KATS Lake Travis 3/28/2009
Launch: Dink Pearson Park
Time Fished: 7:30AM-3PM
Weather: High in the mid 50's, winds sustained at 20MPH, gusting to 35MPH out of the North.
H2O: Clear despite high winds. 3'-4' visibility
It was time for the second event of the season, and I was very excited since this was my home lake. Lake Travis is about 2 miles from our house in Cedar Park, and we fish it a lot. I felt confident coming into this tournament, but not after my only prefish day where I could only hook one fish. I was not on anything, which scares me going into an event.
We arrive at the lake to see the winds calmer then we expected. We got everything rigged up and ready to go. I looked up and noticed that the wind had picked up. Another problem was, it was COLD! The whistle blows and we start to paddle.
I had made the crazy decision to paddle all the way to Hurst Harbor, a big creek about 4.1 miles from Dink Pearson. Paddling there, I had the wind at my back. There was a group of other crazy anglers besides me that made the paddle too. We arrived there about 30mins later. It was exhausting trying to paddle through the wind, even at your back. It was hard to control your paddling. I paddled slowly to the back, trying to catch my breath. I passed other anglers in the mouth of the creek, and found a nice ditch/transition area on the bank, where it goes from rock to san to rock, and forms a rock pile under the water with some stumps. I casted my Carolina Rig up on it, and on the second cast of the morning, I set the hook into a good keeper. 16", I was happy. The paddle paid off. I made my way to the back to the other marinas and tried to find another keeper. I went about 3 hours without another keeper. That's when I decided to make a move out of Hurst Harbor and back to Dink. I left Hurst at about 12pM with another angler. We did not realize how hard this paddle would be. We figured it was going to be tough, but not nearly impossible. If you stopped for a second, the wind pushed you back, and if you paddled slowly, you were going nowhere.
The paddle took us 1hr30mins to get back. I made my way into a cove just to hide from the wind and fish where no anglers had today. I found a nice little rocky point that looked man-made on the bank, and chunked my c-rig on it. Right away, I caught a short 13" fish. I proceded to catch 3 more fish in 3 casts, 1 was a nice 17"er. The only problem was the wind blew my kayak ontop of the sweet spot, and might've spooked the remaining fish.
By this time, I realized my cell phone wasn't working. I decided to paddle back just to be safe. I made the right decision, even though I had about 20 more minutes to fish. I talked to other anglers, and nobody had landed more than 2 keepers, so I was in good shape. I was surprised to see I placed 2nd with only 2 fish, and lost to 1st place by .75".
Place: 2nd with 2 fish for 33.25"
Kayak: LiquidLogic Manta Ray 12
Accessories: Eagle Cuda 242 fishfinder, 1.5lb. grapple anchor.