Jacksonville – IFA – 05/13 – 16

Packed and headed to Jacksonville on Wednesday early looking forward to a couple of days off and getting onto some fish with Capt. Ron Schurr. Capt. Ron Schurr had been working over some fish while on charters for a few weeks. We had pretty much already decided where our plan A spot was going to be before I got into town. The plan was to go fish some plan B and C spots.

I arrived at the good Captain’s house around 10:00 and we headed out. First stop was at Arlington Bait and tackle for some supplies. After some supplies and a few fishing lies we were off to the water. Launching the Stealth and heading off in search of something better than our Plan A spot.
We hit a few spots – finding a few fish here and there. Ending the day with a few reds, trout and flounder caught on Exude jerk baits, Slayer Jig heads and Berkley Gulp.

Headed out early on Thursday to try and improve upon the previous days accomplishments. Captain Ron stopped in a few small creeks trying to find the mother lode of 7 pound redfish. We fished along and picked a few reds up on a custom Bite-A-Bait sub walk that they had sent to me for field trials. The fish were small for the most part. Capt. Ron Schurr said we need to make a move and we headed off in search of bigger and better things.

Next spot has better water and we start seeing some good fish. It did not take long after we stopped for the custom Bite-A-Bait Topwalker to get slammed. I fight the fish to the boat and Capt. Ron nets the fish. The fish is thick and grunting and we both say it’s over. But we get the board out and measure the fish and it comes in at 26.5” and weighs 8.5 lbs. We end the day shortly after that and called it a day.

Friday finds us near St. Augustine fishing some water that Captain Ron likes to fish. We found a few fish here and there, but no mother lode to replace the one that was waiting on us at Plan A spot.

We get cleaned up, gassed up and ready for the tournament and captain’s meeting. At the captain’s meeting I do my part and draw boat number 4. We chat it up with everyone while waiting on the captain’s meeting to start. During the raffle Captain Ron wins a pair of Solar Bat sunglasses.

Tournament day finds us crossing over the inlet to the launch site in the early light. Boat number 4 leaves the Conch House boat basin at safe light for the 50 plus mile ride back to Plan A spot. JD Nobles told us he would catch us at the Palm Valley River Bridge, but he didn’t catch us until the next bridge. The Ranger 183 Ghost was no match for the Egret’s and bigger Rangers, but she hummed right along and got us there in an hour.

We arrived at Plan A with nobody in sight, just the way we wanted it. We fished Plan A for the next four hours with only a few flounder and trout to show for our efforts. We did not want to leave the promise land, but we finally had to move onto some Plan B spots and saw a few fish. Within the last 30 minutes of our allowed time we finally got three fish, but only one measured – we put it in the live well. We got ready to leave and I broke one of my own cardinal rules – always weigh your fish. I tossed the fish back in just knowing it would not mean anything. Well that cost us about 172 points being that only 29 out of 77 boats weighed fish. I wanted to finish in the top thirty to – I know more salt into the wound. We got a goose egg for all the wrong reasons – frustration and the aggravation that comes from a tough day fishing.

We talked about the day on the drive back to Jacksonville on what went wrong and what could we have done different. We agreed that the prefishing pattern where we caught fish was different than our Plan A spot. Plan A was a deep water pattern. Prefishing was jerk baits, topwater, and a spoon pattern in shallow water. We should have either moved to Plan B sooner or noted the difference in patterns and changed the tournament day tactics. They say hindsight is always 20/20.

We did secure a new sponsor – Alluvion Staffing (www.alluvionstaffing.com) . If you need any employment or employees contact them for all your staffing needs.

Thanks to Captain Ron for another great week of fishing – the plan was in place – the fish just did not cooperate. Congratulations to Captain Stephen Szcepanik and Jeremy Schillo for their win. Looking forward to Titusville.

Thanks as always goes to our wives (Lyn and Elaine) for allowing us to be able experience another big adventure.

Some pictures from prefishing.

8.5lbs of love

As always please take time to visit your local tackle shops and support your local merchants.  We would like to thank Maggie and crew at www.toughstuffunlimited.com for the great assortment of monofilament and fluorocarbon that they sent us.  Great line and even greater customer service – give them a call, order online or ask for their line at your local tackle store.

I also would like to thank Charles at Bite-A-Bait for letting me demo some of their subwalking topwalker baits.  I can not wait for them to get into production – the fish will not know what hit them.  If you have not tried any of the Bite-A-Bait lures give them a try – you will not regret it.

Jacksonville, Florida – IFA Redfish Tour

Two-weeks out myself and Capt. Ron started scheming on a strategy for the upcoming IFA tournament. Capt. Ron doing the work and myself in Panama City wishing that I was closer to help my partner out. I got almost daily reports, lat/long coordinates and what they were biting. I did my part by sniffing around some maps, getting tackle ready and again wishing I was there to lend a hand.

A week out the study on the water was almost daily – the fish were being checked – they were still there.  The plan was being mapped out for a winning strategy.  But that is always the case,  every tournament is approached with that mindset – to win.  As Rusty Wallace used to say “second place is the first loser.”

On Thursday I find myself in Jacksonville in Capt. Ron’s yard looking to get to business.  It did not take long for us to find the ramp and take off in pursuit of the infamous “bronze bombers.”  This being my second trip to the Jacksonville waters.  Though the locations were somewhat new, they were also familiar.

Being a “heavy metal” guy – tossing Capt. Mike’s spoons was the first thing I tried – again and again and again.  The redfish were not showing me no love.  Capt. Ron was tossing his go to bait the Berkley Gulp shrimp, but he was not getting any love either.  This pattern stayed in play the rest of the day.  We saw plenty of fish but the early morning weather pattern that pushed through the area had them locked down.

New Addition to TeamRedfish101.com

A great example of the fellowship & friendship created and fostered by the IFA Redfish Tour was realized on a cold February day in Jacksonville, Florida.  A friendship that was kindled by a simple common theme – redfish and tournament fishing.

We should first step back in time to the 2006 IFA Redfish Tour Championship to see how February 21, 2009 was created. The sport of tournament fishing brings out the best and worst in many.  In the fall of 2006 I found myself responding to several emails that were mysterious in nature.  Along the lines of – “Hey Chalk me and my wife are coming over to Panama City and was wondering if you could help me out with some redfish places….”  Coincidentally the IFA Redfish Championship was being held in Panama City during the same time.  Being the astute study that I am and looking at the email address or person’s name and a quick search on the IFA website – resulted in some interesting commonalities.  All the inquiries were competitors on the IFA circuit…hmm.

Reading what the water has to say, you may like it.

Reading what you may ask – the water of course.  What does that really mean to a fisherperson? Odds are it doesn’t mean much to some, some may not know how care, but if you do read on to find out what works for me.

It’s not as simple as fish this creek and around the bend there is an oyster bar.  Though that works and is successful but continued success takes a little work.  Work – nobody wants to work this is fishing it is suppose to be fun.  Working on something you like is a lot of fun and the success of the work is your reward.