It was something I was looking forward to since we weren't able to fish it last year, the 5th Annual Bahia Marina Flounder Pounder! Seth came down and we fished on Saturday-all day. Unfortunately, while the weather was beautiful the water was still dirty from Earl. We got into a few fish each but nothing to write home about. In the evening Greg came down and we decided to skip dinner, get some more bait, beverages and head back out for some evening/night fishing at the 50 bridge. We anchored right up close to the pilings with the water rushing past. We saw a few blues get pulled before we got there but for us it was mostly small stuff, until...get the net! My rod was bent over, testing the strength of the Ugly Stick. Never mind, I was stuck, "Greg put away the net your making a scene." But then my line started to swim away. We have a HUGE fish. I fought it for around 10 minutes as the other boats around looked on. My reel was taken to it's limit; making noises that didn't seem natural. Finally, I pulled it in, Greg yelled, "Shark", but it wasn't. What it was, was a mammoth sized ray/skate. We got it up and put it on the gas tanks in the back and before we could get a picture, it spit the hook and went right back into the deep. It was probably the biggest fish I've ever caught. It easily was as big as I could circle my arms. That was fun! Then late night it was onto dinner at the De Lazy Lizard.
The next morning was the Flounder Pounder and the skies were ominous, with dark clouds and a steady rain. We got to Fish Tales/Bahia with all of the die hards and with the sound of the horn, shoved off. Within the first half hour in the East Channel, Greg had a big fish. We were close to De Lazy Lizard and he pulled it up. I knew it, it was a crier, 18 inches. It was just one inch short to keep. Seth later pulled in a nice sized one and Greg caught a heavy, large, ugly fish that we couldn't yet identify. We continued on and lost a ton of rigs, after 30 we lost count. We headed to Homer Gudelsky Park and tried our hand there. Frustration was starting to set in for the Happy Ours and the moral was low, until..."I got one, get the net." It took a little bit to get it towards the boat and right when it came up Greg swiped with the net and missed but then landed it and we knew it was a keeper. We jumped up and high fived, knowing we'd have something to weigh at the scales. We headed back with our "Carry Out" and docked at Fish Tales. I brought the almost 20 inch fish over to the scales and saw a BIG ONE and then two guys came carrying a huge cooler. They opened it and the people gathered, this was the biggest flounder I've ever seen alive. My fish weighed in a 3 pounds, 3 ounces and I had my picture and video taken by the Coastal Fisherman. It looked like we had the 12th heaviest fish weighed that day which was pretty good for our first tournament. The winner's fish was over 8 pounds and he took home almost 2,500 dollars...wow! A great time and a great tournament, can't wait until next year's Flounder Pounder! (For more pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/mattworks88/2010FlounderPounderWeekend# )
