It's been a while since I last reported mostly due to a busy
schedule and being in Tournament mode.

I managed to catch my personal best Tampa Bay Inshore SLAM
today and best of all it was during the opener of the HCKA Club
Tournament series.

I launched from the Southshore area at 6:30 am with a plan
to catch a snook, trout and redfish using artificial lures only.

My favorite lure, which is the Zara Spook Jr was all I would need on this day.
Catching 3 reds before 8:00 am only to lose them to the super thick grass
that they kept running through to escape the constant pressure of my
10lb braid matched with 30lb flouro carbon leader.

This is not how I wanted to start off my day by losing 3 quality fish.
Realizing that the grass was my friend (that's where they were hiding)
but also my enemy, I decided to fight the next fish which destroyed my
Topwater presentation from the knee deep water by getting out
of my kayak. It worked perfectly and I was able to land this 27.9" red fish.


The bite slowed down but I was able to get a few more reds, some really small
trout and a 20" snook. My SLAM was complete by 9:03 am.

Concentrating on upgrades I continued with the spook jr topwater lure
until I got a nice 22.5" trout around noon and I turned my focus to snook.
This was the only photo I had of the trout.


A short paddle over to an area that I had seen some nice snook in the past,
I began fan casting because I could no longer see the bottom in 2ft of water.
The winds had kicked up to 12-15 mph and it was quite rough for topwater but
I stuck with it until this snook erupted and gave me a great fight on a loose drag
with crab traps and mangroves all around me. After what seemed like an
eternity I got her in my hands. Nice1! 32.5"



I ended the day with 82.9" inches combined between the three target species
for the Tournament which was enough to take 1st place out of 51 experienced
anglers. I'm still pretty hyped up from the exciting events of the day. What a
great experience to compete, capture, photograph and release three of the most
sought after inshore species here in Tampa Bay. We are blessed with an awesome
fishery.

Topwater all day long.

That is Great !!! Good Job Rick !!

That's awesome! Congratulations!

Fantastic job Rick! Super quality fish. Congratulations on first place. Very impressive!!!

Congratulations man! Great fish!

Congratulations on first place and that is an awesome slam!

Great Job - Did you win a New Yak? :thumbsup:

Congrats Champ. Way to keep at it and overcome obstacles.

Freakin nice fish! Congrats on the win bro!

I appreciate all of the kind replies. I love it when a plan comes together and ends with a great snook fight.

Its impressive you were able to win a tournament using the same lure all day!

Reel Till U Feel wrote:
Thanks but nope. The Series (5 events) Champion will win a new Hobie.

I had a Chinese fortune cookie last night before I went to bed.
The silly paper fortune said this:
"It is most gratifying when a goal is achieved through one's efforts".

Very appropriate. How do they do that?

I am still pumped up from that snook, not my biggest
but for sure the best battle under the circumstances with so
much on the line. 500 clams plus.

Damn good job bro! You must work the topwater like a champ! I always get discouraged when using a topwater and not getting even any strikes or follows, especially since I haven't caught a fish on one in a couple of months. Been hard to get away from the white bait recently. But seriously, I've had several slams but no where near that caliber. Keep up the great work.

Awesome trio! Congrats on the win!!!

Nice win. I had a slam this weekend, but they were minnows compared to yours. That is a great looking snook.