Monday, June 3, 2013

Tournaments On Home Waters

I have seen this happen many times where a big tournament comes to someones home waters and can become a blessing or curse very quickly. This weekend the Hilljack Catfishing tournament has landed in "my backyard" I live about 10 minutes from where we will be putting in, and as of lately I have fished the water a good bit. I am beginning to feel the pressure of having spots I  know have produced and spots I want to fish and hope they come thru. The main thing is where do I have the best chance of landing a beast. Bait is something else entirely, I have caught fish here using a buffet of things and don't have room in the kayak for 3 types of live bait and thirty bags of different cut bait. I have yet to hook up with a giant catfish from the kayak and want to give myself the best chance I can.

Big blue cat caught out of Ringer Ramp

Not only does the ramp we are using hold some giant flatheads, but the blue cats that have been pulled up are nothing to be taken lightly. Ringer Ramp is what I would call the "transition" area where the Chattahoochee River forms into West Point Lake.

One of the previos weigh-ins at Ringer from the Hilljack Catfishing group
 I do expect to see the bags contain multiple species this weekend, I also expect to see some heavy weights. The great thing about the Hilljack tournament is they have two divisions that fish the same location at the same time, one of the things I enjoyed most about fishing tournaments from a boat was the weigh-in, that is something the kayak tournaments don't have the option of doing if keeping the fish alive is a concern.



Ringer has produced some GIANT flatheads, cant wait to hook up with one from the kayak


The weekend will no doubt be a great time and the hopefully have a picture of me in my kayak holding up one of these huge bottom-dwellers. The number of kayaks this weekend should be close to 10, the tournament series is growing and I have had a blast being part of it. If you have a chance come out and catch some cats with us. Tight Lines.