Stars & Stripes tournament

The January 20th Stars & Stripes tournament ended up being as cold, wet, and windy as had been predicted. The air temperature was in the low 40's , and the winds were strong (15-20 knots) It didn't really rain hard, but it did rain a little now and then. Basically, it was typical tournament weather.
I had planned on fishing an area that has been my favorite winter trout hole for many years. Unfortunately the word was out on this spot, and it was getting fished very hard in the weeks prior to the tournament. My partner was doing some scouting the day before and reported seeing as many as 10 people fishing in there. The area is very small, and that kind of pressure could really turn the fish off for a few days. We had to come up with a new game plan.
We decided to start our day in another area all together. We hit a marsh area first thing in the morning, sharing water with Team Reelin Chix member "Diverdoll." We all split up and worked different guts, with the same results...nada. We fished hard, but they just weren't there today. The winds had the water off color at best, and the cold temps weren't helping things. After a couple of hours of fruitless casting, my partner and I decided to go to the trout hole and try to grind out a fish or two.
I knew that there were going to be fish in there, but I also knew that they were going to be very difficult to catch. The water color was very good with about 3 feet of visibility, and there were a lot of 3 to 5 inch mullet living in there as well. I decided to use a Brown lures "Small mullet" in a natural color. As mentioned earlier, I was aware of the pressure these fish were recieving, and as a result I knew that I needed to be using something a little different. Earlier that week, I called Jason Brown and asked him if he would be willing to mold me a batch of Small Mullet in a color that he didn't offer. He said he would, and he actually liked the result enough to add it to his color selection. I believe he will be calling it "gold hologram"
I decided to go as stealthy as I possibly could. I tied in a 12 inch flourocarbon leader, and attached a 1/16 oz. short shank jighead to it using a small loop knot. I caught a 17 inch Speckled trout within minutes of anchoring up. Several minutes later I strung a 16 1/2 inch Flounder. I was off to a good start. I continued fishing hard for the rest of the day, and ended up catching 7 fish total, but wasn't able to catch anything bigger than the two I had on my stringer. At the weigh in I learned that the three other guys who were fishing the same area as me had nothing to show for their efforts. The new bait I was using did the trick.
The bad news was that due to weather and traffic, I came in 4 minutes late and was disqualified. I wouldn't have won, but I might have had the 2nd place flounder. Live and learn.

Much thanks to Brown Lures for all of their help, next time I will make sure to get back in plenty of time...Also big Congratulations to Team Paddlecast for taking the top two positions, and Team Reelin Chix, for managing to score a check on a very tough day.

Charlie