Tampa Bay Slam Classic tournament

Will Mallett and I left SWFL midday on Thursday to hit up Tampa Bay for some tournament pre-fishing. We were met later by Jim VanPelt and spent our afternoon at Gandy Bait and Tackle. Bill was a very nice guy and took the time to listen to my fishing plans for the tournament. He pointed out the areas along the way to check out the next morning. Early Friday we hit the NW side of Gandy bridge. There was a lot of bait around but not a lot of anything else. We worked our way toward the mangrove wall and started finding the trout. I caught a few to 20" and moved on. Before long I was on the flats (at low incoming tide) and tossed a gulp at a tree branch about 20ft off the mangroves. It was slammed and the fish started taking drag like it was nothing! I think it was my laughing loudly that got the other guys attention, and by the time they came over, he snapped my 20lb leader. I saw him and he was a BIG redfish. I retied and we started working the area. I scored with this fat red approaching 30".

He was a horse and on light tackle was a lot of fun to bring in. Will got the next red fishing next to an oyster bed that was loaded with mullet.

It was obvious there were a lot of fish here so I suggested we take off so there would be some left on tournament day. Jim, who had not caught a fish yet graciuosly agreed and we were off the water by 9:30. We could hardly sleep knowing we left all those fish out there and by 4am, I was loaded up just waiting. We launched Saturday at 6:30 and took our time in the trout holes. I got a couple right off measuring up to 18 1/2" and started slowly working my way to the flat. There was more boat traffic and some wadefishermen in the area so I was there a little earlier than I wanted to be. Will and Jim got trout and soon joined me.

Jim's trout measured a little smaller which made all the difference later on.....

I started working a mullet school and hooked a respectable red at a little over 20" and began looking around for a snook. I spent a couple of hours working the mangroves, oysters and flat and never even saw one. I found out later all the snook were on the other side of the bridge around Wheedon Island and the power plant nearby.

By the time I met up with the guys again, Jim had just landed a red measuring 21 1/2". Now we were both on the snook.

We worked mangroves and all the structure we could find and never found a snook. Will never found his red and we ended up packing in for the day. At the weigh in we were pleasantly surprised to find out only two slam were caught. Richard Smith and Marty Meakin won 1st and 2nd respectively, and I eeked out a third place win. Jim ended up with 5th. It was a great day for reds, especially in an area we have never fished.

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Permalink Reply by Chalk Saunders on September 27, 2011 at 12:20am

Great post, I love that tournament fishing sure with there was more out here in AZ. Congrats on taking third place.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Bramblet on September 28, 2011 at 7:01am

Thanks Chalk! Back when I first started tournament fishing, there were only a couple in this area. I was running a charity and started a charity tournament with a kayak division. They really were not that difficult and if you are interested, I will tell you how I did it. Maybe you can start a tournament series in your area!

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Permalink Reply by YAKYAK on September 30, 2011 at 9:21am

We just returned from the Tidewater Kayak Angler Association Tournament in Virginia. It was a blast. Looks like you guys did pretty well down there in Tampa. Even though I enjoyed the tournament it was a hike. I live up in norther VA and mostly fish the Shenandoah river. Would love it if they had tournaments up here. Can you share that information about the charities and starting a tournament?

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Permalink Reply by Bob Bramblet on September 30, 2011 at 11:42am

I used to live in Hampton VA and really miss the fishing there. I also lived in Clifton Forge VA and miss that too! Yak, I would love to share that info with you. The charity part is not so important. You can pick one to benefit or create one yourself if you have a cause that is important to you. Once you have that, people will be willing to help you! Just make sure you give yourself enough time till the event to allow for all the work you will have to do. I will write up an outline of how I did it with some details and email it to you. Otherwise I would take up too much room here! Give me about a week and I will have it put together. BTW, how did you do in the tournament?

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Permalink Reply by YAKYAK on October 1, 2011 at 11:38am

we didn't place but had a lot of fun. There were several different division but we entered the slam division speckle trout, flounder and redfish. We just couldn't find that elusive redfish. It was our first tournament so really just learning the process. I have a cousin down in FLA so hopefully next year I can make it down there. Any suggestions for Tournaments? I see you were in the Tampa Bay tournament any other good ones?