JORDANS TOP KAYAK FIELD

In what is becoming an annual event, the SETX Kayak Club hosted yet another successful tournament on Sabine Lake last weekend.The two day event drew 31 entries and most had no problem locating the redfish and flounder.

As in years past, the event was dedicated to Heroes on the Water and the group raised $4000 with a raffle in support of that organization.They also donated $500 which was money raised in one of the side pots to the Cristin & Katie Foundation.

No team enjoyed a better two days of fishing than the father-son team of Jake and Critter Jordan.The combination of their two day total of 31.75 pounds and winning the flounder division as well earned them not only a new kayak, but $3500 in cash.Not bad for a weekend of paddling and casting.

Better known for his success in running down winning trout and redfish over the years in a more conventional bay boat, Jordan has only recently gotten into the kayak thing as well.As a matter of fact, Jim Morrissey reported that he borrowed a kayak to win this one! I don’t know that anything new in fishing is growing any faster than adding a kayak to your fishing fleet in order to exploit the backwater that larger boats cannot even navigate.Because they are far more affordable than Center Consoles, as well as more convenient, a growing number are now showing up stored next to the larger rigs.

They have gained their notoriety in the backwater bays on the Texas coast, but have proven to be equally beneficial in negotiating the denser flooded timber on fresh water impoundments across the state.They also afford you a totally different perspective when silently exploring area marshes and backwater venues.

RBF Kayaks and Chicken Boy lures once again hosted the event and Max Smith and his crew from the S.A.L.T. Club handled the weigh-ins.

The S.A.L.T. Club weigh-in crew has become a permanent fixture at any and all fishing tournaments hosted in this area and they do a phenomenal job.Jim Morrissey documents every weight and the current standings in real time and posts it on line.They have gotten a very difficult job down pat! Having said that, the S.A.L.T. Club lost a charter member of that highly respected team and the fishermen in this area lost an even greater friend last week.In a word, Stan Armstrong was a part of everything good associated with fishing.From the annual S.A.L.T. Memorial Day tournament to the O.C.A.R.C. tournament and everything in between, his signature straw hat and easy going demeanor will be greatly missed! It is undoubtedly a big mistake on my part, but I seldom even give Chicken Boy lures a second thought once the over hyped flounder run is over.There is no doubt that the flatfish do migrate every year making the prospects of catching a few more favorable, but the flounder bite on Sabine is worth exploiting year round.

The past two years I have done nearly as well with the smaller Chicken Boy plastics as I have with GULP and they are much more affordable.I have also discovered that the redfish like them as well.Rigged on a one-eighth or quarter ounce head they are lethal when fished around cuts and flooded grass.

Talk can be cheap and sometimes misleading when it comes to the “catchability” of a certain lure, but the joke is over when a fisherman puts that lure and his money on the counter at the local tackle shop.While the Swimming Image has earned its reputation duping trout on the north revetment wall, Steve Simmons at Outcast Tackle says a lot of his customers rely on the Chicken Boy Lures as well.

“For the most part they fish the larger tail like the four inch shrimp both under a cork and on a conventional jig head,” says Simmons.“Everyone has their favorite color, but a couple consistently outsell all of the others and that probably has to do with water clarity.

We sell a bunch of the Spicy Cajun shrimp and chicken on a chain.” Simmons also added that they recently purchased the gun shop located in the same lot as Outcast Tackle and will soon be handling not only fishing tackle, but guns and Minn Kota products as well!