less than 10 minutes, one of them was upon me, he would yell with every fish I landed, "he got another, he got another."  Finally the angler in the back, said, "come on, lets go somewhere else, it looks like we are following him," I mumbled...YEAH you could say that. 
From there I continued to fish the pond and surrounding marsh, landing somewhere around 15 reds, but the ones that would have put me on the pedestal were the early morning reds that were pushed out of the pond by me staying ahead or by the popping corks and yelling going on for an hour with no fish landed. 
This was a scenario that I have never encountered, and chose to take the high road, but given the anxiety I have endured since doing the right thing, next time will likely end in a different fashion.  I have kept the names out of this to protect the not so innocent. 
Fishing etiquette is important and that importance is only multiplied on a tournament of this caliber, and while I don't think the dynamic duo was trying to destroy this area, they did.  Venturing into unknown waters and keeping up with another angler that knows the terrain, can only end in catastrophe.  I have been fishing this one area for years, and I could draw the flats and holes on paper I know it so well.  This was the one place that I knew would yield what I needed, lesson learned,  speak up, or always have a better back up plan.

Around 10am I was contacted by Jason Austin, he had already caught a flounder and red and all he needed was a trout.  I talked him into loading up and launching near me.  As he arrived, I set him up, told him where the hole was, and to wait 15 minutes, while I left to go chase flounder.  It didn't take long for the phone call, he landed a beautiful 20 inch trout.  After that phone call, all my worries went away, I knew at that point Jason was going to place in the top and knowing he would place in one of the top tournaments in the state, made my day.
 I chased flounder until my back couldn't take it anymore and finally loaded up from my 3rd launch location and headed in for the festivities. 
As I arrived, I spent the next several hours frying fish for 250 plus, and listening to stories of what could have been.  I kept my story to myself as I am not sure I could have kept my composure after reliving that experience again and again. 
The FiN Crazy/Marsh & Bayou team had a phenomenal showing with pre-fishing partner from VooDoo Kayak Fishing, Craig Dye,
 placing in the largest red category, and Jason Austin finishing 2nd
overall along with
Elliot "the fishfinder" Stevens placing 4th overall.  First place was taken by Jeff Breaux who fished the day with dead shrimp on the bottom and under a cork, congrats to Jeff, and everyone that participated.  As usual, the Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club succeeded and putting on one of the best attended events in the country.

 

 

 

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