Paddle Craft "Tournament" Report

mcquadeoutdoors

Local Tampa Bay angler put on a free paddle craft tournament at Honeymoon Island, 8am-4pm. Total length from your best: snook, trout and red. Being the only person on a paddle board, i knew id be a leg down. Got on 1 16" trout early and spend the next ~7 hours landing 2 of 4 bites for a 17" red and a 23" red. You ever have a day where every cast you get stuck in the mangroves even with a weedless bait? That was my luck. Lost 1 big fish deep in the mangroves, never saw it so not sure what it was. All fish were caught on the 4" zman swimbait rigged on a weighted texas rig hook. 1st place has 40"... i had 39.5" after adding the fractions... If you're not first your last lol.

no snook were caught, livebait was allowed, some days are just harder than others

Honey Moon Island/ Caladesi Island Fishing: Inshore Tournament - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLOFw_FMO0U

John McKroid

Nice looking catches, Congrats!  Too bad you were a half inch short of the win, Better luck next time.

swampdog

A paddle board - I’m impressed! That takes angling skill along with balance. Nice fish and pics!

mcquadeoutdoors

John McKroid said:

Nice looking catches, Congrats!  Too bad you were a half inch short of the win, Better luck next time.

Thats just how it goes, still a good day on the water! 

krash

Nice, but why do you feel you are a leg down with an SUP... I have canoe, kayak, &SUP and never felt the SUP was less efficient or handi-capped my fishing other than maybe wind.

mcquadeoutdoors

krash said:

Nice, but why do you feel you are a leg down with an SUP... I have canoe, kayak, &SUP and never felt the SUP was less efficient or handi-capped my fishing other than maybe wind.

the speed at which you can paddle on a SUP is a lot slower than the newer kayaks, especially with pedal drives and wind. Even without a peddle drive, the sup gets 1 stroke to every 2 of a kayak. Once at the spot, i would prefer to be on the SUP, but i can stand for hours at a time on my board without issues. 

krash

I guess I have to agree to dis-agree., most newer kayaks paddle like turds compared to older (ScuperPro/Tarpon) longer/thinner kayaks  Head wind for sure the SUP is at a dis-advantage.
It's apples to oranges to compare an SUP with a pedal or motorized kayak.