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.

We spent the evening working on the boat and planning out the next day’s strategy.  Finally moving into the house for a fine meal prepared by Capt. Ron’s better half – Elaine.  I thought I was going to hemorrhage from eating so much.  We closed the night out jamming out to some tunes and testing some cerveza for quality.

We hit the ramp so early there was nobody there – we thought something was wrong.  Maybe we had missed a day or was possibly a day early.  The Key West Stealth was launched and we headed off again in search of some more redfish.  First spot – “woo Nelly”, we had to leave – you figure it out.   Second spot was checked – “I Caramba”, I hate to say it, but we got to go.  Third spot – “Hot chili peppers”, we really need to leave these fish alone – I’m sure your onto the theme by now.  We sniffed out many pods of fish while looking around.  What was strange was there were no boats around – seemed like we must be in the wrong spot or something.  We called it day after whacking a few fish.  Heading to the house to clean the boat and get our tackle ready.

We headed to captain’s meeting to get paid up and draw our number.  Boat number one was in the bucket – but I drew 80.  My partner was not to impressed with my strategy in picking numbers.  We  listened to Jerry give out our flight return time @ 3:45.  We call it a night after we did not win anything in the raffle.  Good to see and meet everyone – appreciate the hospitality.

The next morning we slide the Stealth in the water and wait for our number.  Finally after 79 other boats left ahead of us we are off.  We head off to a spot where Capt. Ron says we can get a small red or two – just to get the skunk out of the boat.  The spot had a boat in it, oh well.  Off to the better spots – but nobody was home.  This pattern continued for the rest of the morning.  I told Capt. Ron these fish just disappeared – there must of been a bus come by and pick them all up last night.  We finally picked up one keeper around 11:00.

The tide started to turn and I hear a large splash on the bank.  Noticing a seagull fluttering above the melee – I told Capt. Ron that was fish – lets go.  We ease over to the commotion and see a mass of dark silhouettes.   Both of us firing into the crowd – only to pluck one red.  While the school ran past us there was another school behind those.  We could not reload in time and get back on them with one fish trying to be netted.

The fish ran into a creek near by & we started to tip toe into the creek and all of a sudden the school appeared at the boat.  They were too close to eat – I started waiving my arms and stomping the boat.  The school retreated into the creek and we followed.  We continued to back these fish further and further into the creek.  We threw the tackle box at them, but they would not eat.  We finally let them by and followed them out of the creek – but could never find them again.

We fished for several more hours without much of anything to show for in the area.  We were moving out on the big motor and Capt. Ron said, “You want to go and try them other spots?”  I said, “We just saw 100 fish – they say never leave fish to find fish.”  Capt. Ron said, “That is why your on the team.”

From that moment everything seemed to click – we made one drift and upgraded three times on that drift.  The final two fish being the two fish we weighed in.

You know the rest of the story – we weighed in 15.29 lbs of redfish.  Touted as the heaviest weight weighed in a Jacksonville tournament since the pinch tail was introduced.  This was good enough for first place in the IFA Redfish Tour season opener.

Key to success – Believing in your homework and never leave fish to find fish.

Baits – Slayer Inc. & Jaw Jacker jig heads – Gulp Shrimp – Bass Assassin Sea Shad – Charlie Baits

Tackle – Shimano Reels – Redbone Rods – Challenger Rods – Suffix Braid – Seaguar fluorocarbon

Boat – Key West Stealth – Yamaha HPDI 150 – Motorguide Trolling Motor – Garmin Electronics

Many thanks goes to Elaine & Lyn – our wives for allowing us the time to play.  Thanks goes to all the fine folks at the IFA for putting on such a great venue to compete.  Thanks to all the fine folks that sponsor and support us we could not do it without you.

I especially want to thank Capt. Ron for asking me to team up with him this year.