SSWA March Tournament

This past weekend was the first members tournament for Summerville Saltwater Anglers.  I had the pleasure of “guiding” two of my favorite people – my neighbors son Josh – a student at USC, and avid fly angler – and Grant.  Some of you might remember Grant, who last time I took him in the salt had a grand slam including a club record striper.  The kid can fish!

At the crack of dawn I walked out to prep the boat and was met by tree branches swaying in the wind…okay…that was not in the forecast!  The strong wind made it difficult to fish artificials, because it limited the locations we could target that were somewhat sheltered.  Most productive areas were almost unfishable due to a lot of bow in the line and the inability to get the lure down in the strike zone.  Why are tournament days always a struggle?

That’s okay, because we started the day the right way, with a Hardees Chicken Biscuit.  That was the day maker for Josh, so it didn’t really matter what we did from then on 🙂

We made frequent moves trying to find a bite and picked at a few fish here and there.  Once the tide started out, we found a decent trout bite and in a 30 min span we each had trout to measure over 17″.  That was fun.  Josh had the hot hand early on, and Grant was wondering what was going on…  Then Josh let him in on the secret weapon.  A 1/4 trout eye jig and the “rat tail”, aka a StreakZ 375 in Ralphs Shad color.  The next few minutes were a blur, as Grant put 1, 2, 3 upgrades on the deck.  It was great!  

The glow eye and mood ring swimmin trout trick was a good choice
Josh with an early trout – later to be upgraded

Grant is kind of a flounder whisperer.  He was saying that every time we have gone together he has caught at least one.  Well, didn’t he put the only flounder of the day in the boat yet again…streak intact!   I’d bet that it will score in the tourney too.  

Josh with one of his upgraded trout
That’s a little better!

We had a brief respite from the wind while it clocked around to the NNE, then it turned on again like a turbo fan!  Time put her on the trailer boys…

Having fun

Another fun day with the future of our sport, Josh and Grant.  

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