IFA Redfish Tournament Report

Some of you may follow the redfish tours but for those that don't.... the last stop on the IFA Redfish tour was this weekend in Orange Beach Alabama. The IFA is a series of tours in different regions around the South East. I really enjoy fishing with these guys. They are a first class tournament trail.

We started pre fishing on Monday prior to the tournament. I don't like to fish a tournament unless I have done my homework and have at least an A, B, and C spot. Monday we fished some upper bays in Alabama catching 10 smaller fish but nothing great. We came back to Pensacola, Fl on Tuesday only to find 12 to 15 fish in the 3 to 4lb range which is not what we were looking for. With bad conditions scheduled for the balance of the week I knew we had to find some fish fast!

On wednesday I got word from a local guide in Mobile that some very large fish were being caught on the west side of Mobile bay. We trailored the boat all the way to Dauphin Island Alabama that morning only to find nothing. The water was extremely nasty and no fish to be found anywhere!!

We knew that we would only get 1 more day to prefish, so on Thursday, I decided to go back to a place in Mobile bay that has produced solid fish for me in the past. The feeling I had was right! We pulled a number of solid 26 to 27in fish off of a sawgrass bank about a quarter mile long. We knew that if the North wind kept enough water in this area on tournament day that our chances of winning were very good.

The forecast for Saturday was calling for 25 to 30k north winds and 45 degrees. Obviously this is not the conditions we wanted to see. We stayed up Friday night praying that the north winds would leave enough water on our bank so we could get to our fish. Well....it didn't! We ran 19 miles to our spot on tournament morning only to find dry land. I had a feeling this would happen but It was so good two days before that I had to try it. Now it was back to the drawing board. We decided to run back to some areas blocked by the wind which we knew had a few fish. We casted for 5 straight hrs getting 3 bites, all while freezing our a$$ off!! We were happy with the 3 bites we got. Our fish were good enough for 7th place. In these conditions I wasn't dissapointed.

BTW I caught my personal best flounder during this tournament. 26inches and fat! He is going to be dinner tonight!